mixtapes, royal pain in the ass or labor of love?

[foofy]

does anyone else here make mixtapes (or cds rather) on a regular basis, or even just sometimes? i just want to bitch about how much i hate arranging tracks in a list so that the whole thing flows well. such a pain in the ass.

i guess you could say it makes me appreciate the ability of a good dj to do it on the fly. so feel free to bitch about how much it sucks to make a good mixtape for a friend.

and so this is a discussion thread, go ahead and tell me your favorite sea mammal and why.

/me watches this thread get one response about mixtapes, and 400 about whales. :D

[HexRei]

are you talking about "mixed" mixtapes, where the tracks are actually mixed into each other, or the kind that's just various tracks arranged in whatever order?

[TurntableTruth]

hey thats below the belt
nah its ok right now im working on my demo
im actualy adding in a mix of turntablism a little somthin more than the ordinary dj does

and then im also working on trying to put together like a 15 minute turntablism set of me mostly scratchin mixin a few songs and seeing if i can pull off the beat juggling and make it sound good

o yea
dont be a dick
thanks

[jaydjtj]

tell you what....as much as a pain in the ass they are to make....it's worth it in the end when you have a mix tape/cd that turns out good after hard work on it. tips..i do 3 things regularly. i've made a few mixed tapes/cd's over the past few years that i've preprogrammed and one tape that i did back in 99' that i sold and gave away as promos took me 13 times to get the mix right over the span of 2 weeks... i've also recorded some of my live sets out in clubs and just released one back in december that sold well at platnum. and then i still circulate a live set i recorded back in may of 2001 that i've given out probably between 250 and 300 copies of. and i try to record on the fly at home as much as i can . you never know what you might capture on the fly. currently i'm working on one right now that i've been shuffling around with for a week or 2. it's important to get your music out as much as possible so i try to stay current..

[lady.don't.tek.no]

LABOR OF LOVE MOS DEF.....

[evilarchangel68]

Originally posted by foofy
i just want to bitch about how much i hate arranging tracks in a list so that the whole thing flows well. such a pain in the ass.

i guess you could say it makes me appreciate the ability of a good dj to do it on the fly.

hopefully a dj will have listened to their records enough times to know exactly what records match the best where.

ive never made a mixtape (probably becuase i dont dj and probably never will :D) so i wouldnt really know how fun/horrible/frustrating/awesome it is.

and orcas are by far the superior whale :D

[Starfighter]

from the promoter perspective-
getting free music is the best part of being a promoter. ok so throwing a sic ass party and raising $ for charity at the same time is mega cool too. but i've got some of my favorite mixtapes because a dj sent me a demo, of course i always like to hear them in person first though cause it's way diffrent than on tape. i hate it when i go to see a dj and its the same track list as his/her mixtape.

from the dj perspective-
i'm working on a few mix tapes of my own (under the name ST*Rcraze). if you get board w/ your tracks or burnt out on spinning then maybe you should take a break and reconsider being a dj in the first place. when i'm not in my car i only listen to vinyl. when i'm not listening to my precious vinyl, i'm placing mixes together in my head trying to figure out new track list that sounds tight. imho djs should spin because they luv the music not because they want to be on the vip list, get praise, money, hoes, or any other reason.

[Hookups]

Tapes?


I make L337 mixes with Mixmeister whenever possible. It's a great use for my 30 gigabytes of mp3s :D

Seriously, mixing your own music kicks ass. Mixmester is a great program that lets you make killer mixes by automatically beatmatching tracks for you. It's a blast! You get to play producer and then show off your new 'album' to your friends. Two thumbs up.

I agree about the Orcas, too. If I could be an animal, that's what I'd be.

[psyanide]

I like when I get one done...but the process, damn, very long and frustrating (which also means I'm not easily satisfied). I agree with jaydjtj though, it's a good thing to try to always record your mixing, you never know what might happen. In fact, most of my demo's sort of originated out of material from a couple of practice sessions.

[Elroy]

I have a love-hate relationship with mix-tapes. Recently I have been trying to do more cds... but I do not cheaply edit and shit, like some people do. I am a purist, and I will only hand out a demo that is %100 turn-table prepared.

But anyhow... I love mix-tapes because they are much more spur of the moment usually. At least in my set-up (where I use my stereo as my amp), all I got to do is just press play, and I am recording.

Some of my best mix-tapes were almost completely random. The mix that was probably the most widely distributed out of all of my tapes, "Dark'n'Speedy," was made after I started warming up for a gig, and then I realized I really liked the way the tracks were coming together. When I came home, I decided to make a recording. I finished on the 3rd try, and it is still one of my favorite mixes to date.

However... I hate the sound quality... and the fact that eventually your master will wear out, and the mix will be gone forever. I mean, there is something romantic about that... but it sucks as well.

[Tecknowledgy]

Mixtapes rule. Here's a trick:

Take 2 CD players and hook them into the same recorder. Fade one track on one player out while fading the other in. It's cool.

[groovinkim]

i have over 800 mixtapes
i adore them
i make custom non-mixed mixtapes/cds often, too
and now that i have tables
my trainwrecks will soon be torturing people, too!

[Enkidu Kind]

Listenin to the mixtape. :D

http://www.spookoo.com/sketchbook/romantica/mixtape.jpg

[breakbeatpaul]

I loves me some mix tapes I tell ya. I appreciate every ounce of effort that has gone into the tapes and CD's that I own.
But my favorite ones that I have are sets recorded while the DJ is playin in front of people. Altho I know a few DJ's that hate to record live stuff (why?). You may get a couple of off mixes or preferably come up with some new shit that sounds ill right on the spot. I got a CD of Papa Gaz from a certain club that has a friend of mine tryin to MC to some hard house and he totally sucks but I will cherish that CD forever.

[foofy]

Originally posted by HexRei
are you talking about "mixed" mixtapes, where the tracks are actually mixed into each other, or the kind that's just various tracks arranged in whatever order?

i was actually thinking of just the kind where you arrange the tracks in whatever order :)

hell. i wasnt even talking about electronica hahah. i just got done making a mixtape for someone thats mostly punkrock/post-punk/indie/emo/insert retarded sub-genre name here.

but im not picky about what people contribute about :D

[foofy]

Originally posted by hex
hey thats below the belt
nah its ok right now im working on my demo
im actualy adding in a mix of turntablism a little somthin more than the ordinary dj does

and then im also working on trying to put together like a 15 minute turntablism set of me mostly scratchin mixin a few songs and seeing if i can pull off the beat juggling and make it sound good

o yea
dont be a dick
thanks

aw hex baby. its all in good fun :)

although it took awhile, youve managed to win me over in the end. i cant resist your innocent charm!

but yo. on the real. no offense intended. just kiddin with ya.

[TurntableTruth]

nah its like ever since i fucked with rawkus
everyone is jumpin on the band wagon

[Tecknowledgy]

mmm hmmmmmmmmm.

*jumps on bandwagon*

Hop on hex.

[Axiom]

mixtapes are the bomb diggity. I have several from jungle dj's in So. Cal, a few from RAW, some from Curious, APX-1, Kingpin, Shari, and Cosmo Brown...

cd's are nice, but everyone expects to have a tracklisting, segmented tracks, fancy artwork, etc....whatever happened to a downright dirty tape? You had to listen to the whole thing if you didn't want to keep your finger on the >> button the whole time, there was a lot less formality about it all, you put the tape in and listened to the dj's selection.

it's nostalgic too :) brings me back to the boombox days...my first mix was a tape, and I still love that mix, but most people want a cd, and although I will make cd's, I still like making tapes whenever I get a chance...