Digital Mixtapes
What makes a great mixtape? Is it the same as what made a great cassette or has the world changed?
I ask, because we have a bit of a competition and would love to hear all your highlights of the past 10 years for this first week of stuffz.
First entry comes from one of Metronomy and is really awesome way to set the bar rather high from the off http://www.mixcloud.com/OLUGBENGA/diolch/
Comp info here: http://drownedinsound.com/news/4141301-blackberry-competition--make-a-mixtape-win-share-a-mixcloud-win
- Relevant artist taggings:
- Metronomy »[x]
- In Photos: Photographer's Favourite Images - 20 from 2012
- In Photos: Green Man Festival 2012 @ Glanusk Park, Wales
- DiS at Latitude 2012: Live from the Cabin, inc. Yeasayer, dEUS, Sharon Van Etten
- Olugbenga's Personal History of the Remix + Stream: 'Mistakes' Mk3
- Latitude 2012: The Editor's Reviewgasm
- In Photos: Latitude Festival 2012 - Day 1 @ Henham Park, Suffolk
- In Photos: Rockness Festival 2012 @ Loch Ness, Scotland
- In Photos: Field Day 2012 @ Victoria Park, London
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worried about satan are going to do a special mix, check out this one they did recently http://futuresequence.com/article/mix-worriedaboutsatan/
the songs blend well
compromise (being selective and not feeling like you have to be eclectic)
a sense of humour
sticking to standard album length, unless it is a genre mix with black metal or something
not cramming in shit (data cds are a bad idea)
a theme (which helps in putting it together)
one very obscure song
less-known songs by popular bands, if you have those on your cd
one iro-banger
good list
i'd add that there should be (at least) one SWIIIIIITCH moment, where the mood shifts dramatically but the general flow continues - peaks and troughs to keep the listener on their toes.
the SWIIIIITCH is the hardest bit to master
if you do it too early or too soon it means that you have less choice in what to put on most of the cd.
If you do it in the middle, it's too neat
I favour a sort of ambiguous number to help make the transition
I reckon somewhere just after half way.
Plenty of room for a build up to it and if you make sure it's a corker after the switcheroo track there should be enough room to fit a couple of decent follow ups and the engineer a way to the close.
The last track is another chance to go out on a limb (or the penultimate one, if you've got something theme-specific that you've decided on as ideal closing track).
I need to make more mixtapes. There should be another DiS CD swap thread. Kinda makes it more listen-worthy when someone's gone to the trouble of burning a CD.
maybe but isn't it the same amount of trouble to mix it all together as one long continuous file?
Are we talking about an actual mix (with some crossfading and beatmatching) or a mixtape (a compilation of standalone tracks)?
the competition is for either (and also podcasts/radio shows). i made a very lame attempt at crossfading and beatmatching on mine, mainly because i hadn't ever used music software before, so was mostly matching it up by eye.
great set of rules, i'd add
- always include a spoken word sample, ideally something by bill hicks or from an obscure film
oh yes!
something from a john carpenter film or a fifties b-movie always works (not massively obscure but still)
also an instrumental from a film score is a great idea
indeed, have you heard that memoryhouse track with the Spotless Mind sample?
no, I haven't
will spotify it!
might make a short list of tracks with samples and put them up here tomorrow morning
just realised I'm not sure who this would benefit
but it might be interesting
actually dazed digital did an amazing mix of film soundtrack, scores and dialogue for mixcloud or something similar a couple of months back. twas very good
the list, not the tracks
ah, its not on Spotify
track 4 on this soundcloud player, lately http://drownedinsoundcloud.com/post/538349900/memoryhouse
bit contrived.
I used to make monthly mix CDs for my mates
But kinda gave up a while ago. Recently decided to try to make an hour-long Mixcloud mix every few weeks, taking in new stuff I've bought, older stuff from favourite bands, and the odd random thing dug out of my music library. Not doing themes as such other than the above loose criteria, but trying to mix them together reasonably well using Audacity.
Deffo up for giving this competition a go. In the meantime you can check out my 'test' mix here and new ones coming soon: http://www.mixcloud.com/ghbradshaw/
fantastic stuff, gonna have a listen to some of your mixes now.
Looks great
I'll be checking that out too, ta! I have Audacity, how d'you make the mix? Is there a plug in or do you just stream the mix through and then adjust the soundwaves as req'd? If that makes any sense...
Cheers!
I import each of the songs so they sit as individual 'channels' or whatever the technical term is! Then line up the times so one starts as another ends, in some cases overlapping to get the timing right (and on the odd occasion I adjust the speed of sections manually in an attempt to 'beatmatch').
Plan the track order using iTunes or WMPlayer though as it makes things much quicker when you import it all into Audacity!
thanks for sharing that advice. if anyone wants to download Audacity, it's free from here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Ah yes
Good call putting the link!!
My second mix attempt is now up (http://www.mixcloud.com/ghbradshaw/gb-mixcloud-2/) and now I'm starting work on a competition entry mix.
This is fun :-)
hurrah, a sponsored promotion that is both fun and keeping DiS alive.
thanks also
how long is this competition running?
am computerless, but desperate to take part
can this be a regular feature, linking civilians' mix cds?
* computerless for a week or so
6 weeks, no rush. different theme featured each week but you can enter whichever theme, whichever week.
Mixcloud
I still love making a mix CD, sadly my days of making mix tapes are over, but there's something I enjoy about making a CD for a specific person and getting to hand it over.
I have also been trying out digital mixtapes. I have been using Mixcloud for a while now and love it, they have kept it simple and easy to use, and it's totally free.
I tend to put up psychedelic drone mixes, but anything can end up on them - http://www.mixcloud.com/adventuresinthesoundscape/
If you like the competitive edge then there is a competition running at the moment, here's my entry - http://www.mixcloud.com/adventuresinthesoundscape/bench-warehouse-project-competition/
Mixcloud does tend to have a dance focus but there are some great mixes and Sonic Cathedral is on there too!
hrm, one of the things i was thinking, was whether we should make one of the themes, make a mix for someone in particular. i might make a mix for Trent Reznor if i get chance.
What do people find are the best programs for making mixes?
I've never done it before but quite fancy giving it a whirl.
I've done a few on garage-band
It's got its limitations, but is all pretty easy to do (eg. can only make files up to about 33 minutes or something, but this just means compact mixes or dividing it up into two sides for those who yearn for tapes and records and stuff)
ah, that might explain why it crashed on me then. i made an hour long mix and lost it (first time i've ever crashed my Mac!). decided to do it in ableton after that, which took a fair bit of looking at the how-to guides but was surprisingly easy once i followed the instruction.
anyone got any tips for my mix? any of you like it? (was expecting the usual torrent of abuse!) http://drownedinsound.com/news/4141301-blackberry-competition--make-a-mixtape-win-share-a-mixcloud-win
p.s. i should probably add that i'd never used any software like this before, apart from a very poor attempt at making a mixcloud a few months back, which i did using garageband, so this does mean its not too far outside of anyone's grasp to make a mix and you also get a new appreciation for those who do them really well.
Oh, i don't know about the technical details
Just that when i try and make a track on garageband any longer than 30 odd minutes (think it might be about 34 or so) it just refuses to go any further. My mac's about 6 years old though, and i think i'm running either tiger or leopard, so don't know who else this would apply to.
Sorry, only get a chance to listen to mixes on mp3, but nice to see some errors action there.
dont some digging and it must be a bug with your machine, as they don't seem to have a time limit
i tend to only like playlist/mixtapes that i have made myself.
yeah, you can create it however you like. it's just how it is consumed.
DIS is10 Comp
Ok got my mix online for the DIS comp - http://www.mixcloud.com/adventuresinthesoundscape/dis-is-10-competition/
I use Audacity, it's nice and simple - I have a set-up where my two turntables are connected through a two channel mixer which I use Audacity to record to sound input to my computer
Hope you like the mix... Mercury Rev/Alan Vega, Portishead, Dusty Springfield, Gaslamp Killer, Death in Vegas, Dead Skeletons (highly recommended) and Muddy Waters
thank you. really enjoyed that. quality rather than quantity with the entries so far http://www.mixcloud.com/tag/disis10/
Quantity of entries?
Or length of mixes? Mine's just about done but looking at the others it's longer than most. Is an hour too much?
there's no length limit at all, go crazy!
Cool
I stuck with the hour long version: http://www.mixcloud.com/ghbradshaw/dis-is-10-10-year-mix/
I had to reject so many good songs due to length though, may try to do another one sometime with just a handful of amazing long tracks...
I just want to say I'm having way too much fun making a mix for this contest and it's distracting from my studies.
<3/h8 you sean/blackberry.
haha.
annoyingly, if you had any issues accessing the above link on DiS, it's now fixed. more info and next mix. it is a nYc themed as we're doing 10 years in New York week but this week's mix theme is "local mixes" of past 10 years in your local music scene but feel free to make a mix to any of the themes.
great to see the mixes pouring in, anyone making theirs this weekend?
whoops forgot the link http://www.mixcloud.com/tag/disis10/
Reminded me to plug my mix!
Have a listen and let me know if you love it, think it's shit, or are just plain indifferent!
http://www.mixcloud.com/ghbradshaw/dis-is-10-10-year-mix/
done your mix yet?
here are the ones i've made http://drownedinsound.com/news/4141548-listen--a-series-of-dis-mixtapes-win-a-blackberry-torch