I was always a mix maker. I love albums but have always wanted to listen to songs from many albums mixed together in a way I liked. Although I made occasional mixtapes throughout the 1970's for special events and parties, my really serious mix making began after we moved to Buffalo in 1979 and we started making several trips back to Philadelphia each year. I hated listening to the radio on long road trips in the car and quickly began assembling mixes to play along the way. I also put many records on cassette tape over the years for listening convenience but my heart was in the mix tapes. I was never one of those people who would tape songs and albums off the radio.
I had a very specific mix making process and I also have a box of notebooks on the 3rd floor filled with mix tape listings and ideas. I would start a mix tape by collecting a group of albums and stack them next to the stereo which consisted of a turntable, receiver, cassette tape recorder and head phones. I would set up a blank tape, cue up a song from an album, carefully set the sound levels and then push the record button after dropping the needle at the right place. I always loved the sound of the needle hitting the record while wearing headphones. It was the start of something beautiful.. the thump and then some silence before the music started.
Working on mixes was my way of relaxing after a long workday or some quiet time after the kids had gone to bed. A child running across the room causing a record skip while recording drove me nuts which can't be helped and was why I often waited late into the evening to make my mixes. I usually bought 90 minute cassettes and recorded two approximately 45 minute sides. Longer 120 minute tapes tended to have a higher failure rate having something to do with the loosening of the longer tape on the spindles. 60 minute tapes were too short so 90 was the sweet spot.
Another important aspect of the process was knowing the playing length of each song to ensure the best use of the space on the tape. In a notebook somewhere I always had a list of short songs that could be used at the end of a mix to fill in some time.
So the songs were carefully selected by a combination of feel, flow, genre, and mood among other things. I would very seldom accomplish this in one sitting and the making of a mixtape could often take days or weeks. Occasionally I would have an almost complete set in mind prior to beginning recording but most of the time it was a long process. It was my down time but also accomplished something useful.
I would also sometimes have more than one tape in progress at the same time but not usually. It was always a satisfying moment when a mix was completed but there were often many times when a mix would end up getting re-edited with multiple changes. The notebooks have documented those changes over time. They would also illustrate the progress of the mix and my current notebook would always be nearby the stereo setup.
All these years later I'm still making mixes and looking forward to many more during my retirement years that began recently.
