Mixtape
This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (July 2021) |
A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette tape, CD, or digital playlist. The songs are either ordered sequentially or made into a continuous programme by beatmatching the songs and creating seamless transitions at their beginnings and endings with fades or abrupt edits.[1] Essayist Geoffrey O'Brien described this definition of the mixtape as "perhaps the most widely practiced American art form".[2][3]
In
History
Homemade mix tapes became common in the 1980s. Although the
A distinction should be drawn between a private mixtape, which is usually intended for a specific listener or private social event, and a public mixtape, or "party tape", usually consisting of a recording of a club performance by a
Throughout the 1980s, mixtapes were a highly visible element of
Today, websites concerned with electronic music provide mixes in a digital format. These usually consist of recorded DJ sets of live, beat-matched mixes of songs, which are used by DJs seeking to demonstrate their mixing skills to an online audience. Some radio shows worldwide specialize in mix series, including
Additionally, DJs such as
Legal issues in the United States
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Frank Creighton, a director of anti-copyright infringement efforts for the Recording Industry Association of America, considers that "money did not have to be involved for copying to be illegal".[5]
Aesthetic
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While the process of recording a mix onto an audio cassette from LPs or compact discs is technically straightforward, many music fans who create more than one mixtape are eventually compelled to confront some of the practical and aesthetic challenges involved in the mixtape format. From a practical standpoint, such issues as avoiding an excessive amount of blank tape at the end of one side (which requires careful planning of the length of each side of the mix) and reducing the audible click between songs (which requires mastery of the pause button on the cassette recorder) have been identified as part of the shared experience of mixtape aficionados. From an
To me, making a tape is like writing a letter—there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. ... A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with "Got to Get You Off My Mind", but then realized that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straightaway, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs and...oh, there are loads of rules.
Many enthusiasts also devote substantial attention to the packaging of a mix tape intended as a gift, sometimes going so far as to create cover art and customized liner notes. The cover of the original
From an artistic point of view, many creators[ of pop music.
In hip hop
1980s–1990s
In
In the mid-1980s, DJs, such as Brucie B, began recording their live music and selling them as mixtapes, which was soon followed by other DJs, like Kid Capri and Doo Wop. Ron G moved the mixtape forward in the early 1990s by blending R&B a cappellas with hip hop beats (known as "blends").[7] Blend tapes were developed to promote one or more new artists, or as a pre-release by more established artists to promote upcoming "official" albums. Often, mixtapes contain "freestyles" with vocals placed over the instrumentals of a preexisting song.[8]
In the mid-1990s, Rave mix tapes were very popular. The regulation was very relaxed as the DJs themselves played and mixed songs from other artists without paying the royalties.The First company which made DJsLive set commercials was NASA Hannover. This company had a mailing list including 100 DJs.
2000s–present
Early 2000's In the 21st century, mixtapes in hip hop are typically released as holdovers or low-key releases between
See also
- Compilation album
- Compressed audio optical disc
- DJ mix
- Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture
- Portable media player
- Video mixtape
References
- ^ "Mixtape". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ Resnick, Michael (2006). "BurnLists: The Digital "Mix Tape" Comes of Age". Archived from the original on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2007.
- ^ Rosen, Jody (29 April 2004). "Unforgettable". The Nation. Archived from the original on 20 August 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
- ^ John Shepherd, Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003, p.506
- ^ Gallagher, David (January 2003). "For the Mix Tape, A Digital Upgrade And Notoriety". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
- ISBN 0141925078.
- ^ ISBN 1-84353-263-8, p.332-333
- ISBN 9780313339035.
- ^ "The Significance of the Mixtape in the Streaming Era". artists.spotify.com.
Further reading
- Ellis, Bret Easton (1986). Less Than Zero. ISBN 0-679-78149-8.
- Erdman, Sarah (2003). Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village. ISBN 0-8050-7381-7.
- Gallagher, David (30 January 2003). "For the mix tape, a digital upgrade and notoriety". The New York Times.
- Hornby, Nick (1995). High Fidelity. ISBN 1-57322-551-7.
- Hornby, Nick (2003). Songbook. ISBN 1-57322-356-5.
- Keller, Joel (22 January 2004). PCs killed the mix-tape star. Salon.
- Mobley, Max (5 December 2007). "Requiem for the Mixtape". Crawdaddy!.
- Moore, Thurston (2004). Mix Tape. ISBN 0-7893-1199-2.
- McMahon, Andrew (2005): "The Mixed Tape", Everything in Transit—Jack's Mannequin.
- O'Brien, Geoffrey (2004). Sonata for Jukebox. ISBN 1-58243-192-2.
- Paul, James (26 September 2003). Last night a mix tape saved my life. The Guardian.
- Sante, Luc (13 May 2004). Disco Dreams. The New York Review of Books. (This review of Songbook and Sonata for Jukebox describes the mix tape as "one part Victorian flower album, one part commonplace book, one part collage, and one part recital.")
- Stuever, Hank (29 October 2002). "Unspooled: In the digital age, the quaint cassette is sent reeling into history's dustbin[dead link]". The Washington Post.
- Vowell, Sarah (2001). Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World. ISBN 0-7432-0540-5.
- Warner, Alan (1995). Morvern Callar. ISBN 0-385-48741-X.