Balance.
Of course, first you gotta know who you're making the mix tape for. More importantly, you gotta know their taste. If its your dad or mum or someone older, generally you'd fill it up with oldies, and not stuff like Primus(unless your dad is cool like that). If its for someone special, ah.. there's the tricky part. Research has got to be done about what songs that person likes, what bands.
Mixtapes should have themes and not a random bunch of songs thrown in. They need to be purposeful. Which is where balance comes in. A typical mixtape will generally attempt to accomplish this(in this order):
- Have good songs so it'll stay in that person's CD player
- Carry a particular message(s)
- Have distinct properties to remind the listener of who made the tape
Which is where balance comes in. The first, of course, needs to be done no matter what, because you don't want to chuck mainstream pop into an indie-lovin-pretentious-elitist's mixtape. And vice versa.
Balance comes in when you try to juggle point two and three. Sometimes those two points conflict, because say.. the listener might not get the sweet vibes coming off of a guitar solo, which so totally symbolizes the fleeting sunset that reminds you of the listener's unpredictable temperaments. Or something like that.
As you try and figure out how to balance point two and three, people tend to get lost in striking perfect synergy when the answer is really simple, go back to point one. Many times we try to insert too many songs that we think we like, that we think communicates through music what we find so hard to express, that we fall short of what a mixtape should be.
A joy to the ears for the listener.
