How To Make A Perfect Mix tape Or CD

[Rasputin]

As mentioned in the movie High Fidelity, there is a certain art to making a great mix tape or CD. What songs you choose, and how you choose them, will largely affect how much your efforts will be appreciated. A compilation of songs recorded on a tape or burned onto a CD can be a thoughtful gift for someone you appreciate.

Steps

Consider your intended audience. Is this compilation for yourself? Your friends? A significant other? Make sure to consider what music your audience will appreciate. There's not much point in making your grandmother a CD of the best death metal tracks from 2001, but she just may enjoy listening to a compilation of rare recordings of her favorite jazz artists that she listened to when she was young.
Consider whether you want the mix to convey a certain emotion or message. Pick music that you like and appreciate. How much you enjoy making the mix will be apparent in the final package. It's a good start to pick a group of songs that you've been recently enjoying and continue from there.
Focus on a genre and a theme. Putting widely different tracks in a compilation can be distracting for the listener. Also, do research on the music genre; for example, if you want to make a CD for someone that does enjoy heavy metal, find out which genre they like, if they like death metal don't give them Slipknot songs, that would guarantee the shelf. Similarly, if someone listens to an underground genre, do not put popular artists on the CD, even though the songs may sound the same to you; for example, don't give someone that listens to death or black metal something like Korn or Slipknot, if they listen to techno, don't put electronica pop on it, or if they listen to underground rap, don't put pop rappers like Usher on it. Giving mainstream music to someone who enjoys underground music insults their music tastes and shows your ignorance of their passion.
Be flexible. Collect a set of tracks as a rough draft for the CD with the expectation you may decide not to include some of them.
Play around with the arrangement of the tracks. Think of the mix tape as a prolonged listening experience. You don't want the listener to get bored or skip songs. The first few tracks should grab the listener and get their attention. Group slower or softer songs together and then gradually build up momentum to more upbeat songs. A fast/heavy song might not go well after a soft, acoustic one.
Finalize your track arrangement and listen to the version a few times, making necessary adjustments. Feel free to remove some tracks and add others. It's possible that you may realize new tracks you'd like to add late in the process.
Burn the CD or make your master tape that you will make copies from, now that you're happy with the compilation. Try making some cover art or liner notes intended for your audience. If you've been using MP3s, keep a specific folder for your mix and name it appropriately.

[Rasputin]

Tips

With advanced CD burning software, it's possible to merge tracks, making it easy to insert sound clips (such as quotes from movies) between tracks. Merge the sound clip to the start of the track to make the CD more interesting.
Making cover art or creative liner notes can make the compilation more personal.
Picking a set of songs that really define a specific (possibly current) time in your life can be appreciated later when you put on the album and are reminded of days gone by.
It's possible to gradually build a mix CD. While listening to MP3s, if you come across a song that would be a good fit for a compilation, copy it over to a folder reserved just for your ongoing compilation.
Come up with a clever or thoughtful title for your compilation to make it more memorable.
The last song you put on the compilation is always important. What message do you want to leave with the listener? Do you want to end it with a bang? Or would you like to end the compilation slowly and softly? Tying in the last song to the theme of the compilation can make it much more effective.

Warnings

Avoid picking several songs from one artist. Rather, focus on a wide range of artists.
Keep the compilation running time to less than an hour. Weed out any songs that don't fit. If the CD is too long, it's possible some great tracks near the end will never be heard.
There's really no such thing as the definitive, be-all, end-all, PERFECT, mix CD. The guidelines established here are things to keep in mind to help you mold your CD into being, not a list of rules that are meant to be strictly adhered to. Play around, try new things, be creative, but always take your audience into consideration or all of your hard work will be for nothing!
While it is a common practice, making a mix CD or tape and giving it to someone is technically a violation of copyright law.

[Rasputin]

How to Remix

The basic idea behind what we now refer to as the "remix" has been around for far longer than many realize. Its roots are in Jamaica, where in the late 60's, producers like Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby started releasing dub versions of tracks to occupy the the B side of 45s. These would usually be made to sound different than the original by adding effects (spring reverb, tape delay, flanging, eq, etc), and by cutting and rearranging the individual parts.

In a remix, it's possible to change the style, feel, even the emotional meaning of the track by changing the context of sections, reharmonizing melodies, adding additional elements, etc. Though the remixer has a foundation of existing material to build on, they are not restrained in any way. You're free to take that foundation, shift it around, and make it the roof!

[Rasputin]

Steps

Select the right track. This is very important, since this is a derivative art form (you can't remix a nonexistent piece of music ...or can you? John Cage anyone?). You'll need, at the very least, a complete mixdown of the original track (taken directly from the CD). If you can get separate tracks (especially for vocals) directly from the recording artist, it will make your remix better, and your work easier.
Try to identify what you will contribute to the track. This can range from changing the feel by adding new rhythm tracks, to total destruction. Think about what sections you like best; what will you keep intact, and what will you change? This is an important stage, because it will shape your workflow throughout the project.
Dissect the track. Take the materials you have to work with, and do most of the slicing and trimming up front. You can do this in an audio editing suite, especially when it comes to cutting loops (see below for tips and links). 4. Experiment! Try all the available effects in your DAW/audio editing software to see how they will sound on each part! There are plenty of things to choose from ... delay, phaser, chorus, flanger, filters and other eq, reverb, amplitude modulation, ring modulation, frequency modulation, timestretching, pitch shifting or correction, vocoding and more.
Reconstruct (remix). First, set the BPM (tempo - beats per minute) and time signature (usually 4/4 in popular music) in your looping software. Next, import your loops. Once they are imported and time corrected, you should be able to choose any tempo you like, with very little loss of quality. (Note: If you are using Ableton Live, be sure to select a time correction method that jives with your sample type. Beat mode is fine for drums, but may not be great for vocals. Texture mode is fine for many samples, but will often affect the pitch of the sample slightly. Tone is usually good all around.) Now you can start to reconstruct the track. A safe and easy way would be to follow the form of the original (intro, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus) but you can also completely change it and make it your own. You can layer the vocals from the verse over a portion of the chorus. You can take a verse as-is, cut individual measure of vocals, and superimpose them reversed. You can reharmonize the vocal or lead lines by introducing completely different elements. Have fun, and experiment!
Export your creation (mastering). When your remix now has a start and finish, and you are satisfied with it, you should export. Save all or export to a WAV or AIFF file (don't encode an MP3 just yet). Load this into your audio editing software, and normalize it to 99%. This will ensure that your levels at their highest point reach almost the maximum volume.
Distribute your remix. Convert this file to MP3, using Lame, or your favorite MP3 converter, and send it all around! Watch your quality settings when you convert. 128 is almost the standard, but it is noticeable. At least 160 or 192 is recommended.

[Rasputin]

Tips

Remixes show up in nearly all styles. In the pop world, it is usually a functional thing rather than an expressive one - converting pop or rock tunes to be club-ready. The important thing, whether in dub reggae, hiphop remixes, house remixes of pop tunes, or whatever, is that the remixer adds their own personal touch to the track - bringing some important elements of the original, while adding their own recognizable style.
Cutting loops is a fairly simple process. First, listen to your file, and identify the sections you'd like to cut. Then, select the phrase you'd like in your audio editing software, making sure to grab complete measures. A way to test your cut is to loop playback on the selection. If it sounds jumpy at the loop point, you may be selecting too much, or too little. Watch out for loops that include reverb tails or cymbal crashes, since these will often extend past the end of a phrase. Making sure your loops are cut precisely will make tempo correction within your looping software more accurate. In programs like Sonar and Acid, which use nearly the same correction methods, this is imperative. If you are using Ableton Live, you can work very easily with completely raw samples, and eliminate some of this. Ableton is easily the most flexible looping software on the market. It allows for many different types of granular-based pitch and time correction, variable start and loop points, and an easy graphic interface for time correction. Time correction is achieved by either specifying the BPM of the loop (often detected automatically), or by inserting markers in the loop inspection window, to indicate where each beat falls. All of this will accomplish the same result as cutting and looping, while still preserving the original file. You can also take this time to do some processing on your loops. If you only have the full mixdown, you can bring out vocals or individual instruments somewhat with EQ. Keep in mind that there is no way to completely isolate a single instrument or voice after a mixdown. For example, you can lighten up the lower register (kick, toms) and basslines by rolling off the low end. This will keep things from getting muddy, if you use the vocals from that loop over a new bassline, or new drums.

[Rasputin]

How to Burn a Music CD Using Windows Media Player 9

So your computer's hard drive is bursting at the seams with music you've downloaded off the internet and copied from CD's, and now you want to make a compilation CD for play in your car or home stereo. This how-to describes how to burn a music CD using Windows Media Player 9. (Note: This how-to assumes you have basic knowledge of using Microsoft Windows XP.)

Steps

Open Windows Media Player. The icon can commonly be found by clicking the "START" button, then "Program Files" then "Accessories" then "Entertainment." There you should find the icon for Windows Media Player.
Click on the "Media Library" button located on the left side of the window.
Select the music you want burned to a CD. Click on the "All Music" tab located in the left window. The right window should now display all the songs you have saved on your hard drive.
Select the songs you want to copy to a CD. This is can be done a couple different ways. You can right click a song, choose "Copy to CD or device", then go back to the "Media Library" and pick more songs this way. You can also select multiple songs at once by holding down your keyboards CTRL key while you click on songs. This lets you highlight many songs. You can also pick the first song in the list, then while hold down your keyboards SHIFT key, click on the last song. This highlights every track from the first song you click to the last song you clicked.
Once you have the songs you want selected, right click on one of the selected songs and choose "Copy to CD or device." This brings you to the "Copy to CD or Device" menu. On the left side window, you will see all the song tracks you have chosen to burn, and on the right hand side, a blank window that says "Insert a blank CD into the drive." In the left hand window, you will see little check boxes next to the tracks. You can check and uncheck songs that you want or don't want burned to the CD. You can also change the order the songs will be played by clicking on a track, and while holding down the mouse button, dragging the song up or down the playlist.
Click the "Copy" button in the upper right hand corner of Windows Media Player. A window will pop up letting you know you need to insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your CD drive. Place a blank CD-R into the computer's CD-R drive, and click the retry button. At this point, Windows Media Player should start burning the CD. You should see progress bars scrolling next to each track on the left hand side. Media Player is converting the tracks to a special CD format. Don't worry, it's not doing anything to your original files. Once all the tracks have been converted, progress bars will start to scroll next to each track that says "Copying to CD." The right window should say "Copy in progress".
And that's it, you're done! Windows should automatically eject the newly created music CD once it has finished burning. If the CD isn't automatically ejected, you can eject it yourself, but only after you are sure the burning process is complete.

[Rasputin]

Tips

You can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your computer's CD-ROM drive at any time before you click the "Copy" button.

Warnings

Generally, you shouldn't use your computer much while the CD is burning. Too much hard drive activity caused by other programs can ruin the CD.