eric's little black star » My Mixes for You!

eric on Dec 15th 2009

My Mixes for You!

I really like doing mixes. When I was a kid, I’d make mix tapes for friends – this started in 5th grade. I’d tape Dr. Demento every Sunday night and after I had amassed a big collection of songs, I’d get a 90 minute tape and stuff it full of music. As I got older, that didn’t really stop. The invention of the duel cassette deck revolutionized my life.

These days, tapes are gone (thankfully), but gone with them is the mix tape. Contrary to what some folks are pushing, playlists are NOT the new mix tape. There’s no comparison. Hell, even mix CDs aren’t the new mix tapes. But they’re closer.

With a mix tape, you didn’t have tracks. You had two sides and you’d not only put songs on them, but you’d throw samples – bits of movies or silly things off Star Wars Read-A-Long book/records. It was a neat time. You really can’t do that with mix CDs. Podcasts come close, but honestly, I hate the word, so screw it.

Anyway, I like making mixes. For the past few years, I’ve been making mix CDs to give out like Christmas cards. The Christmas CDs are so much fun that I wanted to do more. Because money is always a factor, I can’t make copies and mail them to all my friends and family. However, I can make mixes and host them on my blog!

These are “In Between Mixes.” In 2009, I did five of them. In 2010, I’ll be doing 11 (making it one mix per month, when you count the Christmas Mix).

Though these In Between Mixes will have print-out-able front and back covers, they will only be available on my blog. I may make a few copies for friends here and there (mostly here, of course). And most mixes will be 80 minutes (the length of a CD-R).

The reasoning behind this was that I like the Christmas CDs to be able to be enjoyed by a wide audience. The covers CD was a good example of that. There’s something for everyone on it. Even the Springsteen and The Cure CDs were very listenable to a lot of people. The In Between Mixes won’t necessarily be as widely liked. But I still think folks will dig them.

Christmas Mixes