I didn’t post last night because I was busy doing one of my all-time favourite things: making mix CDs. I prefer making mix tapes, but given the fact that most of the people I know no longer own cassette players, CDs are the more functional way to go. In any case, it was a great time. There’s something about finding exactly the right songs and putting them in correct order that is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. A beautiful, musical puzzle.
I’ve got a lot of music I’ve never actually listened to. Stuff that I collected because the band names sounded familiar, or I felt like it was something I was supposed to like. So last night, themes in mind, I went through my entire collection and started picking out songs whose titles suggested they might fit. And the result is a few promising playlists and a handful of new favourite artists. It’s excellent.
Putting together a properly done mix CD takes time. You have to collect potential songs, begin to determine a rough order, and listen to each song all the way through to check for skipping and to ensure that the final product will flow properly. You want to avoid any jarring transitions and thematic incoherencies. Some people will just throw a bunch of songs onto a disc and call it a day. And while that might work if the purpose of the collection is just to educate or pass along music in a strictly functional sense, it doesn’t work if this is something that you want to be able to listen to as if it were an album. A good mix tape or CD will tell a story. The story might be an actual tale, each song chosen to develop the narrative and bring the listener from scene to scene, coming to the eventual conclusion. Or it can be used to convey a mood or emotion – every track’s words and music working together to transmit a feeling from the compiler to the listener. Any good mix will not be a neutral entity. It will have a definite message. A meaning that might be screaming out from the song or compilation titles, or that might be more subtle, but nonetheless present.
It’s hard work, this song arrangement. But when I find stuff like this in my collection as a result of my efforts, it becomes its own reward:
