Instigate instigate instigate!

[featherynscale]

I have an idea. It's not a world-changing, life-affirming idea, and it's not a testament to the greatness of the human spirit or anything, but it sounded like fun. So I thought I'd put it out there and see if anybody else wants to play.

Announcing featherynscale's Great LJ MixTape CD Project of 2008:
In which we all make CDs and mail them to people, because, hey, it sounds like fun, and it's sort of kicking it old school in the world of BitTorrent and all that whatnot. (Also, I need more music. Who doesn't?)

Rules:
1. Sign up here.
2. Watch for a filtered post from me in which I will solicit your address. Addresses will only be seen by other people who are playing (and therefore will also be giving their addresses).
3. In the next month, make a mix CD for everyone else who signs up. It could be one mix that you send a copy of to everyone, or a CD individualized to each recipient, or a combination of the two approaches. Mail or otherwise deliver the CDs to everyone.
4. All CDs must have a theme. Themes can be based on anything you like. ("Songs with Rickenbacher Guitars", "Songs About Zombies", "Ten Songs I Think Everyone Should Own", "Songs from 1997", "Songs by Girls With Acoustic Guitars", "Songs for Driving Fast To", whatever.) CDs should be somehow labeled with the theme.
5. All the music you send out should be music you personally like.
6. Track listings are very much appreciated.
7. Commentary on the mixes you receive, posted in the LJ, is not bad either. Dicuss!

So, anybody interested in getting in on this? If we have so many people that sending CDs to all of them seems insane, we could also split into smaller groups...

Comments

[arkhamrefugee.livejournal.com]

I'm in this. Do we need to make the CD's playable by standard CD player or with MP3s?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I think playable in standard devices.

They don't make nostalgia like they used to.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, mixes are best kept to under 70 minutes, IMO.

Throwing together (or carefully compiling) a disk-full of MP3s does not even begin to approximate the mix tape feeling, either from the production side or listening side.

Of course, mixing together a 70-minute CD is so much less labor-intensive than the Old Way that it still feels like cheating. I miss adding up my track lengths to minimize the blank space on each side of the tape, without truncating any songs.

Re: They don't make nostalgia like they used to.

[celtic-elk.livejournal.com]

I miss adding up my track lengths to minimize the blank space on each side of the tape, without truncating any songs.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to know that I wasn't the only one to do that. =) And somehow, it's not the same when you just slap songs into an iTunes playlist and drag them around. Back in the day, you had to envision the entire mix in your head, and if you put two songs together that didn't flow well, you were screwed, unless you wanted to start over.

(William S. Burroughs?)

Re: They don't make nostalgia like they used to.

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

Don't forget picking just the right songs to start and end each side!

(I'm the kind of guy who used to time each individual tape to best maximize the music on each side. Of course, recording from CD made the whole thing easier.)

Re: They don't make nostalgia like they used to.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. A good mix tape required a great deal of effort and attention to work right. When you had to deal with "Side A" and "Side B" the whole process was that much more involved. Making a good tape was a matter of personal pride, damn it!

(Yup. Or "Uncle Bill" as I prefer to think of him. I really miss that fucker. He and Gonzo Thompson are personal heroes. Drugs? Me?)

[Furthermore, consider yourself flisted.]