I love mixtapes so much. I admit I don't really make tapes much anymore, though my household has made a couple more recently. Now it's mostly spotify mixes.
I just remember spending a lot of time as a kid with my finger paused over the record button waiting for a favorite song to come on the radio. I didn't have a radio with a tape deck so my old tapes were done on a mono cassette recorder shoved up against the speaker and hoping for the best. Let's just say I'm really grateful Spotify has better sound quality.
I love mix tapes! It's such a cool way to get to know someone. I used to have a radio show that was based on the idea of mix tapes. Each week was a 2 hour "mix tape" around a theme -- some of them based on actual mix tapes from my high school and college days that I found in my parents' garage (sadly, unplayable, but the tracks were listed). I would love to have those tapes back. Also, yay for Joshua Tree -- one of my favorite places.
i used to do mixed tapes growing up. most of the music was 80's christian rock, I was a religious nut bar at the time. loved them the mixed tapes, and loved making them. I now have collections of CD complations i bought from grapefruit records, that I love.
I used to love making mix tapes. Cassettes are a wonderful thing. I hope to get my old stereo equipment hooked up again and dive back into that format. The DIY Days were wonderful, when with the advent of the multi-track cassette recorders you could record an album at home and pretty cheaply have cassette copies made, a little creativity and some shrink wrap and you had an item that looked "real". When the main format for recorded music shifted away from the vinyl album there was a brief interval where indie artists such as myself could release music that could compete for attention in music magazines, record stores, etc. A wonderful time. I make mix-playlists these days. I did start one recently with songs that are important to me, have some deep connection whether nostalgic or lyrical. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PqV0JwX6wJDUNoRZLxwWS?si=05193dfd63a14d16 If someone wants to know something about me, that's a good place to start.
I just started the mix tape exercise in your journal yesterday. It’s not easy to condense your favourite songs into 1 tape. And now I’ve fallen down a beautiful rabbit hole of listening to almost forgotten favourites with hubby. Such a glorious exercise and fun rabbit hole 💕
I just went to Spotify to look at the mixes I made. They tend to be gifts. I found one I made for my husband and one I made for a dear friend and both felt too intimate to share. Maybe I'll create a new mix just to share with y'all.
I don't know about going back to cassettes. I have been moving some of my own recorded concerts to digital because the tapes can freeze up over time. I actually recorded one of them acting badly just to save and use as a sound effect if the need ever arises.
I used to trade tapes with a jazz musician in my class. He'd learn new to him Classical Music and I'd learn new to me jazz. Good stuff. I was so happy when I got my first Walkman.
I usually pick some holiday in a month and make a playlist for that. Here's a cut down version of my Spring playlist.
A few years back I was invited to join a mix-tape club where hardcore music nerds gave each other specs to follow for our mixes. The mixes were judged and the winner got bragging rights and set the specs for the next round. I won ONCE in 2019. Here are the basic specs, my mix, and a link to it:
SPECS:
The Art of the Album (by David B)
I have always loved the craft of how artists put together an album, that 45 mins of perfection. The juxtaposition of song, instrumental, fast, slow, loud/quiet. It’s a craft we all obviously appreciate but maybe a little subconsciously.
Your task
All tracks should be from different albums and artists making the ultimate long player.
8 tracks in total.
This is not a 8 favourite tracks of all time!
It’s crafting an album considering the flow and relationship of each track, the nuance and contrast of the genre, period and artist.
1979. The year I turned 12. The year I bought my first album, XTC "Drums and Wires." The year my taste in music came into its own, drifting away from The Beach Boys, Carpenters, and Bee Gees, bands my parents listened to. I didn't know music could sound like this. 1979 continued to inspire me for years—we named our first child Cairo, after The Cure's "Fire in Cairo," the song that closes out my mix. 1979, forty years away, yet timeless.
Here's a mixtape/playlist that I put up on Spotify many years ago: MY 200 FAVORITE SONGS FROM THE 1960s. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5sKtlBH6EAeRP2MEKKXcrB Actually it's 269 songs now. My criterion for inclusion is simple: any song that I would be thrilled to listen to any time, anywhere. (Some more so than others -- like endless loop magnificent -- but they ALL qualify.)
The first few are The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"; Roy Orbison, "Crying"; and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, "The Tracks of My Tears".
What do you use to take over them?
I realize i sound young and dumb but i missed the mixtape revolution and was born in the burning CD’s era.
do you/anyone here have any good sources for how to tape a mix tape?
Just a regular cassette player? Tape recorder?
Do you just play the music beside the recorder and thats how it records??
I love this and very much would like to try it out!
Last century I made up an album of song titles for a friend. (No music just the cover art and titles, lol)
Primordial Sounds
Side A
girls night
quilt of love
mens mens mens
tamale chant
joy in the moment
Side B
letter to my father
old wheelbarrows
primordial ooze
his animal striped car
(imagine mix of bruno mars and sade)
I love mixtapes so much. I admit I don't really make tapes much anymore, though my household has made a couple more recently. Now it's mostly spotify mixes.
I just remember spending a lot of time as a kid with my finger paused over the record button waiting for a favorite song to come on the radio. I didn't have a radio with a tape deck so my old tapes were done on a mono cassette recorder shoved up against the speaker and hoping for the best. Let's just say I'm really grateful Spotify has better sound quality.
I have a ton of mixes, so I'll just share this favorite: every song on it is a stellar track that happens to be the eighth track on the album. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7AG3HdNPxtJ6qxbHs76kPq?si=14f52c8f1bb94e57
I love making mixes, and these were my "songs of the month" for February. RIYL singer-songwriters, alternative guitar music, yacht rock and adjacent genres https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3PdiyQEODx1m4CrhDv4zDL?si=ce34007663ed47ea
This post inspired me to make my first mix in a long time. Back in the day, I was the queen of mix tapes. Thanks for the inspiration! Almost forgot to share it here, so busy dancing in the kitchen. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5aBJryj8tGGmBKgbnMEYbU?si=34cc311809e1474f
I love mix tapes! It's such a cool way to get to know someone. I used to have a radio show that was based on the idea of mix tapes. Each week was a 2 hour "mix tape" around a theme -- some of them based on actual mix tapes from my high school and college days that I found in my parents' garage (sadly, unplayable, but the tracks were listed). I would love to have those tapes back. Also, yay for Joshua Tree -- one of my favorite places.
i used to do mixed tapes growing up. most of the music was 80's christian rock, I was a religious nut bar at the time. loved them the mixed tapes, and loved making them. I now have collections of CD complations i bought from grapefruit records, that I love.
Check out the Billy Swan recording of Don’t Be Cruel. Very different feeling.
I used to love making mix tapes. Cassettes are a wonderful thing. I hope to get my old stereo equipment hooked up again and dive back into that format. The DIY Days were wonderful, when with the advent of the multi-track cassette recorders you could record an album at home and pretty cheaply have cassette copies made, a little creativity and some shrink wrap and you had an item that looked "real". When the main format for recorded music shifted away from the vinyl album there was a brief interval where indie artists such as myself could release music that could compete for attention in music magazines, record stores, etc. A wonderful time. I make mix-playlists these days. I did start one recently with songs that are important to me, have some deep connection whether nostalgic or lyrical. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PqV0JwX6wJDUNoRZLxwWS?si=05193dfd63a14d16 If someone wants to know something about me, that's a good place to start.
I just started the mix tape exercise in your journal yesterday. It’s not easy to condense your favourite songs into 1 tape. And now I’ve fallen down a beautiful rabbit hole of listening to almost forgotten favourites with hubby. Such a glorious exercise and fun rabbit hole 💕
I just went to Spotify to look at the mixes I made. They tend to be gifts. I found one I made for my husband and one I made for a dear friend and both felt too intimate to share. Maybe I'll create a new mix just to share with y'all.
I don't know about going back to cassettes. I have been moving some of my own recorded concerts to digital because the tapes can freeze up over time. I actually recorded one of them acting badly just to save and use as a sound effect if the need ever arises.
I used to trade tapes with a jazz musician in my class. He'd learn new to him Classical Music and I'd learn new to me jazz. Good stuff. I was so happy when I got my first Walkman.
I usually pick some holiday in a month and make a playlist for that. Here's a cut down version of my Spring playlist.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72XGmu6KZ0gMJUch5O9at1?si=bc0d5d67ce314894
Looking forward to checking out everyone's music.
A few years back I was invited to join a mix-tape club where hardcore music nerds gave each other specs to follow for our mixes. The mixes were judged and the winner got bragging rights and set the specs for the next round. I won ONCE in 2019. Here are the basic specs, my mix, and a link to it:
SPECS:
The Art of the Album (by David B)
I have always loved the craft of how artists put together an album, that 45 mins of perfection. The juxtaposition of song, instrumental, fast, slow, loud/quiet. It’s a craft we all obviously appreciate but maybe a little subconsciously.
Your task
All tracks should be from different albums and artists making the ultimate long player.
8 tracks in total.
This is not a 8 favourite tracks of all time!
It’s crafting an album considering the flow and relationship of each track, the nuance and contrast of the genre, period and artist.
MY MIX:
Theme: 1979
1. Suspect Device - Stiff Little Fingers
2. Fall in Love with Me - Japan
3. The 15th - Wire
4. When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty - XTC
5. She's Lost Control - Joy Division
6. Hero Worship - The B-52s
7. Plan 9 Channel 7 - The Damned
8. Fire in Cairo - The Cure
LINK:
https://open.spotify.com/user/seanthumb/playlist/09MI95To4EQO9VI0O051eV?si=tHcGn3gVQ7aKtfmA1XOU5A
MY NOTES:
1979. The year I turned 12. The year I bought my first album, XTC "Drums and Wires." The year my taste in music came into its own, drifting away from The Beach Boys, Carpenters, and Bee Gees, bands my parents listened to. I didn't know music could sound like this. 1979 continued to inspire me for years—we named our first child Cairo, after The Cure's "Fire in Cairo," the song that closes out my mix. 1979, forty years away, yet timeless.
Now I make a weekly mix for the world:
mixcloud.com/discover/play-it-as-it-lays
Hey, Austin - your Sunday blog post on meekness made me think to share this Mary Karr poem, Who the Meek Are Not: https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2013%252F05%252F30.html
This is my dramatic mixtape, called Dramatisk. It's mostly for dark commutes and walking in the rain or just being outside very late and alone.
• First Love/Late Spring - Mitsky
• The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
• Pressure To Part - Julia Jacklin
• The Way We Used To Beg - Joel Alme
• Marry Me Just For Fun - Amazon
• Goodbye Horses - Q Lazzarus
• Surrender - Suicide
• Oh What A World - Rufus Wainwright
• Peace on the Rise - Chad VanGaalen
• Lonely Beuys - Man Man
• I Get Lost in You in the Summertime - Jimmy Whispers
Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0fWSfTC5Gz1ecDZRKfowiZ?si=4c40e236bc3b4477
Super idea! I used to make mixtapes decades ago.
Here's a mixtape/playlist that I put up on Spotify many years ago: MY 200 FAVORITE SONGS FROM THE 1960s. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5sKtlBH6EAeRP2MEKKXcrB Actually it's 269 songs now. My criterion for inclusion is simple: any song that I would be thrilled to listen to any time, anywhere. (Some more so than others -- like endless loop magnificent -- but they ALL qualify.)
The first few are The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"; Roy Orbison, "Crying"; and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, "The Tracks of My Tears".