Duck tape

When LL Cool J was battling in the park, and Whodini’s freaks came out at dark, the mix tape was hip-hop’s calling card. Even in the mid-’90s rave scene, there was still a brisk trade in mix tapes, spurred by, among other factors: tradition, URB magazine’s mix tape round up and sources such as Dr. Freecloud’s Mixing Lab (formerly a newsprint mailing, now a full-fledged online storefront, www.drfreeclouds.com).

Without a doubt, CDs stack more neatly on your shelf than mix tapes, and the spines are easier to read than handwritten labels. And they are less likely to be strewn about your car, warping in the heat (yes, even ravers have to go out in the daylight to buy their glowsticks and big pants). Still, there’s something nostalgic about rummaging through a box of tapes, cases long lost, looking for cryptically titled tapes like “2-10-94,” “Ascension” and “Zenith 1/2.”

But with the advent of digital technologies, among them CD-R, MP3 and streaming audio, the zenith of the tape looks to have passed, with the 90-minute Maxell a dying breed of expression. After all, why would a DJ make a mix tape their calling card when there are services and software that will create a personalized CD-ROM, complete with cover, label and interactive dossier. Yes, some places will even do custom-shaped CDs. Sure beats Kinko’s color printer. And stereos don’t eat CDs.

These days, even when Funkmaster Flex presents another curiously titled Mix Tape Volume XXX, it sells more units on CD than on tape. With more and more cars coming factory equipped with CD players, and “boom boxes” as archaic as shaving the Batman symbol in the back of your fade, the means by which DJs get their messages to the masses has been remixed.

“Last time I did a tape most people told me they didn’t have a tape player,” admits Patrick Scott, resident DJ at Cobalt. “I haven’t made a tape since.”

Scott isn’t alone. Tape decks have become increasingly rare as the writeable (and rewriteable) CD-ROM drive prices have put them within the reach of most. CD-R drives are standard on many new computers. This new climate is becoming a significant influence on the ever-changing face of both DJing and DJ culture.

The industry is providing even more promotional material on freshly burnt CD-R, since it is much cheaper to produce than a small run of promotional discs or acetates, quickly-wearing records produced in limited quantities for DJs. This change in format, spurred by economics and efficiency, has also forced a change in a lot of DJs’ attitudes toward mixing CDs alongside vinyl while performing or recording, formerly a much-maligned practice.

“I’m very confident in my CD mixing skills and I put them to good use more than once in a set,” claims Gene Carbonell, resident DJ at the Vault. “Mostly because all very advanced material is given to me in the form of a CD-R. Acetates cost $60 and CD-R’s cost $1. Simple math shows acetate isn’t the way to go.”

More math reveals that, when it comes to mixes, CDs offer 74-minute representations of a DJ’s style, as opposed to the 45 minutes on one side of a tape. So what’s lost in warmth and width of signal is gained in finding a wider audience. For the price - a mere dollar or two a disc in bulk for non-rewriteable CDs - it’s not much of an investment for a DJ to waste a few CDs until he or she gets a mix right. Meanwhile, the gains of making mixes, regardless of the means, benefit both the DJ and the fan.

“I make a mixed CD about every eight weeks,” says Carbonell. “It consists mostly of tracks that haven’t come out yet and new material of mine or my friends that I want to promote. The main reason I make them every eight weeks is that I like to present something as current a possible to prospective promoters who want to book me. More or less, for promotional reasons.”

Scott runs on a similar schedule. “I do a mix CD about three to four times a year. I simply label them by month and year. I mainly use them for audition purposes, but I won’t do a mix unless I have ideas I’m very excited about. I keep most of the mixes I’ve done throughout my career. It’s fun to look back on where the music was and where my skills were at various stages.”

No matter the format, making mixes also allows regular DJs a chance to perfect their technique, and their track selection. Even though practice can’t take into account live factors like crowd response, mixes provide practice and planning, thus providing fans with a more satisfying performance in person, as well as something more than a memory to take home to fuel those flashbacks. But with the higher cost of CDs compared to cassettes, the sometimes controversial question of whether or not DJs should plan out mixes beforehand becomes more relevant than ever.

“No one way of doing a mix tape is better than the other,” says Shannon Burke, aka Shortee, partner to Faust and a DJ of both hip-hop and hard house. “It just depends on the person mixing and what’s right for them. Anyone who has ‘ethical’ problems with someone planning a mix tape or a set for a special show is an idiot. As long as they plan something different every time, and it sounds good, who the fuck cares?

“I always plan my tapes out first,” continues Shortee, whose most recent release is volume two of her and Faust’s Dream Theory series. “I feel it’s just more professional that way, and if you screw up, you can just do it again; you don’t have to just rely on luck. I like to create a story with my sets. Take people from point A to point B, you know, a beginning, middle and end. Planning my mix tapes helps me do this rather than just randomly spinning records.”

Whatever side of the debate you’re on, analog or digital; whether mixing vinyl, CD-R or MP3s; or whether you’re just a fan looking for your favorite DJ’s latest set, maybe instead of lamenting the passing of one format to another, it’s time to check out the new ways of using the technology for yourself. Sites such as www.raveworld.net, among others, offer free sets by International DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox.

On the local level, one member of the extended Madlove crew, Todd Rutherford (aka DJ Ender), has set up a site at www.headphonic.com that offers several mixes from transplanted Atlanta DJs, members of the Space Kadets, in streaming audio, and is looking for submissions. Two more Madlove DJs, Starboy and Molly, will play the part of EJs for the Mixing Room of wetair.com, an underdevelopment website based in Atlanta concentrating on utilizing newly developed methods of streaming media to spotlight popular culture.

In addition to these technological advances, currently available around town are tapes (!) or CD-Rs by Carbonell, Shortee, Eve (who recently got a write-up in URB), as well as a host of others. You can call Satellite 404-880-3-9746 or Rewind 404-827-9463, for more information.

Tony Ware has no tape deck. Anyone looking to donate CD-Rs or vinyl for review should drop him a line at tony.ware@creativeloafing.com.