Mix Tape Reflection

Although I’m tempted to say the mix tape project was our most unusual foray into authorship so far, I just can’t; that honor belongs to the plagiarism experience. However the mix tape may have given me the most radically new conception of what it means to be an author.

Mix tapes seem really straight-forward: you take songs you like and toss ‘em onto a tape or CD. To the untrained eye, perhaps that’s true, but to those who studied under Jack Tripper there’s a great deal more. Somehow taking songs which you never wrote, recorded, performed, purchased, sang anywhere outside of the shower, or even learned the real lyrics to becomes a new form of writing. There is almost an art in selecting the tracks and arranging them on the tape. The only thing I can really compare it to is when we did cut-ups. Mix tapes sample a huge selection of songs and sounds to create a new composition. They combine this “newer” understanding of authorship with “original” liner notes written by the person assembling the tracks. While the liner notes usually have some kind of song information, they are very open to creativity. They’re a place for thoughts and plans as well as poetry, jokes, and dreams. For people reading mine, and I’m guessing there will be a few since I’ll leave it on the floor of my car, the liner notes are probably going to come off a little strange. That’s alright, the guys on the roadtrip will know what I’m talking about.

I think a mix tape, or at least those made subscribing to the formula we studied, can say a lot about a relationship. Everything from song selection and liner notes to the cover hints at a lot that can be conveyed. As I continue on from this point, granted more slowly, I think it will be interesting to see what else comes out from mix tape making. This was a relatively light-hearted project, so it should be interesting getting into some heavier stuff.