hi!! it’s oscar and if i may, i’d like to talk about mixtapes. i’m currently 20 years old and when i was a little boy, i spent all of my free time taping my vinyl or CDs onto cassettes so i could listen to music in the car. this eventually drove my mother insane and she ended up buying me a walkman. of course, these days, i get shouted at if i listen to my ipod in the car. “TURN THAT THING OFF. I AM TRYING TO TALK TO YOU.” it’s rude, apparently, but somehow it wasn’t when i was younger.
i remember sitting in my kitchen as a child with my boombox. i’d have blank tapes and i would record songs off the radio. i took it very seriously. i’d get upset if i got that annoying click between songs, or if i missed the start of one. and my lord, if the batteries in my boombox died, it was to be treated as a national emergency.
during my short time on this planet, mixtapes have completely evolved. when i was growing up, digital music just didn’t exist. i got my first discman at nine years old and i was convinced it was witchcraft. a cd player that i can walk around with?
mixtapes are, to me, a form of self-expression. if you can’t say it with words, say it with a mixtape. my problem with modern mixtapes is that they are no longer mixtapes, they are bloody mix CDs. who wants to be given one of those? i know if someone gives me a mix CD, they have compiled a playlist in 10 minutes or less, probably haven’t even worked out the sequencing of the tracks, considered how the songs sound together. in yesteryear, to make someone a mixtape was bloody hard work. my god, 45 minutes on each side of the tape - as you went along, you had to write down the length of each song and calculate how much of the tape was left. it was a game of programming your CD player, keeping your finger on the pause button for hours at a time to avoid that annoying click and winding the tape along with your pinky. and don’t even get me started on cassette-to-cassette dubbing.
if someone gave you a mixtape, they simply had to have put effort into it. every song had been carefully selected, they wanted you to hear it. mix CDs, to me, are just a load of toss. another great thing about classic mixtapes is the fact it is a real hassle to skip a song if it doesn’t grab you right away, so most people just wouldn’t bother.
for valentine’s day 2008, i produced a mixtape for my friend rachael. she was supposed to give one back, but she didn’t. i cleared an entire evening in order to do it. i was quite lucky because my fangled stereo had an automatic cassette deck and i didn’t have to be on guard the entire time, but my god did i put effort into that tape. it was for valentine’s day and it was an expression of platonic love. i put on yoko ono, marianne faithfull, nico, lalleshwari, ruby throat, elecrelane, pj harvey and an awesome cover of the cure’s lovecats.
a few months later, while another friend of mine was living in france, i compiled another mix. i had no option but to step out of my comfort zone and produce something that, to me, felt very cold and impersonal. i had to produce a mix-USB. a USB drive full of mp3s, m4as and other dull file extensions. it took me probably the best part of 2 months to do that and i hated the end result. it was shit. i couldn’t put the songs in any kind of order that i wanted and it was just an underwhelming mess.
i’m in the process right now of compiling a new mix for a friend. a friend that doesn’t really come up for air very often and isn’t actively interested in music. this is a real challenge for me and it needs to be finished before april. it, of course, has to be a mix CD as she absolutely can’t be arsed with a tape and i refuse to do another USB for as long as i live.
rules:
1) consider audience - not particularly interested in music, favourite bands used to be the cure, siouxsie and the banshees. dislikes pj harvey.
2) no particular emotion or message to convey. anything goes, it just has to be interesting. lyrics are far more important than anything else. ideally, every song will be less than 15 years old. you may break this rule ONCE.
3) different genres and themes! include that provocative hip hop if you feel like it. do not include more than one song per artist and two different bands with the same vocalist is not an exception. don’t sneak on stuff you already know she doesn’t like and expect her not to notice. she will never like pj harvey.
4) draft, re-draft and re-draft and final draft! if it’s not working, remove the song you like the most. does the tracklist flow appropriately? have you just followed a thumping electronica song about oral sex with a folky song about suicide? that’s not contrast, that’s fucking annoying.
5) SEEK APPROVAL. don’t trust yourself. be insecure. ask your friends whether it’s a load of toss. be open to suggestions for additions and removals. don’t get pissy if criticised.
et voila!
it’s pretty hard to make a good mixtape, or a good mix CD if you really care. you’re trying to show the person that you know them, expose them to something new that you’re sure they will like. depending on how wrong you get it, you are sort of risking offending them. as a flying example, if someone gave me a mixtape with nickelback on it, i’d be pretty upset. bemused. it’s about showing that person that you know them, but your mixtape must also represent yourself. if you’re not a throbbing gristle fan, don’t pretend you are. you MUST remember that mixtapes are piecing together artwork. the words, feelings, tones and themes are someone else’s and you’re trying to use them to say something yourself. that can be hard work. pay very close attention to lyrics and themes and question whether what that person is saying fits what you’re trying to put across.
do, probably above all, be considerate of your audience. remember who they are. yeah, that band you like are totally great and to you it’s the best song ever, but if your audience have explicitly expressed a dislike for it, don’t try to change them. it’s not going to work, and it’s going to get their dander up.
being in an appropriate mood is super important. if you’re making a mixtape to show someone you’re interested in them, don’t compile it after a shitty day. your mood WILL seep into the tracklist and it will leave the listener feeling the way you did when you compiled it!
running time, running time. in all honesty, try your hardest to keep it under 60 minutes. remember that you’re familiar with the music you’re putting on the mix and hopefully your audience isn’t. patience for 80 minutes of unfamiliar music is rare. if it’s too long, some tracks may not be heard.
can i ask - would it make any difference to you if you got a mixtape or a mix CD?? i’m going to get my first car kitted out with an 8-track. suck on that.
