The Art of Making a Great Mix Tape

The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway… I’ve started to make a tape… in my head… for Laura. Full of stuff she likes. Full of stuff that make her happy. For the first time I can sort of see how that is done. – Rob Gordon, Played by John Cusack, from High Fidelity

The movie High Fidelity came out 6 months before I went on my first date with the beautiful wife™. I can’t remember if I read the book first, or if I saw the movie and then read the book.

What I do know is that I resonated with Rob Gordon. He was a music guy. He Made Lists. And mix tapes.

The Art of Making a Great Mix Tape

I made mix tapes as a kid – way before I started in radio. In my family, we would go into a restaurant, and I would name the  songs playing on the overhead sound system while everyone else was talking.

I love music. And I liked putting different songs together for people (it’s all becoming strangely clear how I ended up in Audio Production!). I did it a handful of times for a couple high school girlfriends. ( I would like those back – just to hear what songs I put on them!)

Guess What I Just Found? A Mix Tape (cd) that I made for my wife when we were dating. It was in a drawer in a desk in my studio in a pile of CDs that have no cases.

I listened to it, and I think it is still pretty good! Here’s the Line Up:

You’ve Made Me So Very Happy – Blood Sweat and Tears
We Are In Love – Harry Connick Jr.
Unemployed Boyfriend – Everclear
Let’s Get it On – Marvin Gaye
What the Heart Wants – Colin Raye
Be My Yoko Ono – Barenaked Ladies
She’s Got a Way – Billy Joel
I Wanna Learn A Love Song – Harry Chapin
I’ll Be – Edwin McCain
I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra
Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
Love Song – Pippin
The Love Boat Theme
If Your Gone – Matchbox 20
Don’t Go Breakin My Heart – Elton John and Kiki Dee
Just Kiss Me – Harry Connick Jr.
I Will Love You – Fisher
Helplessly Hoping – Crosby Stills, Nash and Young
This I Promise You – 98 Degrees
Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel

I think the weakest link is the 98 Degrees song. What was I thinkin?

A Fun Idea For You And Your Spouse

This would be SO much easier now with iTunes, iPods (amazon link) and mp3 players(amazon link) of all types.

1. Get some great music…that means something to the two of you: First Date music – first movie – music from the year you started dating – music on the radio during your first kiss…etc.
2. Download them. Put them on an ipod or mp3 player (or cd) and
3. Give it to your spouse.

Make a special playlist only for them,one for your bedroom, your anniversary, special date night!

This could be really fun – and so much easier than when I had to find the song on a tape and record it to the other tape deck on my gigantic black and red Boom Box!!

Have you made a mix tape for someone?

Tagged as: customized cds, easy romantic ideas, romance your husband, romance your wife, Romantic ideas for your spouse