Mix tapes ease road trips

Since the advent of the dual-cassette recorder and the CD player, the mix tape has always been an integral part of music listening.

Whether it was the first time a friend taped "that awesome new Vanilla Ice song" for you, or when a significant other recorded the classic love ballads of the '80s as a special gift, the mix tape has been a versatile instrument of communication through music.

A number of factors play in students' decisions about what to tape onto their blank cassettes.

When Jason Schmidt (sophomore-electrical engineering) makes a mix tape, he not only includes music, "but also sounds -- collages that evoke certain emotions," he said. "Make it speedy. Make it sleepy."

Taping very diverse songs also makes for good mixes, said Alison Dwyer (sophomore-English).

"A lot of really excellent tapes use discontinuity as the theme -- like juxtapose a Cure song with a Beastie Boys song -- there's balance through contradiction," Dwyer said.

Dan Campbell (junior-psychology) also said he likes his tapes to include extreme mood changes from song to song.

"I want 90 minutes of an extreme musically induced roller coaster, full of sudden ups and downs," said Campbell.

Though such a wide range of possibilities exist for making mix tapes, one student said it is better to keep it simple.

"A good mix tape has to be primarily what you like," said Ed Darrin (senior-animal bioscience). "Don't put all kinds of 'poppy' songs on there because you can get the same thing listening to the radio."

Talk of making mix tapes usually leads to discussion of long drives and road trips. Because many students have to spend a significant amount of time traveling in a car, this is often the case.

"Since most mix tapes inevitably end up in my car, I'd probably put good driving music on it," said Justen Bennett (junior-advertising).

Some students like to make tapes for other reasons than using them themselves. Rebecca Brumberg (freshman-film and video) said most of the time she makes mix tapes for her friends.

Sometimes a tape can even be like a letter to someone, Dwyer said.

"(It can be) a musical chronology of events, impressions and emotions," she said.

Whatever music is chosen to go on a cassette, remember what the Beastie Boys said on Check Your Head: ". . . Life ain't nothing but a good groove / A good mix tape can put you in the right mood."