I had here a list of songs I'd been wanting to put in a mix for a while. This was definitely enough to springboard from, and listening to these songs together made me consider others that might fit as well and so:

were added to the list. That's 16 songs and enough to get down to work.

4. Pick the first song. This can be tough. Primary things to consider are if you have a song with a spoken or interesting introduction. For example, my "Heart Shaped CD" starts off with "Kathy's Song" because it has an interesting opening. Oftentimes if I'm using a String Quartet song, I'll use that as a sedate opener, as is the case with the "Don't Be Afraid" CD.

5. Going with the flow. I really like it when a CD has a good song to song flow to it. The most important things to consider when doing this are the first and last 20 seconds of a song. The rest doesn't really matter so much. There are songs like Eric Clapton's "Layla" for example that end in a completely different way from the start. For "Don't Be Afraid", I had two songs with strings which could both follow up the instrumental Quartet version of "Love Will tear Us Apart", "Graveyard Picnic" and "Angel, Angel Down We Go Together." I decided to put "Angel, Angel" first because it's only strings and voice, but "Picnic" has strings, voice, guitar and percussion, so the flow felt more natural, sort of in an evolutionary way. Putting musical flow into consideration, the track line up is changed into this:

String Quartet - “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Morrissey - “Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together”
Voltaire - “Graveyard Picnic”
The Church - “Under the Milky Way”
Bauhaus - “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”
Joy Division - “She’s Lost Control”
David Bowie - “Scary Monsters”
Oingo Boingo - “Dead Man’s Party”
Talking Heads - “Life During Wartime”
Gary Numan - “Down in the Park”
Depeche Mode - “Blasphemous Rumours”
The Cure - “Sinking”
Birthday Massacre - “Nothing and Nowhere”

"The Day of the Lords" by Joy Division got swapped out for the more minimalist "She's Lost Control" in order to better compliment "Bela Lugosi's Dead". "Kiss Them For Me", "Shadowplay", and "It's a Sin" all got omitted because I could not make them fit in with the others properly in terms of flow and mood.

6. Coming up short. Unfortunately, these 13 songs clock in at under 60 minutes. I had hoped the lengthy "Dead Man's Party" would compensate for the short "Angel, Angel", but it did not. So, I did indeed pad this one out with two more songs. When looking to pad, don't mess with your already organized song order; if you can help it; you'll regret it later. Instead, concentrate on the last track. Listen to it a few times on its own, particularly how it ends. Think of other songs in your collection that might sound alright following it. For the purposes of "Don't Be Afraid," I was looking to add a little energy to a generally sedate compilation in addition to finding a complimenting sound to "Nothing and Nowhere." I found two songs on a "sampler" CD I had recently bought, and now the disc is a healthy 70 minutes long. The flow is not too entirely disturbed by these last two songs and the CD now ends on a "bang."

7. Don't overdo it. Don't over use any one band in particular on one CD! Yes, they may be your favourite and all, but not everyone's! I'd suggest no more than TWO songs by any one artist, and these should be properly spaced out as to avoid sounding repetitious. Clever ways around this are to of course utilize cover songs, other band's songs perhaps remixed by your fave band, and songs where members of your favourite band play back up to some one else. Just look at my "Merrie Adventures" CD. It had ONE song performed by the Cure on it, but TWO Cure cover songs, one song remixed by Robert Smith (their lead singer) and another by the Glove, a band he founded during the 80s with a female vocalist. That's five songs out of 19 with Cure influence, without being too obvious about it.

8. Using movie quotes and television theme songs. All I can say is tread carefully. You don't want your CD to wind up a Doctor Demento-esque novelty collection do you? Who's going to put that in their car stereo or CD changer? Starting off or ending a disc like this can be good. It can make for an excellent lead-in, especially if it's "on topic" with your music selection. My "Alone & Tormented" CD, for example starts with dialogue from the film American Psycho which appropriately sets the tone for the music. Generally speaking, I would not recommend using more than three samples of movie quotes or television theme songs on a single disc. More than that sort of detracts from the music and interrupts the flow needlessly. Also, if you include any of these on your disc, be sure to include them in the track listing! You have no idea how often I have received CDs as gifts with such tracks unlisted, which makes it difficult to skip ahead to one particular song if you don't know the number and you're driving at the same time. If you want them to be a funny surprise, make the track title vague or even just a question mark, just make sure it's accounted for.

9. Titling your disc. A favorite method I use is choosing a good line from a song on the disc. The disc "Don't Be Afraid of What You Can't See," is named after a line in the song "Dead Man's Party." This isn't always what I do, however. Sometimes I also draw on what originally inspired me to created the disc to begin with such as with "Rhapsody in Blue" being based on the comic book Blue Monday, I though that title worked. It can also go hand in hand with what you decide on for cover arts, like my "Darkest Before Dawn" CD, I knew I wanted to use Dawn images, so the title played on that. I just think the title should make sense in one way or another. I mean, if you title it "Noodle" with pictures of kittens all over it, unless it's some sort of avant-garde statement, I don't think anyone will get it.

10. Cover art. Cover art is not necessary for a good mix CD, but it does take it up that extra notch to impressing your recipient. These days I manipulate images on my computer on a template I created myself for Corel Draw. In the olden days, I'd cut up bits from magazines. Both work well and make an artistic statement. One important factor to keep in mind is that you definitely want to supply a track list and make sure it's readable! How annoying would it be for you to hear an awesome new song by a band you don't know and not know what its called or who performed it? If you're doing this on the computer, test print it first just to make sure it translates well from the screen to paper. You have no idea how often I have to make adjustments to compensate for ink bleed which render track listings difficult to read. I would highly recommend numbering the tacks also as a convenience to the listener, unless doing so is particularly detrimental to the overall look of the cover arts.

So there you have it! The, erm, "basic" steps I use in creating a mix CD. Hopefully you have found this helpful and the world will now be inundated with beauteous musical compilations from the masses.

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