Music Monday: My Rules for Mix CDs

I love making playlists- I have a lot of them, and I am really good at it. I love doing playlists for the decades, times of year, different moods, themes or for events. My playlists however have a tendency to be quite long, because, well, I have a lot of music. My 90's playlist is over 300 songs now. (And it is not full CDs released in the 90s- just popular singles of the time, that I also like) Making a mix CD is a completely different task from playlists because there is a limit on time/space and it is usually listened to straight through. I take a lot of pride in my mix CDs and will spend hours perfecting them. I have many rules, or guidelines, when making a mix CD that I will share with you today so get out your notebooks.

 "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules."

There are two main parts to consider when making a mix CD: Song Selection, and Order. First we will cover the all important "What do I put on this?" What you put on the CD will mainly be determined by your theme or goal. Go through your music and decide what would work best on your CD using the stuff you really like and not choosing too many songs just based on title. (A stumbling block for many a themed CDs) Here are some of the "guidelines" I follow when choosing music for my year end CD:

•  Every good CD has a theme, idea, goal, common musical concept or sound. Keep this in mind as you start perusing your music.
• Choose a wide variety of music. Either different genres, old and new artists, fast and slow etc.
• If the CD is for someone specific keep them in mind and try to introduce them to music you think they would like while throwing in a few songs you know they like.
• Keep the single count low. I try not to choose to many singles because one on my goals with most CDs I make is to expose people to new music and if I choose a non single their chances of hearing more from each artist is higher.
• Choose only one (or in special cases 2) songs from an artist. This goes along with trying to expose people to new things so I do not fill it with the same 3 artists, but also goes along with variety and not wanting the CD to sound like a best of. Now, if you are doing a CD to show your friend how awesome the Beatles are- then you might want to put more than 2 Beatles songs on it. (But I would also recommend putting some covers on it to break it up.)
• Have a few songs you want on there but are willing to cut if space does not allow. (I like to get as much as I can on each CD so I will try to burn and if is says it won't fit I delete one of those songs and try again until I get it)

The second part of a mix CD that I think is important is the order of the tracks. Flow is important to a CD, at least to me and a small minority of others. I realized that I cared a lot about this as I watched High Fidelity, and I now try to follow the first 3 track rule with every mix I do. Once I have songs chosen, usually many more than will fit, I start to narrow it down by ordering the ones I know for sure are going on. I start to chunk songs together (a skill that came in handy for the DM line dance) which means figuring out 3-4 songs that go good together in a certain order. Then I arrange those chunks and add in a few more outliers. **Note when chunking: do not just put all the slow songs together, or club songs together etc.. You want the CD to have ups and downs not first have fast second half downers. VARIETY!!** After you have it arranged you listen to it- adjust it- listen to it- rearrange it- listen to it- and adjust again till I have something I am happy with. This can be a long process, especially since I like to step away for a while and come back a few times.

Once you got it- burn a trial CD to listen to in your car so you can make sure it is just the way you want it and that the volume levels are not all over the place. (This is becoming more a\of an issue as artists are releasing louder and louder CDs and non remastered stuff can be so quiet.) Is it amazing? Then you are done- great job! Now just distribute to your friends or family, or to your own car and enjoy!!

And remember sometimes the rules are meant to be broken.

Another section of High Fidelity I relate to: the importance (and fun!) of arranging your collection: (Warning, Fbomb is dropped.)

I might try it this way once...