I've been thinking about "mixtapes" alot recently, and I was wondering what people thought about them as a "practice". Are cassette tapes important as objects, or can a mix cd or even a minidisc have the same effect? Some amazing new possibilities for mixing and reordering of music and sounds have evolved...it seems like the iTunes playlist is a more immediate and fluid form, but lacking the ability to fetishize or reify as an object. In an essay on www.artofthemix.org it is suggested that "forms such as the collage, the pastiche, the juxtaposition of found elements" are a lesser form of art, which I find to be completely ridiculous. Is it possible that making mix tapes can be good for more than the occasional seduction or brake-up pain killer? Well, I'm kind off rambling, but perhaps this will elicit some responses...
― tiiiiiiiiiim (tiiiiiiiiiim), Thursday, 18 December 2003 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)
one year passes...
OK
First things first - how do you have a lesser form of art? Art is. Crikey, thats like saying "I'm better than you". I know its a quote. Like Wilde said "Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you read", I think...
Its called a MIX-TAPE right?
You gotta take a holistic view to put it into context, I mean, you dont just frame half a picture. Do you?
So first we got the MIX part of MIX-TAPE :
Pancakes are made from a mix, but you cant hear that on tape. Its about sound right? So the sound gets mixed. That could mean anything, but we'll just accept it as given for the time being.
Then we got the TAPE part of MIX-TAPE :
Ahhhhh tape... lets just pause and smile for a bit....
:)
Anyways - according to the TEAC CORPORATION their High Density tapes have greater sensitivity (than say a Normal Density tape), which is ideal for recording of pop, jazz or classical music. The frequency response is level from 50-15kHz with pretty good range either side. This wide range of dynamism is part of it, but wait theres more.
Well, nah I'll cut the crap (i could go on about the format and its qualities all night here). The point is MIX-TAPE is a compound word, which describes in one foul swoop its what it is and how it came to be. Pretty clever huh. Its like CHI, the drink that says its own name...
Now if you take the mix element, and apply it to a cd, then give it to me, what do you call that? You might call it a MIX CD. Most people will probably just think its a compilation you ripped off from somewhere, cos who's got time in this day and age to sit around thinking about what theyre up to?
Rant rant, something about playstation generation
Where was i?
Basicly - essays take a long time to write properly, if you write a really good essay, you could've probably just made a bunch of tapes which would get the VIBE across just as well. Back in the day pop art had a dialogue with society talking about content - today pop culture is still hung up on format. Personally I try not to get carried away with materialsm...
BUT
I love my tapes - they are conscious of this and they love me back
― mukura, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)