The lost art of "i'll make you a tape"

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:20 pm

I haven't put together a compilation for someone for ages. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to get JUST right.

*puts "Loaded" by The Velvet Underground back on the shelf and scours the tracklisting of Spacemen 3's "Recurring"*

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:03 pm

I missed the mixtape generation, I remember playing with tapes and such when i was a kid, recording the radio instead of buying music

Did you ever make one for a girl?

Braddock · Post by **Braddock** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:18 pm

There's still Spotify and Youtube playlists this day in age. With the beautiful adverts in between.

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:20 pm

Oh yes! Carefully sequenced C90s....

I'm actually making a YouTube playlist this time, but it's still proving difficult. At least there's no ends of tracks being clipped off because the tape has run out.

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:28 pm

That is something which I really miss in the digital age, not so much because I lived it back when everything was analogue, but even now, I find the whole experience of putting a record on the deck and sitting there with the sleeve and reading is so much more fulfilling than having the covenience of listening to music on an iPod.

Braddock · Post by **Braddock** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:41 pm

fujee wrote:That is something which I really miss in the digital age, not so much because I lived it back when everything was analogue, but even now, I find the whole experience of putting a record on the deck and sitting there with the sleeve and reading is so much more fulfilling than having the covenience of listening to music on an iPod.

I'm usually concentrating on the music. Good headphones and it doesn't matter what I'm listening to it on. I can even tolerate mp3 standard recordings.

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:14 pm

Indeed it's all about the choice of tunes.

Currently trying to nail the perfect intro....

nordheim · Post by **nordheim** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:26 pm

i miss those days. last year i made a tape for my best pals volvo with a tape player. it was just isso tomitas snowflakes are dancing lp and an old ondes martenot lp. one each side. he said it was the best tape with the full analog signal. nice and earthy! i think tapes and analog mediums make you think about whats going on a bit more. plus, you have to be patient with it. probably why we all miss it so much.

Betacord · Post by **Betacord** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:29 pm

Ah, the old tape based methods... In the mid 90s when I got a new stereo, I continued to make tapes but the recording action became simplified by a one-touch button, where you pressed it even lightly and it 'clicked' into action about ¼ of a sec later. Not only did this introduce a small additional gap between recordings, the whole feel of being really in control of the timing, and the tactile feel, was lost. It was never as enjoyable.

The sort of feel which the older stereo buttons had, where you had to physically push down both Play & Record buttons simultaneously and then Pause between track switching, that was proper. And if you pushed the buttons down only partially without locking in, the reels spun too fast or too slow -- you could dub a tape or record the radio at the wrong speed deliberately, and even just being a bit sloppy on the button-pushing would introduce the effect as a tape stop or speed-up...

That was like the recording equivalent of having Manual transmission instead of the Automatic it became - you had the extra control but way more room for error.

All really variable and analogue back then, nowadays it's digital and very binary in its playback, as discs tend to be; it either plays perfectly, or if it panics then it stops playing altogether - none of the shades in-between.

And yes, you did have to be patient, but when it was tape-to-tape, when you had High-Speed Dubbing Mode you could afford to be less so - all whilst laughing at the hyper Alvin and the Chipmunks-style versions of your chosen tunes; I don't think the novelty ever wore off.

I just wish I'd been a bit more tape savvy (for all cassettes, not just audio!), albeit I was still a young'un for most years. Normal Bias / Chrome / Metal, all that business. I knew to set accordingly, but I didn't realise how these related to the quality of tape. One of our recorders had a Metal setting, but alas, never bought the tapes.

I still make mix CDs now, and they are either for the rare car trip, or compiled of nothing later than 1990s... I like to think that if remembering a song helps you think to where you were when it was first out, it might be useful as a memory-jogger. Then again, I seem to remember more songs from the past couple decades then anyone else I know well, and my memory is shite!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:38 pm

What goes around, comes around. I've gotten back into cassettes again in the last year or so. Really must 'enjoy' the special feeling of hitting that pause button just right at the 35th attempt again one day soon.

I used to love making mix tapes. Usually in a desperate attempt to win the heart of some pretty girl somewhere.

Roll forward to 2005 and I went through the whole thing again with my latest 'personal ambition'. This time is was a mix-CD but the same love and time and effort and - frankly - total bloody frustration - went into it.

Now, I'm not saying it worked, but she did ditch her boyfriend a month later and today me and 'her' are married with a daughter.

She still doesn't like 95% of my record collection though. Must have been the cover art I photoshopped together then..

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:44 pm

And that my friends, is the power of the mix tape.....

I believe it has been proven that 87% of all mix tapes ever made, were made to impress a member of the opposite sex. I wonder if the directors of TDK know how many relationships they're responsible for?

Now..... Bel Air by Can? Too much?

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:50 pm

Can is never too much, though I did put Tago Mago on in a pub the other night, the older generation were not too happy.

Braddock · Post by **Braddock** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:50 pm

Daniel Johnston on tape can't be beaten.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:21 am

fujee wrote:Did you ever make one for a girl?

Yes. I put a lot of time into it; side A was traditional indie/emo/rock, side B was BoC/Autechre/more leftfield. It took her 8 months to listen to it.

asymmetrical head · Post by **asymmetrical head** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:51 am

I even used to cut and paste pics and type from magazines and make collages for covers. Wish I still had those. I think the last mix tape I ever made was like back in 1999.

Braddock · Post by **Braddock** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:07 am

The vast majority of playlists I've made have been for the opposite sex. Between the ages of 18 and 22 I maintained I could get the person I was making it for into (well, more than into) at least one new band (10 song playlist). I can't think of a time when I didn't succeed. I made a playlist for a couple of girls (who knew each other) and a year later they both had a tattoo of one of the people on the playlist who they had never heard of previously. Not that I'm a fan of tattoos, but still, it felt cool to have that impact.

I don't really make playlists anymore, aside from to my bandmates for ideas of sounds.
You should do a mixtape exchange, though it would have to be flac or mp3 or whatever, and downloadable rather than posted. Keep it anonymous. Trying to encompass all the music you're in to.

IanRedpoint · Post by **IanRedpoint** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:19 am

Betacord wrote:The sort of feel which the older stereo buttons had, where you had to physically push down both Play & Record buttons simultaneously and then Pause between track switching, that was proper. And if you pushed the buttons down only partially without locking in, the reels spun too fast or too slow -- you could dub a tape or record the radio at the wrong speed deliberately, and even just being a bit sloppy on the button-pushing would introduce the effect as a tape stop or speed-up...

That was like the recording equivalent of having Manual transmission instead of the Automatic it became - you had the extra control but way more room for error.

The only tape recorder I have left that's old enough to not be electronically controlled is a 1970s Akai reel-to-reel. Seems like overkill to use that to make a mixtape.

Once spent a weekend helping a mate make a mixtape for a girl in his office. It had the most extreme stuff we could think of at the time - Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, Skinny Puppy etc. alongside achingly beautiful songs - Scott Walker, Marc Almond, Hugo Largo... Spent ages pulling together weird little samples of news broadcasts (tape again) and film clips to slot between the songs. I think we even recorded a drunken cover of obscure Julian Cope instrumental 'Flipped Out on LSD' that ran all the way to the end of the tape on side 2.

I'm not sure she ever spoke to my friend again.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:51 pm

IanRedpoint wrote:Once spent a weekend helping a mate make a mixtape for a girl in his office. It had the most extreme stuff we could think of at the time - Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, Skinny Puppy etc. alongside achingly beautiful songs - Scott Walker, Marc Almond, Hugo Largo... Spent ages pulling together weird little samples of news broadcasts (tape again) and film clips to slot between the songs. I think we even recorded a drunken cover of obscure Julian Cope instrumental 'Flipped Out on LSD' that ran all the way to the end of the tape on side 2.

That's really quite awesome.

I tried something similar for a girl I met. I made her a mixtape with some Postal Service, Mineral, CaP'n Jazz, Van Pelt, American Football, etc. on side A, and then more leftfield selections of BoC, Autechre, Aphex Twin, and an old folk song of some description on side B.

I gave it to her on her birthday, in a little packaged I wrapped with paper and plastered with butterfly stickers. For the next eight months I asked her periodically if she had listened to it yet, and always got back a negative ("I've been really busy", etc.). Then, about a month ago, I asked her, "Have you listened to your cassette yet?" and got back an expressionless, "Yup, I listened to it...".

Moral of the story: Don't put this on a tape for a girl who doesn't know you REALLY well.

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:51 pm

pianoforte wrote:
fujee wrote:Did you ever make one for a girl?

Yes.

Cryabetes · Post by **Cryabetes** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:17 pm

you guys and your pause button. two turntables and a mixer into the tape deck is the way to go.