What a Strange Way To Make a Tape Mix!

[H2IZCOOL]

I really don't know where this post goes. But since there are other mix discussions here, I chose this board.

It's not about an actual mix; it's about a mix philosophy.

I used to carpool back in the mid '90s with this guy. He and I both had several cassette mixes at the time, and since we had an hour plus drive each way, we'd usually share our mixes.

Now there was nothing wrong with his song choices. But when he'd get near the end of the tape, maybe 2 or so minutes left, instead of just leaving a blank stretch through which you'd just fast forward and go to the other side of the tape, he'd fill it in with classical music! So you'd have been listening to, say, Guns N Roses for 42 minutes. Then all of a sudden you're listening to three or so minutes of a Mozart symphony or a Brahms sonata until the tape ran out. Then, flip the tape, and back to GNR !

He'd explain it by comparing it to wallpaper. When you hang wall paper, you paper all the way to the edge of the room. You don't stop just because there is no more room for a full roll-width.

So everytime we'd hear one of his mixes, we'd listen to the "wallpaper" as well, He'd even call it wallpaper.

So, what do (or more likely, what did) you do when making a cassette mix? Just end and leave blank space? Foind a short song to fill in if you can? Or do you use "wallpaper" also ?

[55dodger]

I would choose an instrumental that was appropriate for the mix, & as I came to the end of the tape, just fade it out. Filled up the tape. I hated wasting any part of the tape.

[Laura--I wuv u all :)]

When I would tape all my CD's, if I had extra room on the tape, I would put in other songs recorded, written, and/or produced by the same artist (or someone from that group, if it was a group). If I didn't have anything that would fit those categories, I'd either put on a CD w/music and nature sounds, or a sound check CD (one that you use to test audio equipment--w/different tones, sounds, etc.).

[Ken]

I would either leave the space blank or find a song short enough to fit.I found early Beatle songs to be very helpful in that way.

[Dawn]

Guns 'N Roses and Brahms definitely make for interesting bedfellows!

I'd try to squeeze in a short song, but if I couldn't find any tracks with the mix theme that fit into the remaining time, I'd usually just leave it blank. I remember it used to drive me crazy when I'd misjudge the remaining tape, and it would run out with only 10 or so seconds of the song yet to record. Arrrgggh! That's one big plus of recording CDs - you can see exactly how much time you have remaining.

[Pete70s]

What's a cassette? Seriously, I haven't made a mix tape since 2000. I don't even think I own any cassettes any more.

But, back when I did, I used to just find a song short enough to fit in the space. If I couldn't find one short enough, I just left that part blank, since it would usually just be under two minutes. Not that big a deal for me.

But if I was in the middle of a song and the tape ran out, I would rewind the tape and erase that song. That was the cardinal sin of tape-making.

[dave910]

The last time I made a mix tape was back in 2000! I was dating someone and I wanted to give a mix of some of the new stuff I was into at that time. It was quite an odd mix everything from Kid Rock, P.O.D., Guster, Metallica and Monica!

I used to estimate how many songs I could fit on one side. When I was younger, I used to tape songs off the radio religiously! I would just record the songs, and would stop when the DJ started talking or when another tune began. In hindsight, I should have taped about 45 minutes of a show with DJ, commercials, songs and all. I was obsessed with having the entire intro so I could listen to it like it was a regular record! Sometimes I would even talk over the intro myself and be my own DJ

I'll admit this might sound a bit strange, but I was a lot of fun. I also save a lot of money on records.

[Dawn]

May 10, 2008 19:55:22 GMT -5 dave910 said:

The last time I made a mix tape was back in 2000! I was dating someone and I wanted to give a mix of some of the new stuff I was into at that time. It was quite an odd mix everything from Kid Rock, P.O.D., Guster, Metallica and Monica!

I used to estimate how many songs I could fit on one side. When I was younger, I used to tape songs off the radio religiously! I would just record the songs, and would stop when the DJ started talking or when another tune began. In hindsight, I should have taped about 45 minutes of a show with DJ, commercials, songs and all. I was obsessed with having the entire intro so I could listen to it like it was a regular record! Sometimes I would even talk over the intro myself and be my own DJ

I'll admit this might sound a bit strange, but I was a lot of fun. I also save a lot of money on records.

Not strange at all, Dave. I did that too!

I still have quite a few tapes of songs I recorded from the radio, some dating back to 1981. Like you, I wish I'd recorded more of the commercials and DJ patter, as in retrospect, those are really interesting to listen to.

[daniel]

I would try to judge how long of a song I needed to fill out a particular side. If there wasn't that much left on the song and the tape was running out I would just fade it out, otherwise I'd have to rewind and put a shorter song in it's place.