The Lost Art Of The Mixtape

When I was a lad, and everything was in black and white, and computers and smartphones were something you only saw in science fiction films, the mixtape was the perfect way to win new friends, impress people with your amazing music taste, tell that boy or girl you loved or hated them, or keep everyone at your birthday party dancing.

There is a lot of skill and art in putting together a compilation of tracks, and a big part of this is the ability to research and find new/old/obscure/long forgotten music.

I would like you all to put together your own Mixtape.

The key elements to think about first is the point or purpose of your mixtape. What is your theme?

This could be obvious:

to tell your crush you really fancy them using the medium of music

to get across just how much you hate someone for dumping you

to cheer up a friend with some joyful uplifting songs

to find as many songs as possible on the theme of space travel

to showcase the productions of one artist or producer over their career

Or it could be more obscure:

to show your encyclopaedic knowledge of 1990s hip hop

to show the line of influences from 1960s British rock and roll to the present day

to make people aware of the unknown output from your favourite (but slightly unknown) record label

Or it could be really really really obscure:

to showcase the unknown sound of a long forgotten Nigerian Funk Label that only existed from 1971-1972

a mixtape of songs exclusively about badgers

a mixtape of songs that sound better at half speed/played backwards

To further reinforce the message, mixtapes were often interspersed with interviews, film and tv clips, skits and interludes. These can be used to add more interest to your musical story, add humour or emotion, or bring in a human element.

Over the next week I would like you to research, locate your songs and any additional media./interviews/film or TV audio clips, and create your own mixtape.

Task:-

1 - Identify a theme that has real meaning to you - if you don't have anything to say, your mixtape will just be a collection of songs - remember the key here is the story you are telling. Please write a short (300 words) explanation of your theme, why you have picked it, initial ideas of songs you will include, and what you need to research

2 - Conduct research in to relevant songs. You have access to an unlimited amount of music. The art and skill of this task is to sift through lots of potential tracks, and narrow your selection down to the most meaningful and relevant based on your idea.

3 - Put a running order/sequence together for the tracks and any additional content you want to include. A Cassette has a run time of either 60 or 90 minutes (C60 cassette is 30 minutes per side, C90 cassette is 45 minutes per side - yes, cassettes have a side A and a side B [this may also feature in your planning - often different sides would have a different purpose - Slower tracks side A, faster side B etc]) and you will need to consider this carefully when planning out your mixtape

Initially I would like a google document with the above tasks answered, but please also gather your songs and media together as the next part will be to use Logic to assemble your mixtape

There are lots of examples of mixtapes and thoughtful compilations out there, but a great start for your research would be to listen to any of Bob Dylans Theme Time Radio shows. Not only are they a musical education, and incredibly interesting to listen to, but they are very cleverly themed as you will see.

Have a read through these links, and have a listen to Bob using the links below

The Lost Art Of The Mixtape

15 Rules For Making A Mixtape

Bob Dylan - Theme Time Radio Hour

A Journey Through Rhyme And Space

We will have a discussion on this task in our lesson this afternoon.

Get your thinking caps on!

How Much Have You Forgotten?!

Please take this short quiz to see how much you remember from work covered earlier in the year

Quick Quiz Link

Super Cheap Audio Interface Bundle

Following a student query I have been looking at cheap audio interfaces, and I found this.

Im stunned at how cheap it is now for an interface/mic/headphones bundle

https://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_u_phoria_studio.htm

Free Logic If You Have A Mac!

https://djmag.com/news/apple-make-logic-pro-x-free-90-days

One Of My Favourite Bands Live Full Show

Fat Freddys Drop are a New Zealand based band - absolutely fantastic live.

If you want to see if im right or not, check this full show out!

Fat Freddys Drop Live Full Show

Music Films/Documentaries to watch

here are some music documentaries that are available for free on iplayer

Essential Music Documentaries On Iplayer

and I know not everyone has Netflix but here is the same for Netflix

Best Music Films and Documentaries on Netflix

Again I will keep adding to this, but feel free to write a review if you watch something and we will post it on the blog

Free Online Music Making Resources

I will keep adding to this, but if you are stuck at home and don't have Logic or and DAW software, here are some links to some online music making resources to keep you going for a bit

If you have a go with any of them, please email me a review/tips and tricks and I will add them to the post so people can get an idea of what each one does.

Audiotool - This is a great little site that lets you choose, connect and play with some classic music making equipment (Boss guitar pedals/classic drum machines/303 etc) - plus it has a sequencer built in so you can sequence the instruments and effects together to make tracks.

VCVRack - This is a free virtual Modular synth. Tons of separate modules to link together to build your own synthesisers. Think about our Sound Creation unit, and the building blocks of any synth (oscillator/filter/envelopes/LFO's etc) and you can experiment putting your own unique synth together

SoundGym - This is a great online resource to help you train your ears/hearing and make you a better sound engineer. You need to set up an account but there is some free content on there once you have done that.

Soundation - This is a fully functioning DAW type application for sequencing/recording and mixing audio.

Audio Sauna - Again this is almost like an online version of Garageband you can use to make tracks

Sound Trap - Subscription based online music making platform. Some free stuff available with a free account

Pulseboy - Nintendo Gameboy style application for making 8-Bit stye tracks and sounds

ViktorSynth - Free online synthesiser to play about and make patches with

Acid Machine - Beautifully programmed and implemented 303 Bassline Machine

Sampulator - Sample based sequencer that sounds great and is pretty straightforward to use

Google Chrome Song Maker - This is an experimental online music sequencer/song maker

Novation Arcade Beatmaker - This is a web based loops/beats type sequencer

PixelSynth - make sounds from your drawings

Oscillators - All you every wanted to learn about oscillators, with some cute graphics as well!

Sound Waves - not much here other than visualisations of sound waves

10 Free Online Music Resources - as the name suggests! Some good some not great!

20 Free Browser Based Apps - Again some of these are great fun to play about with

90 Credit Diploma Music Technology Tracking Sheet

Please make a copy of this document and save it in to your google drive.

You can use this to keep track of your grades, and I will use it to see where resubmissions have been made and where you are up to.

Tracking Document

In the 'Done' column, please put Yes if completed and no mark sheet has been put in your google drive folder. If it has been marked, please put your grade in this column.

The 'Resub' column is so you can confirm whether you are resubmitting, no for not resubmitting, or yes when the resubmission has been completed and is available to mark.

Your final grade can then be entered in the last column.

Thanks