Rule 1
Make it for someone
A playlist is for anybody. A mixtape is for one person. Picture them pressing play, and pick for them, not for everybody.
Flipside
Open Flipside
A short guide
The Art of the Mixtape.
For a long time, the way to tell someone how you felt was to sit by the stereo with a blank tape and a stack of records, and choose. Ninety minutes. Two sides. A label in your own handwriting. Here’s what that taught us.
Rule 2
Limits are the point
Forty-five minutes a side means you have to choose. Gather far too many songs, then cut until it hurts a little. The cutting is where the tape gets good.
Rule 3
Open strong
The first song says hello. In a few seconds it tells them what kind of tape this is and why they should keep listening.
Rule 4
Tell a story
Build, peak, breathe, land. Put the songs in an order that goes somewhere, the way a good album or a good night does.
Rule 5
Mind the flip
Side A’s last song is a cliffhanger. Side B’s first song is a fresh start. The pause in between is part of the music.
Rule 6
Spread the voices
Don’t put the same artist back to back. Mix old and new, loud and quiet, famous and obscure. Surprise them.
Rule 7
Listen to the seams
Play the last seconds of one song into the first seconds of the next. A good tape flows; a great one makes the jumps feel like they were meant to be.
Rule 8
End on purpose
The last song is what they’ll hum afterward. Make it the goodbye you mean.
Rule 9
Write it by hand
The label and the song list are part of the gift. Your handwriting says you made this. A note about why a song is there says even more.
Rule 10
Give it away
A mixtape isn’t finished until someone presses play.
Practice it in Flipside
The Sketch Pad: plan before you press REC.
The Crate
Grab every song that might fit, in any order, with no time limit. It’s the maybe pile. Choose later.
Story Arcs
Pick a shape for the tape, or build your own beats. Each beat explains its job, so you know what kind of song goes there.
The Running Order
Move the keepers in from the crate and put them in order. Pick a song up, turn the knob, put it down. The time always shows whether it fits a C60 or a C90.
Hold a Spot
Know you need “something slow to cool down, about four minutes” but not which song? Hold the spot and fill it later.
Why It’s Here
Add a note to any song about why it made the tape. It’s for you now and for them later.
The Mixtape Coach
Gentle notes on the rules of thumb: an artist twice in a row, a long opener, the song right before the flip. Dismiss any note, or turn the coach off once you know the craft.
Story arcs to start from
Every tape has a shape.
The Classic Arc
Opener · The Build · The Peak · The Breather · The Closer
Road Trip
Wake-Up · Cruising · Sing-Along · Sunset · Night Drive
For a Crush
Hello · The Hint · The Confession · Hope
Party
Warm-Up · Lift Off · The Peak · Last Call · Goodnight
Heartbreak
The Hurt · The Anger · Wallowing · Getting Up · Moving On
Bright Side, Late Side
Side A: Bright · Side B: Late Night
Or build your own: name each beat for the feeling, and say what that part of the tape does.