Mixtape guidelines

[K54]

Hey y'all. I have a few questions regarding 'the mixtape'. What are the basic guidelines, if any, to stick by when starting out putting together one of these? I notice a lot of mixtapes are like one continuous arrangement of songs run together like a dj would do at a live show or something. i.e. no breaks and all beatmixed in at around the same tempo (guess thats why they call them mixtapes). I'm wanting to know because a bro and I have about 8 songs nearly finished and we are wanting to get our music out there and have been told 'the mixtape' is the way to go. We have only been doing this for just under a year and have been getting quite a bit of people interested in us (believe it or not). Although I have experience with playing various instruments and some production skills (still a newbie tho), I have no dj'ing skills whatsoever and am wondering if this is necessary for producing a mixtape. Or is getting a free CD out there with our songs including interludes, intros and outros blah blah simply enough? Just seems to me 'the mixtape' name to it gives it more appeal in the underground scene today. What do you think?

By the way, all the beats we create are all our own music created from scratch on various instruments/software minus the individual sounding samples like drum sounds and effects etc obviously. You can check out our 1st three tracks we did at www.k54.co.nz/index_old.html if you want. The production is a little on the green side but all tracks there have since been changed anyway. It's like everyday you learn something which makes you think, "ah thats how I should have done that back then", so they've kind of evolved. We used to keep all our tracks online for free download but found people were getting annoyed because we would take about 2 months to finish a track just because we didn't have the time. So we thought it'd be better if we took everything off and waited until we had more material. Some feedback about this would be nice also. How to best bring your material out. Mixtape or no mixtape in our case?

[Jokker]

aight check this out...not all mixtapes have to be together on tha same tempo or anything...for example my labels upcoming mixtape just has undergrond music from all around tha country...not all of it is on one tempo or anything...if you wanna appear on it toss me some samples n ill check it out

[OBCD]

very basic guidelines to mixtapes:

1. Try to keep a link between each track. The tempo should feel like a continuation. not like headbanger/smooth/headbanger...

2. If you can, try to get a dj to mix the tracks and add some cuts (scratches) to add some flavor but you could just blend the tracks one into the another.

3. One thing you might consider is putting tracks of well-known artists you like and that are in the same kinda style as yours on the mixtape. You have 8 tracks, so you could burn a cd with 18 tracks for 74min wit your top 5 tracks. People could hear your songs and other artists they already know and like.

4. If you want something more demo-style, i'd recommend just putting the tracks separated from each other maybe wit a few extra beats or skits...

[Flo' Dolo]

k54,

OBCD was pretty much on point. What you gotta remember is the whole reason MCs began spitting on mixtapes is because everybody will listen to them. Who doesn't want a phat mixtape/CD with piles of tracks on it? If the MCs laces beats that everybody knows, or creates cameos on popular tracks, then it stands to reason that people will pay (more) attention to them. You can blend in your own tracks, and if the production is on point, nobody will know where the records end & your original stuff begins (or vice versa).

If you don't have a dj handy, then skits or whatever as segues should work just fine. If I were you, I'd find some tracks from other artists & do cold edits between your stuff and theirs within your tracking software or 2-track editor. As long as the tempos are pretty close or you do make some imaginative transitions between tracks, things should be cool. Even if the tempos aren't hella matched, as long as the overall vibe is cool, you should be straight. The mood is what makes the joint flow as much as, if not more than, the actual "mixing" of the songs together. There are a few legendary djs who don't beatmatch at all, but damn can they rock a damn party just with their song selection & programming alone.

And like OBCD said, too, if you don't wanna go that route, then just go ahead and make a "demo" CD of your stuff, title it, and dump it out. I can't stress enough though that if you want people to peep you through & through, the best way to go is to try & construct a mix of some sort with known or soon-to-be-known tracks...

My 2 cents.

good luck,

DJ Dolo

[K54]

Whoa, you guys just made it dawn on me. I can see how it is also a great tool for MCs who might not have any beats of their own and djs who might not have any MCs to lace their stuff. Never thought about mixtapes that way i.e. what Flo'Dolo and OBCD said about packaging tracks up with already well known or soon to be joints. Exactly, who wouldn't want a mixtape with shit loads of tight tracks?

[SPINSTERWUN]

K54, the info that OBCD and FLO' DOLO was excellent.

I know for a fact that Flo' Dolo makes HOT mixtapes.

You should consider having him make your mixtape.

(It's just a thought).

spin