If you need to get caught up on our unbelievable series of awesomeness, Part One, Part Two and Part Three are all kickin’ it around the internets. In Part Three I explained that Rules are more like tips, but the songs being played from here on in may NOT have anything to do with the Rule attached to them. As already discussed the track list on The Best Mix Tape Ever! so far is…
1. D’yer Maker – Led Zeppelin
2. Love Rollercoaster – Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. Eruption/You Really Got Me – Van Halen (Kinks Cover)
4. Open Road Song – Eve 6
5. I Will Survive – Cake (Gloria Gaynor Cover)
6. Same In The End – Sublime
*NEW* 7. Sure Shot – Beastie Boys (We have to speed things up a bit, I think there is only a few posts left in series)
Rule #7: Don’t exhaust your listener
Ever notice that TV commercials are louder than the show your watching? Even the ads at the beginning of the Youtube videos I post are quite often louder than the song. Everything wants to be the loudest thing you hear, to grab your attention. Sadly, this train of thought was adapted by record companies sometime around 1999, killing the dynamic properties of albums everywhere.
Older Recordings look like this. In fact whole albums did.
Newer releases look like this because of digital sound compression and amplification.
Californication, by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Remember the eerie whisper of Nirvana‘s “Something In The Way“? That album, if released now, wouldn’t be nearly as good. But you wouldn’t actually be able to pin point why.
Best Mix Tape Ever Track 8: Where It’s At – Beck
Ear Fatigue exists. It could lead you to turning off a certain radio station or album, or tuning out family members at Christmas dinner. Either way it exists. If you mix up your songs in the right way, you’ll be fine, but pay less attention to tempo, instruments used, etc. and really focus on how LOUD the song is.
Best Mix Tape Ever Track 9: Sexy Thing – Hot Chocolate
Personal Tip! When copying your CDs to your hard drive, anything before 2000 anyway, NEVER click the option to normalize the volume. When you do this you are changing the dynamic compression of the album, which will automatically make the albums sound waves look more like Californication, and less like Beethoven. This could change the way you’ve enjoyed an album for years, so be warned.
Only one Rule this post, but I gave you a few songs. Now that you’re all super educated about science and stuff, the next post will concentrate on playing and toying with your listener.
To Be Continued…..
