The Art of the Mix Tape

This is not intended to be a comprehensive post, nor do I claim to be good at making a mix, or good at the technical aspects of recording one. I'm just hopeful this might spark more discussion and ideas from the good people here.

And if you are interested in sharing mix tapes feel free to send me a PM. I'm more inclined to work in MiniDisc format these days but I still have a few blank cassettes laying around.


Background
I've been making and sharing mix tapes with a couple friends for a few years now. We used cassettes for the first couple of years, but it's been getting harder to get good media at reasonable cost. No one makes anything but Type 1 tapes these days and even then quality is hit or miss. I haven't had major issues myself beyond generally frustrating low fidelity, but a friend has ended up throwing away way too much media for basically being unusable garbage. Maybe things are sitting too long in storage anymore.

Because of this we transitioned to using MiniDiscs about a month ago. We lose the all analog nostalgia but still keep most of the physical media aspect that's so enjoyable. I ran into one issue with bad "new old stock" media, but the larger lots of used recorded discs I obtained have all worked fine. Even though we are using discs now, I'm still going to use the mix tape term for simplicity.


Technical Challenges
With cassette tapes the key challenges (for me) have been related to media quality, recording levels, and deck quality. My late model but low end Sony deck works well for playback but has relatively high levels of wow and flutter compared to their really high end units. That combined with my absolute inability to get recording levels right has led to fun but kind of noisy/overdriven tapes. And it's probably good I don't record too much piano. I could do some service on the deck like replace the belts and rollers, but it will never be a high end unit.

I've been looking at nicer decks including the late model Sony units with Dolby S noise reduction, or similar era Nakamichi decks (no, not the Dragon, too expensive), but anything in good condition is quite expensive for the benefit I would get.

With MiniDiscs the recording quality issue becomes less about the tape formulation and the quality and precision of the deck, and more about the features of the deck and which version of ATRAC compression it supports in hardware. The simplest choice for quality as it relates to the deck is to choose one with a late revision of the ATRAC encoder (ideally one with Type R or S, which have the latest revision of the ATRAC encoder).

Since the recording is compressed digital audio, media quality is less of an issue, as long as the media isn't damaged. Recording levels for analog sources pose a similar challenge as cassette recording. Recording levels for digital sources are (at least on the surface) simple.

With the transition from cassette tape to MiniDisc, another consideration includes the ease of titling, as that is a basic part of the specification. Almost all recorders include provisions for title editing of varying convenience. A portable recorder such as my MZ-N505 has cryptic and difficult button based input. My MDS-JE530 deck uses a rotary encoder which is much easier to use, but still slow. My preferred method is to title using the MZ-N505 which has a USB port for NetMD use, along with the Web MiniDisc software. I'll record a disc on the deck or portable (depending on source) and then load it into the software to title tracks.


Recording Levels, Noise Reduction
I mentioned my problems setting good recording levels in the technical challenges. For cassette recordings it can be a debate between using the auto level control or setting things manually. Although auto levels can be easy, and with highly dynamically compressed music works well, it can do weird things to music with large dynamic range swings. As such I prefer to manually set recording levels.

But this leads to the challenge of settings the levels and then finding partway through a recording that the levels are way above optimal levels. At the point do I give up and try again or assume it will mostly sound OK? I've gone with the latter approach but been criticized (probably appropriately) for it.

Also of question is which noise reduction scheme to use. For the lowest common denominator, assuming some people are buying the brand new garbage cassette decks, it would probably make sense to use no noise reduction at all. Which drives you to record at high levels to reduce tape hiss in quieter sections. It may be more sensible to use Dolby B noise reduction, which almost any older deck supports. In addition to Dolby B my deck supports Dolby C, which is technically superior but much less common, and doesn't really play great with a Dolby B decoder. One friend records everything with Dolby S, which is the latest and greatest scheme, and more compatible with a Dolby B decoder. I think the most compatible choice overall is Dolby B and that is what I use.

For MiniDisc recording the challenges are a little easier. Recording from analog sources (tape and LP) has similar challenges to recording a cassette, but given the clipping/no clipping aspect is a little more clear cut when issues arise. And since re-recording doesn't incur a quality hit it's easier to justify. Recording from digital sources is -- on the surface -- even simpler. You can feed any digital source that isn't clipping into the recorder over SPDIF (optical in my case) and it will record fine without clipping.

The next debate is whether to record digital sources at the original levels, or to use volume leveling for the mix tape playlist. I've mostly recorded at original levels, but received some criticism for "hot" recordings. More importantly, when mixing overdriven/overcompressed tracks with higher quality recordings the perceived levels can vary even if peak levels are the same. Given this I recently transitioned from recording the original digital levels (sample rate conversion is required either way for high res tracks) to using volume leveling set to -14 LUFS. The results have been good, and philosophically speaking I'm already feeding the audio into a (pretty good) lossy compression algorithm so additional manipulation isn't really an issue.


Art and Titles
I strongly believe that a good mix tape has a title and artwork that goes with it. Even if it's simple, I think a good mix isn't just called "good mix volume 3". And I enjoy making art for the mix as well, which I print on vinyl stickers for MiniDiscs or on J cards for cassettes. Most of my titles are either based on the theme of the mix (discussed below), though some are simply descriptive or just fun phrases.


Why Not Just Share Playlists?
We do share playlists as well, but no matter how much work we might put into it no playlist really gives the same hit or sense of creativity as sharing physical media does. There's something to be said for the time constraints we usually use (60 minutes for a cassette or 74 minutes for a MiniDisc) along with the physical object itself that carries more emotional weight. Basically, this is more fun.


The Mix Itself
I saved the art of actually making a mix to the end. This is the most subjective and honestly most difficult part of the process, at least when preparing to title and share the result with others. My early mix tapes could easily be described as "tracks that I like", and had no real theme. This isn't really a problem, but it can be less engaging than a tightly themed mix.

It's more fun to think of a theme and start building a mix that goes along with it. One of my early tapes, called "Murder", was based on an LP I bought, which featured heavily, along with tracks similar in feeling. Another was built around the idea of an American (or Canadian) road trip, featuring long, lonely highways and trips to Colorado. Some are themed more loosely, like a recent mix that is musically light but occasionally lyrically heavy.

Other mixes of mine have been gimmicks, which I think are fun even if less musically coherent. One was music I loved that was not in English. One was a bunch of tracks recorded directly from LPs that were pressed before I was born. Another was just tracks whose titles started with "Don't" because I sorted tracks by title one day and that word stood out. If you check your music library you'll probably find you have a few dozen choices as well.

And one mix is simply the 16 track playlist I built a while back that I use for almost all of my gear impressions at some point.

But I still don't feel like I know the "right" way to build a mix. I get discs from friends and immediately feel like I'm terrible at it compared to what they're doing. But honestly I think that's much like the difference between seeing my own photography and looking at theirs. And it's part of what makes this fun.

And then sometimes I start a mix and it takes weeks or months before it feels ready. My latest felt nearly finished so I recorded it to a MiniDisc and got ready to title it and make some artwork. But on repeated listen a few of the tracks, though excellent on their own, just didn't fit well with the mood or pace of the overall mix tape. I took some more time and dropped four of the tracks for not quite fitting in and found three that worked much better. And now I need to choose a better title and make some artwork. Which will likely require photoshop or minor law breaking.

I'm keen to find out if others here make mixes, and what parts of the process they find most interesting.

 

It’s nice to see someone still practicing the (nearly lost?) art of making mixtapes – and doing it with such passion, thoughtfulness, and care. You’re like a master craftsman!



My own mixtaping, poor at the best of times, fell by the wayside long ago. Unsurprisingly, laziness and the convenience of digital playlists killed it off, as did the gradual loss of contact with friends who had a talent, like you, for making mixtapes. My friends’ ones were really good; they had better, or at least more eclectic and mature taste in music than me. One of them loved all things hip hop, which I know nothing about, and he made me this mix, which I suppose is a pretty great one-hour point of entry to 90s hip hop (I turned it into an iTunes playlist back in the noughties):




It also helped that my friends had had access to large and diverse music libraries. One of them had worked in a college radio station in Canada. Here’s my favorite of his – it’s a great selection of awesome tunes:




The heyday of their mixtapes was at the end of the last millennium in Japan, where MiniDisc players were all the rage. It helped that there was a chain of video and CD rental stores called Tsutaya from which we could rent CDs to make mixtapes. (It’s heartening to see that Tsutaya is still in business and now offers a home CD rental program). I had a nifty, fancy Sony boombox that had an optical out to my MiniDisc player, which may have helped somewhat with sound quality. Here’s the first MiniDisc mixtape a friend made me (entitled “Tune In Tokyo”):




My own attempts were pretty poor: they didn’t have artwork and, for shame, I have lousy handwriting. I did compile a half-decent one based on western soundtracks, although it relied too much on Ennio Morricone and the 1966 movie Django. There’s also some Paris, Texas stuff on it, as well as some Calexico (this from when The Black Light came out). Your road trip one reminded me of it. Alas, it was pretty patchy and a bit too incoherent, so I don’t think I ever shared it.

While it’s sad that I no longer have folks to make mixtapes with, it did leave me with a love for making playlists, especially once I made the move over to an iPod. I know it’s not the same thing. But I’m nearly 20 years into making “new music” playlists now, with “new” being pretty loosely defined to include stuff that’s new to me. It started out as a way to keep up with the latest releases or to dive into new genres or kinds of music, and all of this was helped by the rise of mp3 blogs back in the day. I have some 60 such playlists now.

Beyond discovering new music, it’s the compiling of the mix itself that appeals most. When I’m feeling a bit creative, I’ll make them according to mood or with certain genres predominating. But you’ve got me thinking about doing this properly again. Maybe I’ll reach out to long-lost friends? Your post brought back some fond memories. Thank you!

 

That's some great stuff. I'm sad to say even though I'm 40+ I wasn't doing this back in the real heyday for it. At best I was recording the radio or LPs from the library onto cassettes. And my library isn't that huge, though it grows pretty regularly.

I'm sure at least part of why one friend's almost always new to me is the giant 80k track library he's amassed over the last 20 years.

 

Let's be honest folks, those of us in the right age bracket for mixtapes probably started out making one to give someone on the off chance of getting laid.



... it was full of very embarrassing music wasn't it?

 

Though I'm in the right age bracket I never made any actual mixtapes on tape... but I really like making mix-tape like digital objects. Mainly it's about song choice, sequencing, and vibe and I kind of have to sit on it and stew on it and add things and take them out, move everything around, and generally tinker around a lot.

Then everything gets mixed together in Reaper - it's not just about sequencing, but about exactly how many seconds of gap there are between each song and how the keys interact from one song to the next. It's a process! Usually it takes about 3-4 years for the next one to feel ready. What's nice about having everything mixed together is that you can't just skip a song, you HAVE to listen to it from start to finish.

So I hate to be all like "check out my Soundcloud" but errr ... check out my Soundcloud

https://rhgg2.github.io/mixes.html

 

I only just started to include even basic editing beyond recording a playlist. Though my latest work in progress includes several seamless transitions between tracks where it feels right. And I did minor editing to fix fade-in and fade-out where it was needed for the track transitions to be smooth. It also has a couple tracks that probably need 1-2 seconds more between them, which isn't hard to add but is kind of annoying. At least MD makes it easy to delete a track and re-record it but leave it in the same place in the mix. Especially since I tend to listen to these on the actual media rather than the computer as I tinker.

Including that sort of editing in the process means a lot more work on setup, recording, and processing, but is also part of what makes it more than just a playlist. That and the various audio easter eggs I sometimes throw in. You might be surprised how easy it is to find audio clips of people yelling at or about people named Steve.

Thanks for sharing your mixes with us! The timeline you describe sounds like you put a lot of effort into it.

 

I may have understated how much of a factor sheer laziness plays in my glacial process. Most of the 3-4 years are spent noting down songs I really like, then losing the list.

 

I don't make mixtakes these days per se, but pre-pandemic I was a teacher and DJ for swing dance events. Now, taking into account that DJ's take their job waaaay too seriously and think they have more influence than they actually do when sometimes "it makes noise and people recognize it" is enough to get folks up to dance... I think a lot of the thought processes to that go into mixtapes and DJ lists are functionally similar.

I like to use what is known as a tempo wave. I slowly bring up the tempo/energy of songs, build up to a highlight song, then you have to make a choice on how long you think you can maintain that high point of energy before bringing it back down because people need to rest and catch their breath and prepare themselves for the next wave. For me, my downwaves are typically much faster. I'll spend 5-6 songs bring the energy up, then only spend 1 or 2 dropping it down. Sometimes I will use a silly song, or maybe a pop song as the transition. People are less fussy about something that sounds out of place when they are taking a "rest".

Grouping similar sounds is also common. I don't want to jump from a blues song directly into gypsy jazz even if they are both "danceable". Likewise I don't transition from a vintage piece directly into modern unless they have similar energy and/or instrumentation. How you control your transitions from one flavour to another involves selections of the middle pieces that maintain flow and don't sound jarring from one to the next.

Or maybe none of it matters, people aren't *really* paying attention, they just want to hear their favourites often enough and call it a day.

 

I'm jealous that you have such a passion for mixtapes. My friend was interested in this for a while and gave me many cassettes with his favorite recordings. Most of the time, there was something from Pink Floyd and Def Leppard, so I didn't mind listening to it on the tape recorder. I asked him for new mixtapes because I was a little tired of old cassettes. But he said he gave it up. Perhaps this happened because he bought an audio card and switched to music mixers in his MacBook. But what he created, I believe, was art. Not as much art as calligraphic artworks of my favorite artist, but still art.