I wrote this when I was a music snob:
How to make one bad ass mix tape (or cd), in 10 easy steps, that will make you look really cool:
1. Don’t use more than 2 songs by any 1 artist. If you do you’ll look like you have no culture and own 3 cds.
2. Don’t play A sides! Play the songs people probably haven’t heard by the artist. Similarly, Don’t play all artists that the listener is familiar with. You’re trying to broaden their horizons, not be a new corporate radio station!
3. The rarer the song, the better. Similarly, the harder to find, the better. A vinyl copy of some obscure dead band that broke up after releasing only 100 copies, and playing 2 shows is what you’re looking for.
4. Don’t put the same bunch of songs on every mix tape you make, no matter how hard it is.
5. If someone makes you a mix tape, don’t use more than 1 of their songs on a mix tape you make another person! Plagerism ain’t cool!
6. Make a COMPLETE track list. If you don’t the listener will have no idea which new artists they like and don’t like. Also they’ll be annoyed with you for making them sing the song to you to figure out which band it is.
1st 3 songs
7. 1st song: has to hook the listener in, but can’t be the catchiest.
8. 2nd song: Even better than the 1st, more depth. Reassures the listener there is better stuff inside.
9. For song 3: Take it down a notch, in another direction. (If you just keep building straight up, you will fall like Babel.) What direction?=>
10. Think of the mix cd as a musical journey (corny I know) Each song should sound somewhat like the previous, yet not so much like the song before the last song. Confused?
THE FORMULA
Think of each song as having at least two characteristics
song 1: AB
song 2: BC
song 3: CD
song 4: DE
each song has part of the previous within it, yet the mix is slowly evolving. Song 1 might be electro-clash, and song 2 might be casiotone based but not electro-clash. Song 3 might have a similar rhythmic style as 2, etc. This gives your cd a theme without being as vague as “Love Songs,” but you could follow the formula and use all love songs. WARNING: DO NOT PUT ALL YOUR SLOW SONGS ON ONE SIDE OF THE CD AND ALL THE UPBEAT SONGS ON THE OTHER. Your mixtape should flow homogenously, not with chunks of sadness clumped up at one section. Break them up.
Other Cheap Thrills
*: Toss in some audio clips, from movies, tv, whatever you can find. Not too many though.
*: Make the last song as wacky as all hell. Wesley Willis is my fav.
*: Coversongs! There are all sorts of coversongs from good bands covering good songs to bad bands covering good songs to … but they’re nice to spice up a mix tape (in moderation).
*: If you have problems with the formula, punctuate it with an audioclip (find them online), then go in a totally different direction.
FINAL RULE: IF YOU RECIEVE A MIX. RECIPROCATE
