You consider yourself a skilled lyricist and now it's time to show your skills to the world. Mixtape - perfect way to do this. Mixtapes are low-budget, tightly compressed releases that create buzz and spread the word about you as an artist. A talentedly presented and well crafted mixtape can open many doors. The point of making a successful mixtape is not the money invested, but the dedication and talent put into it. But a good DJ doesn't hurt either.
Steps
Part 1
Recording tracks- Try to avoid re-using songs that were on the previous mixtape. This will give the listener the impression of being lazy. The only re-release of a song would be a significant remix.
-
Pick up the beats. If you're not comfortable with making your own beats, or if you don't have anyone to help you with it, there are thousands and thousands of beats available online. Anything from instrumental versions of your favorite songs to salable tracks from enterprising internet producers, the possibilities are almost endless.
Keep samples in line. It's very popular to record over other musicians' tracks these days, but not everyone wants to hear the overused beats over and over again. Try to be original. BUT side effect there will be your audience that will appreciate your talent.
Find a producer or DJ friend to record the beats. If you want to sound really professional, ask a DJ/producer to prepare some tracks for you to rap along to. This will provide an opportunity to demonstrate yourself and unique bits not only to you, but also to the DJ. Who knows, maybe you will find a musical partner.
Get good equipment. Make sure you have a good microphone and decent software and mixing equipment. The basic set will not prevent you from creating miracles with sound.
- See this guide for details on setting up a cheap home recording studio.
-
Order or create a cover. A good mixtape needs a catchy cover image. If all else fails, then your photo will be enough to strengthen your own brand. If you think a mixtape is all about the music, then a lot of people choose mixtapes based on the cover art alone. Make sure yours catches the eye!
- Avoid cluttering logos and links on the cover. Attach your website and contact information to the insert.
Part 2
Playing music with a DJ-
Make friends with local DJs. DJs control the music scene. They decide what sounds good and what their listeners will like. You want to get your mixtape into the hands of as many DJs as possible, whether they're on the radio or on the turntables at the local club. If the DJ decides your song is hot, you will reach more ears.
Have a DJ put your mixtape on his program. Many DJs and promo companies give you the option to pay to have your mixtape included in their programs. Often this includes mixing and adding transitions by a professional DJ. Inclusion in the program may include help with promotion and some serious air time. Inclusion in the program can be a little pricey, but it provides a lot of opportunities.
- Viral Mixtapes - Popular online service to include mixtapes in their program, promoting them in many in social networks.
- Coast2CoastMixtapes is another popular online service that boasts a very large audience.
Part 3
Promoting your mixtape-
Post on social networks. You should blow up all available social media immediately after the release of your mixtape. If people like what they hear, they will share it with their friends, increasing your audience and name recognition. Social media is not the only place where you have to promote the mixtape, but it's very important these days.
Come up with a concept. The best mixtapes always have a theme or concept that runs throughout, including the cover art. If your mixtape has direction and is not just a collection of random tracks, your listeners will be able to get more out of it.
Keep a balance between old and new. A mixtape is supposed to create buzz and buzz about you, so you want to make sure your fans hear something new. But at the same time, you don't want to give away all of your new material is free.
0 I have long wanted to write a short article about Mixtape and what it is eaten with. This is a fresh trend that has come to us, as usual from the West. What does mixtape mean? I recommend reading some interesting articles, for example, who is Retard, what does Repost mean, how to understand the word Repit, what is Regat, etc. Mixtape is a new stream musical movement. There has been more and more mixtapes for some time now, but some people who come across it can't figure out what it's all about. This article will be very short, because I will not strain you, with some mega details and historical facts, just give short answers to most popular questions. What is a mixtape? The word mixtape was borrowed from of English language"Mixtape", which can be translated as a cassette with cuts musical compositions.
Mixtape- this is a cassette borrowed by a DJ that contains music or skits ( small stories prose)
Find out more about what Mix means in this detailed article.
Nowadays, few people can remember such a storage medium as an ordinary audio cassette. However, the habit is an obsessive thing, so later Mixtapes were called CD-mix, as well as mp3-mix.
Mixtape- this is a selection of musical compositions of the same genre, the same or different artists.
A mixtape is also called the overlay of your voice on the "minus" (music from the song)
How is a mixtape different from an album?
Albums are made for a very long time, every composition, every track is polished. Rewrite lyrics and change musical arrangements, so sometimes an album can take several years to complete.The mixtape is released privately, so the freedom of choice is much greater, since you can take any track you like, no one can forbid you. In addition, on Mixtapes you can take other people's instrumentals, samples, and everything your heart desires. Therefore, you can kill "American Boy" by the Combination on the motive of HIM and send it to the Internet for everyone to see, or you can burn your masterpiece on a USB flash drive and give it to your friends to listen to.
Is music stolen on mixtapes?
Not really. How do you even imagine a stolen track. Do you take a crowbar and a flashlight at night and go to Philip Kirkorov's villa to steal a composition from him and pass it off as your own?Similar music from songs (" stolen"minus) is sold completely legally on vinyls or discs of artists.
Why should a person who actually bought a licensed disc in a store have to listen to insults that he stole this music? Some artists themselves voluntarily post "minus" (music from songs) on the Internet, and what, the one who downloaded and used them, is a thief?
Although, of course, there are mixes in which exclusively foreign music, but more with their own author's compositions.
HiRoSima - Mixtape "City in the Sky" Promo Video.
Creation date: April 17, 2015
Readers: 2811
In our everyday life there are many words, the essence of which we seem to clearly understand, but if necessary we cannot explain correctly. Among them, of course, there are musical terms.
Such as, for example, the magic word podcast. One of the main network trends of the 2000s - today this term is regularly used by all of us. And in completely different meanings. Some write guest podcasts for someone else's radio show, others listen to them online, and still others produce a series of their own techno or trance podcasts. The fact that "podcast" means some kind of blog dictated by the author, and not typed by hand, does not bother anyone. The word has long taken root in the circles of DJs and musicians. They came up with a lot of variations from soulcast (something like “music for the soul”) to friendcast and are unlikely to stop there.
There are many such examples. Promo-promotion-promoter. Who is he? A boxing match organizer, a flyer guy in transit, or someone who can advertise your release? Or progressive! What is another animal? Progressive music, "more progressive trance or house" or still music with progressive melodies? And if so, which one? Certainly not geometric.
Even such hackneyed words as a producer can be interpreted by us in different ways. Agree, the difference between Iosif Prigogine and John Digweed is quite significant. These people should be called representatives different professions. But no, nominally they are both producers.
This can go on for quite some time, until we come to the word "mixtape" - the only one that interests us today.
With regard to the main product of DJ life, we all, of course, use the word mix more often. There is some kind of unspoken agreement that the mix is at home or in the studio, and the set is at the console in the club. DJs record promotional mixes, author mixes, special mixes dedicated to something. They mix music, mix it, mix it, and everything, it would seem, is clear with this.
But with the advent of the music blogosphere in Russia, and later thematic music publics on social networks, we have grown a whole caste of music reviewers, music lovers, DJs of a different type. Most of These guys are trying to express their own progressiveness, erudition, elitism through a fairly clear distinction: everything that was before us was a collective farm and profanation. All of them play and listen to “only high-quality and relevant intellectual sound”, as if this is not a matter of course for any conscious DJ, but an important competitive advantage.
To emphasize their own superiority over the slow-moving crowd, these guys deliberately avoid basic terms, replacing them with new English synonyms. So the nickname suddenly became an alias or moniker, the label became an imprint, the broadcast became a stream, the warm-up became a warm-up, the image became an identity, the preview became a snippet, the trailer became a teaser, and the mix became a mixtape.
Cool underground DJs only make mixtapes. It cannot be otherwise, because the mixes are recorded by Bazooka and Smash, and they are busy with anything but honest creativity.
And this, of course, is all very cool. Youth language must change, and it will now be a little easier for poor critics to wander between three pines from the same hackneyed words. But it was from here that a few years ago the absolute confusion began, which in the minds of many people turned the mixtape into a consonant synonym for the word mix, depriving it of the right to its own long, rich and unique history, which began long before the first turntables or nightclubs appeared.
And everything is not so simple here. Even a detailed wiki-help in English will not help to quickly understand the issue. For more than 50 years of the existence of mixtapes, the term has experienced several periods of oblivion, moved across the ocean and back, and more than once adapted to new musical formats and media. This has created a number of deep contradictions in the correct understanding of the phenomenon of mixtapes, understanding which you can learn a lot of useful things.
The head of the Library Of America, writer and culturologist Jeffrey O'Brien, in one of his essays, called the mixtape the most widespread art form in America, and he was absolutely right in this statement.
It really is. The mixtape is the territory of freedom. Music links search form and internal meanings, free from the narrow framework of laws and rights. Since the first mixtapes were released on 8-track cassettes in the late 60s, supporters and opponents of this practice on long years forward divided into two opposing camps.
In a broad sense, a mixtape is a collection, compilation, selection of songs by one or more authors, united by some stylistic framework, idea or concept. Its key difference from the so-called VA, that is, Various Artists, is the illegal use of other people's compositions or samples in the release, as well as self-publishing in 90% of cases. Which is obvious. No adequate label will undertake to release a record, the author of which has violated all the basic norms of musical law.
Another thing is that until the mid-70s, mixtapes quite successfully competed in the market of musical products with cassettes and records of recording studios, without experiencing any special pressure from the copyright holders. If you dig deep into second-hand vinyl stores in Boston or Chicago, you'll likely find mixtapes from those years: artisanal compilations of country music, Christmas songs, live recordings from jazz concerts, or compilations of songs by artists from one particular state or even a city that for a long time were kept in the archives of local radio stations.
It was in those years with the advent of mixtapes that the term from the “roaring 20s” came to the music industry - the word bootleg or bootlegger, a slang term for smugglers who rapidly grew rich selling underground alcohol during Prohibition. Everyone who is familiar with the work of The Great Gatsby (and after the recent film by Baz Luhrmann most of them) are well versed in this topic.
The story, as you remember, ends rather sadly for the protagonist. The society regarded bootleggers with censure and for years to come this word became a dirty word. In the pre-war years, bootleggers were simply called any rogues and deceivers who trade in fraud and theft. Therefore, one can only imagine what kind of shadow lay by the end of the 60s on records marked bootleg or (which in those years was the same) mixtape.
But years passed, and the format survived, and its idea only changed, becoming accessible to the masses over time. The real boom occurred in the early 80s, when almost every music lover had the opportunity to record their mixtapes at home. The emergence of two cassette recorders with the ability to record FM broadcasts and rewrite music from one cassette to another without critical loss quality, the rapid development of the market for blank cassettes - all this played a crucial role.
It is noteworthy that in the 80s, a real battle unfolded between a number of large companies like Sony or Philips. At the same time, in the neighboring offices, the managers of the assistant company of the super-label Sony Music mercilessly criticized the decision of the equipment manufacturers to make the recording available to ordinary listeners. They preferred a model in which they alone had bulky recording machines, and therefore the ability to completely control the tastes of millions of people, dictating what to listen to and whom to love.
Of course, as in any other similar story, the opponents of inevitable progress were left out of work. In parallel with the boom in mixtapes, a new powerful street culture was emerging - hip-hop, originally built on disobedience to any general rules and orders. Later, these two phenomena merged into a close and long alliance that still exists.
Actually, the watershed between rave culture and hip-hop, like two huge layers dance music most clearly passes in the division into the terms "mix" and "mixtape". And if in the circles of house DJs, as mentioned above, the term "mixtape" is increasingly common, then among rap artists and beatmakers you will hardly hear the word "mix". But this is not only a form of speech and not just an attempt to isolate, identify through differences in the designation of similar phenomena. Mixtapes in their original sense of such raw demos, drafts, sketches for young hip-hop artists are a vital necessity, while for club DJs it's just a game and foppery.
The thing is that American (and all these processes originate and form there) hip-hop and rhythm and blues does not have as many intermediate levels as house or techno scene, where you can be an artist of the first, second, third and the 25th echelon and at the same time find a publisher, the opportunity to speak and be heard. The threshold for entry into this environment is much higher. Hip-hop stars most often come to the top musical Olympus literally from the street. While the audience for such music, its very internal aesthetics is arranged in such a way that the demand can only be for the best, winners, extremely cool dudes. You can't just be a good rapper who rides the subway and writes cool stuff for a friend's label. Gold, expensive cars, impressive clips and overproduction are often indispensable here.
Therefore, the process of musical production in hip-hop is insanely expensive. Aspiring artists do not and cannot have the opportunity to pay for the services of a really cool studio producer, arranger and session musicians (in hip-hop and new soul, all the best earn their bread and caviar today). jazz performers peace). Therefore, a mixtape as a demonstration of naked talent is the only way to express yourself, to get into the field of view of influential producers and major labels.
There really is something to this. hear future star, to risk investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, relying only on a disc with tracks recorded in four tracks - this is really difficult and cool. And this is worthy of respect. After all, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Tyler The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and many other superstars of the new generation began their careers with mixtapes. And we wouldn't be talking about them now if their home recordings hadn't fallen into the hands of visionaries like Drake, Jay-Z or Kanye West.
Obviously, the success story of these guys provoked new wave popularity of the term mixtape. Now they are written even by those who are already at the zenith of fame. From now on, a mixtape is a whole aesthetic in which the author does not create a hit, but simply designates it, giving the listener a bare essence without a bright facade, which almost everyone has already learned to sculpt.
However, there is one more alternative version the origin of mixtapes, which confuses all the cards for adherents of the theories we have described. In Thursten Moore's book cult group Sonic Youth called "Mix Tape: The Art Of Cassetee Culture" collected a lot of fascinating facts from life famous musicians and producers different generations. Artists ranging from DJ Spooky to Ahmet Zappa (Frank's dad's third son) share their personal and, by the way, very different stories about mixtapes.
Among them, there is not only one, casually mentioned in the biography of the infamous, but no less outstanding music producer Phil Spector, author of the famous "wall of sound". There is an assumption that the term "mixtape" was popular in the early 60s of the last century exclusively in the circles of sound engineers. It meant material for the mix session recorded on tape (reel). So some specialists achieved a cooler sound quality, while most of them were written live right away and didn’t glue anything manually.
Is it so? History does not give an exact answer. Although perhaps not worth it. Words and phenomena live only as long as their meaning and color can change dynamically. Hundreds of mixtapes are being recorded by someone right now, which means it's too early for this term to be in the dictionary and on the shelf.
In the section on the question What is Mixtape (in rap) ??? given by the author pre-soviet the best answer is Mixtape (English mixtape) - special kind music release. The name comes from English words mix and tape (literally translated as a mixed record, see mix).
The very concept of "mixtape" was born in the United States, among black rappers, so mixtapes are most common in the hip-hop community. Most often, mixtapes are mixed collections of individual tracks. various artists, although there are also thematic ones (for example, a mixtape from the tracks of a specific artist or all artists read to the beats of a certain beatmaker). Often, mixtapes are released by their own authors - DJs on their own labels, and then distributed on the streets through their channels, bypassing official music stores and large retail chains. When hip-hop was in its infancy, DJs sold their mixtapes on the streets from the trunks of their own cars and in clubs.
Many aspiring artists consider mixtapes as a means for their own promotion, so they readily give their new tracks to famous DJs for mixtapes. Many DJs release whole series of mixtapes, for example DJ White Owl released the WHITE OWL DROP THAT 31 mixtape in early September 2008, which is already the thirty-first of this series. At the same time, mixtapes have a semi-official status, small circulations (relative to official albums famous artists) and instantly leak to the Internet. AT this moment There are a lot of mixtapes (no one even counted them), and people known in certain circles release another 5-20 pieces daily.
And there is something interesting here: and here:
Today we will talk about such a phenomenon as a mixtape. What it is, we will consider in detail in this material. Music lovers are able to listen to a hit dozens of times. Moreover, they must put all the melodies in their own playlists in order to play them in a certain order. To facilitate this task, professional musicians, especially for their listeners, came up with a new phenomenon, which will be discussed further.
A bit of history
So, our theme is a mixtape. What is it, you can answer very simply. This is a sound recording that combines several musical works. In other words, a collection of songs that have overall composition and a specific mixing style. This phenomenon appeared in the 70s of the twentieth century. At that time, there was no production of 8-track magnetic tapes. For the first time, this method of sound recording was discovered by long-distance drivers. They were the first to mix their favorite tunes on audio cassettes. A little later, such carriers began to be traded in the markets. And so the mixtape was born. What did this mean in those years for music lovers? To understand this, it is worth listening to audio cassettes popular at that time: Top 1977, Super 73, Country Chart.
Musicians have a different opinion about the emergence of mixtapes. It is possible that this concept originated in America among professional "black" rappers. This is why audio mixing is currently the most widespread in the hip-hop direction.
Rap
We continue to discuss the mixtape. What does this mean for rap? The main thing is mixing tracks from completely different artists. In some cases, the compositions used are related to the same theme. All tracks are owned by the same artist. Sometimes a beat is read by different artists, although it belongs to a particular artist.
Album
I must say that the creation of a mixtape takes little time and does not require official confirmation of copyright. This job does not require a producer. There is no censorship here, the recording is simply adjusted to the radio release. The artist has the freedom to choose musical accompaniment, he chooses the right tools. You can, for example, use the composition of the bard, add to it female vocals, mix it all with the rhythmic melody of a popular rap hit.
Let's take a look at how a mixtape differs from an album. There is an obvious difference between these two concepts. To record an album professional musician you have to work long and hard. He releases commercials, recording video clips.
Essentially, the artist releases music release, whose rights are fully reserved, all sound fragments are purchased. Certainly this product has high quality which distinguishes the author's music. The difference is quite obvious. By creating an album, the artist aims to earn income and become famous.
So between mixtape concepts and the album the difference is significant, however, in both cases we are talking about music.
Varieties
DJs and rappers work in this direction. The former are engaged in mixing various musical compositions, creating one stream. The latter become leaders who read a certain text to a sounding melody. Sometimes they focus on the transition from one melody to another.
You don't need DJs to create rap mixtapes. In this case, the musicians combine their own tracks with others. They rap, which combines lyrics. There can be a huge number of such options.
Amateur mixtapes are also very popular. They are independently created by ordinary music listeners at home. How to record a mixtape, and what you need for this, we will tell you further. The process is not overly complicated. To create such an entry, you need to have several musical melodies. Usually their quality is lower than the original mix. To record both an amateur and a professional mixtape, you must have a list right songs, mixture of compositions, common themes.
Works of great renown
Several projects can be distinguished in this direction: Memorial Day Mixtape; "New Russian rap"; "There was no sadness." DJs after creating mixtapes became very popular, for example, the composition White Owl Drop That 31 is known to many. According to certain categories, such records become a series of mixtapes. They become semi-official.
What is the purpose of this work?
What does mixtape mean music world? To understand this, just listen to a few records. Professionals release them in large quantities, but since they have no official status, the recordings are distributed only in the amateur music environment. It is much more difficult to give an exact answer for what mixtapes are for. Aspiring artists include them in their promotional presentations. To do this, they give their melodies to DJs. After mixing, a single tape is obtained, having original design which is shown to the general public.
To create an album of author's music, a large financial investment is required. You need to make video clips, mix melodies and mastering. You can make a mixtape without the costs described above and without restrictions. An artist can easily mix several of his songs and quickly distribute them on the Internet. Amateurs are engaged in the creation of mixtapes according to the most different reasons: for your own listening, telling about your musical tastes, demonstrating your talent, trying out an unfamiliar program, out of interest.
How to record a mixtape yourself
It is very easy for a musician to do this kind of work. For this there are many various programs. Next, we'll talk about how to make a mixtape in FL Studio. The manufacturing technology consists of several steps.
Concept
It is desirable to have a specific direction. Come up with a title, draw a cover. To a mixtape from own compositions only new, unpublished creations should be included.
Compilation of beats
If your own beats are not enough, you can borrow other people's melodies. On the Internet you can find the necessary instrumental versions of the necessary tracks.
Sample selection
When creating a mixtape, you should always remember that this method has become very popular among professionals. Therefore, you need to use only high-quality author's texts.
True, not everyone may like this interpretation. There are two ways to get out of this situation. Create your own musical accompaniment or use previous work that did not appear in the albums. For example, songs of famous world performers.
How to record music
In case of difficulties when recording music, you can use the services of a professional DJ. It makes it easier to find the right tracks. The author will only have to perform rap under them.
Cover
To distribute your creation among rap lovers, not only on the Internet, you need to think carefully about the picture that will decorate the future CD. Her appearance should attract attention with its originality and bright colors. The cover should not contain unnecessary details. For complete success, it must have original picture and title.
So we discussed such a thing as a mixtape. What it is, you already know.
FL Studio: how to make a mixtape
First of all, let's start the program. Next, load from open sources all the necessary components, vocals, main melody, effects. At the first stage, we set the rhythm. Next, using the function of the same name, we determine the tempo. You can use a metronome for accuracy. Next, we move on to working with chords. The Newton 2 plugin available in FL Studio will help us with this. Thanks to him, you can get a sample located in accordance with the notes. Then you can diversify the melody with the help of piano and other instruments.
