Compilations

[TJ]

I can't put my finger on it, but I've always found CDR compilations lack a certain indefinable something in comparison to old skool tape compilations. Apart from the obvious improved sound quality, that is. So, with this in mind, please share your memories of the days of ferric, plastic and inlay cards...

[Fuckwittio]

Agreed. Nothing says 'I love you' better than a carefully compiled, lovingly pause-buttoned C90. CDRs...I don't know, they're just impersonal.

I love doing cassettes with themed sides. I did one recently titled Psycle Sluts/Crying And Wanking (I'll leave you to guess the respective musical styles). 45 minutes each...perfect.

[9]

Yes i agree.  Cds are too sterile. I like the satisfying mechanicalness of tapes.

My most recent mixtape memory is of going on holiday to the north of scotland; half a dozen of us in a landrover for a week. I made one 90 minute mixtape in Acid then wanged it onto tape, thinking everyone else would bring their own tape as well. As it turned out i was the only one who bothered and we had to listen to the fucking thing all week. Their's only so many times you can listen to Britney's Toxic morphing into Isolation by Joy Division before you lose it completely.

On the plus side I can listen to it now and it brings back happy memories of that holiday.

I also like the satisfaction of judging the mix so perfectly that the last song on the side only just fits on by the skin of its teeth. ;-)

[fanny splendid]

I know you say you can't put your finger on it, but do try. I'm intrigued why there should be a difference. If you're talking about an mp3 CD, of which I have been given a few in my time, then I would agree. There are so many songs on one of those that the compilation loses the theme and cohesion that, perhaps ten or fifteen carefully chosen tracks, can have.

I have done quite a few compilation CDs for people, and just like when I used to give friends tapes, I spend a while making sure that there is some theme running between the songs, the spoken word tracks, or the comedy. Instead of felt tipping, painting, or creating a collage cassette inlay, I now do something similar on the computer.

I do find compilations of any type, I have also done VHS tapes for people when I have lived abroad, very interesting, both to give and receive. I can never be bothered to sit down and write a letter, but spending the time to create a collection for someone, you can often find the finished product contains as much information about what you are doing and how you are feeling, as writing that letter.

[Ciarán2]

Nothing says "I love you" quite like recieving a mix-tape entilted "Crying and Wanking".

[Fuckwittio]

I also like the satisfaction of judging the mix so perfectly that the last song on the side only just fits on by the skin of its teeth. ;-)

Christ, that's such a good feeling. Especially when you've made the perfect final selection, but it looks like it won't fit...it could be your favourite song, but you're desperately waiting for the fucker to end, and it gets on with just an inch of brown tape to go...beautiful! I always find that if I really want it to work, it will, which is handy.

[Fuckwittio]

Nothing says "I love you" quite like recieving a mix-tape entilted "Crying and Wanking".

It's a favourite expression of my mates back in Donegal, so it is a sort of way of saying 'I love you' to a man. In a non-gay way, of course.

[Morrisfan82]

I also like the satisfaction of judging the mix so perfectly that the last song on the side only just fits on by the skin of its teeth. ;-)

Christ, that's such a good feeling. Especially when you've made the perfect final selection, but it looks like it won't fit...it could be your favourite song, but you're desperately waiting for the fucker to end, and it gets on with just an inch of brown tape to go...beautiful! I always find that if I really want it to work, it will, which is handy.

It's quite astonishing how gripped you can be by the fact that the trailing spool is rotating at twice the speed of the loaded spool isn't it? It's right about then you start irrationally cursing the length of the guitar solo before the final chorus.

[Fuckwittio]

It's quite astonishing how gripped you can be by the fact that the trailing spool is rotating at twice the speed of the loaded spool isn't it? It's right about then you start irrationally cursing the length of the guitar solo before the final chorus.

On that last song, I can't bear to look! I sit back in my chair so my bookcase obscures the stereo & puff away at a joint (I always need one per side for compilations). When it runs out too soon, I always practically leap out of my chair in fright.

Then I gnash my teeth and wonder what's gonna need to be left off.

[phalmachine]

Didn't Adam and Joe do a sketch about tape compilations?

I always left about 20 seconds of silence after each song, just to make sure I hadn't cut the end off the previous song.

I think the main difference is the music I used to put onto mix tapes.  There was always: Bush-Swalllowed, The Connells '74-'75, Ash - Girls from Mars, and about 17 REM sngs.

The inlay cards were great too.  I always had to write 'It's the end of world as we know it (and I feel fine)' in the smallest writing imaginable.  If I couldn't fit the whole title in, I used to get very upet. Good days.

[mayer]

i have to echo other's thoughts on Tape Vs CD, but i also have to admit that i only make the latter these days. i don't even have a tape recorder anymore. i agree with fanny that it's not that big a difference if you put the effort in design/choice... and the stress on the end of a side when recording in the old days probably aged me 20 years.


i remember making a great tape for this one girl, and then we spoke about how much her boyfriend liked it too. yay.


edit: a repost of my favourite CD sleeve i made for a friend who was leaving the country (and Manchester) for six months.

[poison popcorn]

i have to echo other's thoughts on Tape Vs CD, but i also have to admit that i only make the latter these days.

hey you, that's intellectual property you're stealin' there. ;)

unless of course it isn't.

[falafel]

edit: a repost of my favourite CD sleeve i made for a friend who was leaving the country (and Manchester) for six months.

So who got there first?

[mayer]

So who got there first?

fuck, never heard of it before... honest!

Audio CD (June 7, 1999). they did get there before me though,


but did Mint Royale have such a witty photoshopping of Bond and fiery curry? i think not.

[NobodyGetsOutAlive]

I also like the satisfaction of judging the mix so perfectly that the last song on the side only just fits on by the skin of its teeth. ;-)

God yes!! I was always so lucky with that but the sense of pride never waned.


I think the main reason CD-R making seems more unsatisfactory is that when making a tape, you're actually listening to every song yourself as it records and you're therefore very much involved in the whole making-process. Regardless of how much time and energy you spend on thinking up the perfect tracklisting for a Cd, there's always going to be that part when you just sit back, click 'burn' and have the finished compilation come out a few minutes later.


Plus with tapes you get an extra 10 minutes which may make or break the compilation.