Here's how to... make a mixtape

 It’s fair to say most 80s children will know the joy of the mixtape. The careful timing to snag your favourite songs off the radio or another tape, and the fury when you catch the end of the weather... one minute the Smiths are warbling about Joan of Arc, the next you know it’s going to snow in Skegness. The furious rewinding and fast-forwarding to erase all sign that you were an uncool cat who couldn’t even manage a mixtape without buggering it up.

The careful compiling of songs that touch your heart and offer the mysterious lyrical messages of love has become a bit of a right of passage – name-checked often in teen flicks as the ultimate expression of love. Because the mixtape had the power to make or break you. Would your wild choice of Nirvana’s grungy Smells Like Teen Spirit followed by B*Witched’s jaunty C’est La Vie be seen as a bold, genre-spanning move, or musical suicide?

I remember the grand old day I finally acquired a double tape deck and could evolve from hastily-snagged songs from the radio to sharing my own growing music collection. I made my best friend a mix tape, seamlessly blending Spice Girls with REM, or so I thought. With shaking hands I handed over the tape I'd carefully curated while sat in my bedroom surrounded by East 17 posters and piles of Smash Hits and Kerrang. She took it from me, and shoved it into her school bag – did she not realise the importance of this rite of passage?
I’d just handed her the world in a plastic case, and all she could do was shove it in her bag?

She never told me what she thought of my musical choices, and it would be honest to tell you our relationship suffered for it. I resolved to never make a mixtape for anyone again. Unless they were really special. This was a vow I kept until 2011. A time when mixtapes were no longer fashionable. The cassette tape had long-since been relegated to the scrap heap with VHS videos and brick-shaped Nokia phones.

So, imagine the romance I piled on this gesture. Tracking down a real-life actual cassette, then a stereo that would actually record onto a cassette, and of course the pinnacle of my gesture – the songs. I spent a pleasant four hours choosing music, recording it and making sure the songs fitted perfectly onto the cassette. It was a true labour of love, which simply cannot be replicated by simply burning music onto a CD.

And the boy I gave it to? Now my husband. Coincidence? I think not.

However the fact remains tracking down a cassette and stereo can be difficult, so I grudging accept that CD burning may be the way forward. Still there are some tips you can follow to try and recreate some of the magic, which makes the gesture – whether done the traditional or modern way – much more soulful.

1. Pick a theme. A mixtape without a theme is a meandering affair with no heart, or point. Your theme can be as loose as love or summer or as complex as songs that make me think of your tiny face or songs to drive down the M64 to. It gives you something to work towards, and it makes you look clever. Win win, right?

2. Pick a title. A good title can make or break your collection. No-one likes the bland Collection 1 or Songs for Kirsty. Be a little unusual. For Christmas I made my husband a mixtape called Riding in Cars with Boys. He made me Songs for Hedgehogs, by Hedgehogs. Now ask yourself which sounds better? Score 1-0 to the husband. It doesn’t matter if it’s obscure – it shows you’re deep.

3. The songs. The MOST important bit. You must know how many songs you can fit on your cassette/CD, and which songs you want. Make a list – don’t be tempted to focus on similar sounding names, or years (unless that’s your theme, of course). Go for songs that blend together and match your theme.

4. The order. You don’t want to jump straight from a Beth Orton ballad to a rousing Metallica song. The songs have to blend seamlessly and sound like they belong together. You could have mellow rising to loud back to mellow, or one half loud, one half relaxtion. It’s up to you! The beauty of online music is that you can shuffle it around and preview it before making any firm decisions.

5. The cover. Make sure you write the songs clearly so your recipient can track down more music by their favourite artists – and make it personal! Drawings, dedications, stickers... whatever you want. Make it stand out.

So, as you can see the art of the mixtape is complex. But is there a more romantic gesture? Not to an 80s child like me! Let me know if you make a mixtape – I’d love to hear your stories and collections.

By Louise.