--Robert Langellier
What makes a true music listener, appreciator, connoisseur? Is it the ability to draw chord progressions from a layered chorus? A pitch perfect ear? The number of gigabytes taken up by your iTunes library? Nay, I say. I say it is the ability to produce MIX CDS.
Now, I've only recently immersed myself in the great ocean of MIX CDS, so I'm somewhat stealing a subject that Conor could probably do better. I'd have a conscience about it, if Conor actually posted on his days anyway (EDIT: Ironic because I didn't post this on my day).
MIX CDS are more than a stupid collection of your stupid songs thrown onto a disc. They are carefully constructed pieces of artwork, which anyone who's seen or read High Fidelity already knows. They allow you to perfectly express a string of emotions, without actually articulating them by yourself. It's a creative way to utilize other people's musical creativity without actually having to display your own. (Hey, wouldn't it be ironic if I put a Girl Talk track on my MIX CD?)
Anyway, there are no legal rules regarding the construction of a MIX CD. Although there should be, because the only thing a crying child hates more than returning to the orphanage is returning to lame transitions track after track after track. Like come on. So if you're brave enough to put in the weeks or even months of effort required to produce your very own MIX CD, here's an example of some general rules I've set for myself regarding their production.
1. Carefully place tracks so that each one carries into the next smoothly. Seriously, do it for the children.
2a. Have some big name tracks that everyone recognizes and loves, but not too many. Even MIX CDS need singles, just not 20. For a 20 track MIX CD, 3 big name songs are probably enough.
2b. Introduce the listener to new bands or songs they haven't heard. To me, listening to a MIX CD is just as much about discovery as it is about appreciation. That's why it's important to find a few diamonds in the rough to hide in the haystack (STOLEN APHRODITE, BEAUTIFUL AND MIGHTY!!).
3. Unless you have an alternative view on the scope of the MIX CD, try to make it flow like a real album. Have slow songs, faster songs, light and dark.
4. Make a big deal about it to all of your friends until they begrudgingly request that you make them a copy. Then take a long time doing it to build suspense.
5. Name it. If there's a theme to your MIX CD, tie the name into that. Like Conor's current and final high school MIX CD in a long line of high school MIX CDS is appropriately titled It's Been a Pleasure. Or my current summer MIX CD, filled with happy folk ditties, captures my peers' final grasp on youthful innocence before college, and is aptly named Younger Now. A good name makes a cool first impression.
6. Provide a tracklisting. A legible one. Otherwise you're dumb and don't deserve to have people like your MIX CD.
7. Make sure it doesn't skip (STOLEN APHRODITE, BEAUTIFUL AND MIGHTY!!).
8. Be good at what you do.
That is all. MIX CDS are artworks, so treat them as such. That is, with general indifference, unless it's yours. Then think it's worth everyone's ears, whether they know it yet or not.
Anyway, there are no legal rules regarding the construction of a MIX CD. Although there should be, because the only thing a crying child hates more than returning to the orphanage is returning to lame transitions track after track after track. Like come on. So if you're brave enough to put in the weeks or even months of effort required to produce your very own MIX CD, here's an example of some general rules I've set for myself regarding their production.
1. Carefully place tracks so that each one carries into the next smoothly. Seriously, do it for the children.
2a. Have some big name tracks that everyone recognizes and loves, but not too many. Even MIX CDS need singles, just not 20. For a 20 track MIX CD, 3 big name songs are probably enough.
2b. Introduce the listener to new bands or songs they haven't heard. To me, listening to a MIX CD is just as much about discovery as it is about appreciation. That's why it's important to find a few diamonds in the rough to hide in the haystack (STOLEN APHRODITE, BEAUTIFUL AND MIGHTY!!).
3. Unless you have an alternative view on the scope of the MIX CD, try to make it flow like a real album. Have slow songs, faster songs, light and dark.
4. Make a big deal about it to all of your friends until they begrudgingly request that you make them a copy. Then take a long time doing it to build suspense.
5. Name it. If there's a theme to your MIX CD, tie the name into that. Like Conor's current and final high school MIX CD in a long line of high school MIX CDS is appropriately titled It's Been a Pleasure. Or my current summer MIX CD, filled with happy folk ditties, captures my peers' final grasp on youthful innocence before college, and is aptly named Younger Now. A good name makes a cool first impression.
6. Provide a tracklisting. A legible one. Otherwise you're dumb and don't deserve to have people like your MIX CD.
7. Make sure it doesn't skip (STOLEN APHRODITE, BEAUTIFUL AND MIGHTY!!).
8. Be good at what you do.
That is all. MIX CDS are artworks, so treat them as such. That is, with general indifference, unless it's yours. Then think it's worth everyone's ears, whether they know it yet or not.
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