How To: Mixed Tape Fun !!!

O M G ! How freaking fun !! a mix tape !!

Previously, I had made a mix tape for a friend filled with songs we’ve shared and songs I wanted her to hear. What I love abt cassette tapes is they can easily record literally any audio that can b played into the inputs. Like it’s soooo simple. Anything that has an Audio Out jack (like a cell phone, computer, freaking keyboard, whatever) can be ran as an input. (also im not very good at describing things my b !)

ANYWAY so in that first mixtape I had featured audios of me and her from like vidoes of us together laughing or singing or just hootin n hollerin haha. And I had these audios sprinkled throughout the music playlist (which I had made on spotify). So I as I was recording to the tape, I would pause the spotify playlist, play the audio/vidoe I wanted to insert, then continue the spotify playlist. My favs were ones where we were singing such and such song, that I then blended it into the actual song.

Actually How To:

I did it thru my computer, using a wire that has a 3.5mm jack to red and white jacks (RCA, i believe), so it could plug from my laptop to the tape player. Any audio I play on my computer could then b recorded onto the tape.

(my specifc tape deck is at a repair shop rn, but this is an image i found online, most of them will look like this !)

this is the RCA to 3.5mm cable I used to plug my laptop as the audio input to the tape deck. I got mine from my brother, but you can find these online or at like technology stores.

Now for this new mix tape, I wanted to make a collection of electronic music for my boyfriend. Like, this genre is so different from the type of music he actually enjoys, but it’s music I rlly enjoy and I wanted to share that with him. I titled it “Music You’ll HATE.” Hahahaah. I made a spotify playlist, beautifully ordered and curated, and recorded it on the cassette tape. Since I like silliness LAMOOO I also did a few voice recordings, radio show type beat, that I recorded on capcut (with music, sound effects and all). Because of the nature of recording onto cassette, I was able to seamlessly record the music right into my voice interludes and back to music without having to mess w actual like mp3 files or anyting.

I would note, make sure the audio coming from each application is around the same level ! I first tested audio from my computer speakers to make sure both the capcut audio and spotify audio sounded to b abt the same volume before recording. I would also check how loud the recording onto the actual tape is, too. Most cassette players will have an input volume adjustment dial. I did a test recording at x volume from my computer at x level for input, listened back, then played a regular tape to see if they sounded abt as loud coming from my receiver/speakers. Just so it’s not a crazy difference.

my set up: wired from laptop to tape deck, then tape deck to reciever/speakers so I can hear the output in real time

Da cover art

For this cover ! O my goodness I had so much fun !! I rlly enjoy the art of collage, I think it is an absolutely beautiful playground for creativity and expression.

I collected my paper goods, (construction paper, ripped up print materials), purchased a few auxiliary magazines, and got to work ! My roommate joined me and we had a lovely craft session. What I love abt collage is that you dont rlly go into it w a set idea. Like I had vibes in mind, but you’re kinda sequestered to the media you have available, the imagery, colours, texture. So ig you can have an idea, but rlly the fun is creating it w/what you can find. I recall doing some research on the Dada art movement and the birth of photo montage as a medium for a graphic design project, and it has such an interesting history. Hannah Hoch, I love your work. (don’t let these men try to diminish your place in art history !! #HERstory)

me n roomate's (Hero) big old mess !! haha

This is my roomate's collage that he made. Literally so beautiful ! I love how the art of collage looks. We sat at the table flipping thru the magazines and collection of scraps for a long while, and it was so fun ! It’s just such a lovely moment to spend looking at things. I love looking at things. Colour, texture, shapes, typography, it’s all so delicious. And what Hero put together is just too delicious, I had to include it.

For me, I was v happy w/how this cover came together ! I first created a kind of template from the blank tape’s original cover so I had shape and size to work from. All I knew going in was that I wanted the title somewhere. You gotta work with what you find. But yeah, just look at it ! So fun, and I feel like it conveys the energy of a mixtape, too. A collage of sound !

front

inside

I’m not suuuper familiar with the music he enjoys (of course, enough to know what he might not like ! i.e. this playlist smriks) but I wanted to get a tape he would also, like, fr like yk. There is this one album in particular I knew he liked, but of course it was not released on tape I’m like ugh ! And even if it had been, it is from 2004 so who knows if I’d b able to find it. I put on my thinking cap and thot hey, omg, what if I just made it ?? Again, you can record legit anything onto tape, including entire albums hehe. 

(O!! And I thot it would b cute haha bc I had a recording of him singing one of the songs from that album at karaoke !!! HAHAH so I have the song 'Ohio Is For Lovers' then a ‘live’ version, but it’s just him from kareoking HAHAH how freaking cute dude omg you can hear me n my friends hooting n hollerin heheh)

That part was simple enough: open the album on spotify, press play, and record onto the tape. Easy. The cover tho, hmmm. Since there had never been a cassette release, there was no existing cover that I could just print out, yk? I decided to crack open indesign and piece one together. The cover art for The Silence in Black and White by Hawthorne Heights was thankfully pretty simple and had a lot of negative ground, so it was a more simple matter of moving the elements around for a tape cover layout. And it was fun !

I referenced my own tape collection and the different releases of tsibw to put together my version (above). I created a document in indesign to the same dimensions as the blank tape's cover, with room for bleed of course.

Ultimately, I was worried abt printing a double sided page, so I created a single ready-for-print document at 8.5x11” with the front and back laid out in such a way that I could create a front&back with just a single horizontal fold. I think it turned out pretty good ! I was a lil bummed that it was just a weeee too long on the tail where the songs are listed, kinda cutting the bottom line a bit, but hey, overall success !!

this a 8.5" x 11" document

I love album art and typography, and this was such a fun lil project. The physical aspect, creating something to b printed and applied to something, just so neat ! And cassettes are adorable, I think. Haha also I ended up listening to the album in full quite a few times T.T bc after my initial recording, I was listening back and my tape player chewed tf outta it ! Pulled the film right out ! I literally had to fucking unscrew the tape and respool it myself, boy was I worried. Got it all sorted tho haha. Anyway.

This was so much fun to do and rlly reinvigorated my love for creation. I been kinda bleh yk how it goes, fallen into the doldrums. But this was such a lovely moment of creating w no expectations. Well, little to no expectations. I truly enjoyed both projects, and I think having a 'deadline' of sorts and, like, such a specific goal, one that I can tick off a check list, feels very gratifying. Sometimes it is difficult to create just for the love of the game. Gotta reinvigorate !