How To: Make A Mix CD by Bells

This Friday is SunGod and KSDT graciously let all of the Friday shows out of their shows so we could fully enjoy that greatness that is SunGod. Jezli and I will probably write a blog reviewing the show, but I thought I would at least leave you with this little number I wrote for my non-fiction class (that I never actually turned in because I ditched all my classes Friday) in lieu of an actual Week 7 playlist so you don't feel a withdrawal from a lack of SLTBNT blog posts and I'm also hoping that maybe we'll start a How To series on SLTBNT. Would you like that? Comment below!

How To: Make a Mix CD

First, of course, there must be a theme. Not just any theme, but a theme for an audience-your best friend, your mom, yourself, your acquaintance, your stranger, your newly inherited dead great grandmother's cat Studly Poofikins. I guess then you choose an audience and then you choose a theme. I'll start over.

First, you choose an audience, which could literally be any individual, group, animal, plant, mineral, building, piece of art, etc. Sometimes the audience chooses you. Like when your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend needs a mix of his favorite music to get to know him better. Or maybe there's a building with a sign on it that says "I AM LONELY. MAKE ME A MIX?" Or maybe your newly inherited dead great grandmother's cat Studly Poofikins bitch slaps you across the face with the force of Chuck Norris and screams "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW MIX, MUDDAFUCKER." It really could be any of these scenarios. Let's pretend you get to pick the audience this time around though.

Second, of course, there must be a theme. Mix CD themes have a wide continuum from which you could pick. It could "Songs To Listen To During An Earthquake," if in fact there is an impending earthquake that is plaguing the audience's fears, or "Calm You Down Happy Time," which is my own personal time-to-shut-down-that-ADD-brain-of-yours-without-looping-yourself-on-medication-for-the-next-seventy-three-years-of-your-life.

Third, you go through all 8,592 songs on your iPod. This will take a long ass time. Pick songs you think will fit the theme (will use the "Song To Listen To During An Earthquake" as our example). Put them onto one huge generic playlist. There will probably be close to 176 songs when in reality you can probably fit 15 on one blank CD.

The fourth and probably one of the most significant is to cut those 176 songs down to the needed 15 or 16 or however it varies due to the sizes of the song files and how big the mix CD is. What you need to do is first take out all the songs that don't actually fit the theme. You know as you were going through you were like "I really like this song and want to listen to it on a continuous basis so much that it is actually impossible to listen to it on the cd so I've started listening to it on iTunes and the play count is 563." (Not going to lie, this has happened to me. You'll never know what song it is unless I tell you or you lived in my suite during freshman year. The play count somehow got deleted and although I wish it hadn't because I was pretty happy about it, it is gone forever and you'll never know. Although right now, after the deleted 563 play count, it's at 345.) Anyway, only you want to hear that song, not everyone else on the entire friggin' planet. GET RID OF THOSE SONGS. THEY ARE UNNECESSARY AND USELESS. Then, you should have a core of about 40 or 50 songs. It's ok, you can still do this, I promise you.

The next thing is you have to really think about whether or not these are the songs you want on there. Is that song that mentions just something about making yourself believe that planet Earth turns slowly really the song you want to listen to DURING AN EARTHQUAKE? Maybe, maybe not. Just take out those questionable songs.

Now you have to think of a direction within the theme. Maybe you want a funny earthquake mix featuring songs that will take the mix-listening catastrophe victim's mind off the fact that their leg is being crushed by the tree that was once in their neighbor's backyard. Maybe you want songs that will convey to listener that THIS IS A SERIOUS EMERGENCY AND YOU NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. It really depends on where you want the direction of your music to go. Maybe you want a mix, a clever blending of everything.

When it comes to this aspect of the mix, most people I think go by sound. I think that's gay. I don't mix that sounds the same all the way through. I think that would work if you were going fo a genre mix, such as "80's Hair Bands That All Sound The Same" or "Whiny Emo Boys And A Single Acoustic Guitar That All Sound The Same." Also, I'm really big on lyrics. I prefer gong off the lyrics when making a mix. I also like blending multiple directions.

And really once you figure out where you want to go with the mix CD, you just delete songs until you get it. Some will work, some won't and you have to dig into yourself to figure those out. This is where your own personal flair comes in. Maybe you know how to mesh together in perfect juxtaposition of a whiny emo boy with a single guitar right after a hair band from the 80's and they sound just right near each other. Maybe you know how to get all those songs together where the lyrics really hit home with theme. Maybe you can do both. Personally, I attempt both. I want lyrics that fit with a flowing sound that works.