Rediscovering My 1980s Mixtapes

This morning with a tweet from Luke Dorny I was reminded of the many mixtapes I created in the mid-1980s and early 1990s.

Many of my friends from Milwaukee moved away to college, so I created mixtapes of new wave music for them to listen to on cassette tapes. That's right, cassette tapes.

Making the Mix

I would spend hours listening to Milwaukee's 91.7 FM WMSE, our local college radio station, capturing great music on my cassette deck.

There were no downloads, Pandora, LastFM, iTunes or Amazon MP3 available for creating music mixes. It was a matter of hours of listening, the luck of catching a great tune and plenty of re-taping.

Typically, I would create a master tape on a high quality cassette, making copies for friends from the master.

Of course, being a designer, I would always create a tape cover to complete the package, which was as much fun as capturing and building the music on the tape.

I've been slowly converting my old tapes to MP3s and thought it would be fun to share them. I hope you enjoy these two flashback mixtapes from the mid-eighties!

CUT Mixtape TWO - 1986

Download: 183MB MP3

CUT Mixtape SIX - 1987

Download: 185MB MP3

(Note: CUT SIX starts about 50 seconds into playing)

Twittersourced Earphone Recommendations

A few weeks ago, I needed advice on earphones I could wear to bed that were comfortable, portable and reasonably priced.

I was curious to see the response I'd get from Twitter, so I publicly sought my followers' recommendations on Twitter.

Here is the complete collection of @replies and Direct Messages received with recommendations and links:

bernardgomez Been using a pair of Vibe Duos for over a year now. Build quality is good but tough to work out in. Decent iPhone integration. 7.5/10

knight777 waffling between Shure 530s, Westone UM2, Westone 3 - yeah, expensive indeed :( Looking forward to your writeup!

knight777 btw, I went with the Westone 3s.

heygabe JVC Gummies. For $10, You can't go wrong.

jparato Have you tried Skullcandy headphones? I don't own a pair personally, but I've heard they're decent.

danhhoang I go with the apple premium headphones. I use tons of headphones and I think those sound the best. Just pricey. Next is sony MDR-EX71SL

jburdine @rohdesign just picked up iCover earbuds with an online mic to use w/my Touch and Skype for the iPhone

jburdine @rohdesign I'm really happy with my $25 Sony earbuds.

topmuffin @rohdesign NuForce NE-7M Stereo Earphones got these 3 mnths ago & they beat every headset I've ownd. Not sure about sleeping w/ them. #iphone #headsets

toddclausen @rohdesign don't really like sound quality of earbuds, but fav is Shure SE115s with foam earpieces like a hearing protector

bjhess @rohdesign Shure e2c's sound great, but ear buds tire my ears out so I've given up on them.

jabbott @rohdesign I've been really happy with UE Super.fi 5 EBs for the past couple years. I use them almost daily,

bnyquist @rohdesign - I have had the Bose earbud headphones for nearly 2 years now and love them. Great sound, great fit.. but a little expensive.

schutzsmith @rohdesign i really like the skull candy earbuds. they're cheap too, like $15 and they are hella loud!

cdharrison @rohdesign Skullcandy Smokin Buds are what I currently use. I love em.

andykant @rohdesign I've been using Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3's for a while and have been very happy with them.

bartka @rohdesign these earbud headphones are excellent: BOSE in-ear Headphones

davidhughes @rohdesign Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pros - I'd no idea earphones could sound so good!

adny @rohdesign I've not owned or used too many cans $100+, but really like the beyerdynamic DT-770's and sennheiser hd600's, fwiw.

adny @rohdesign best earbuds under $50, v-moda bassfreq - best $50 - $150 etymotic i6, imo. best cans under $100, sennheiser hd 280 pro.

drstout @rohdesign These headphones (Pioneer HDJ-2000) are expensive, bulky and you'll never fall asleep wearing them. But they're damn cool.

Arlen @rohdesign I sleep in Koss Plugs, under $20, fairly comfortable, goos sound. Koos also makes some KEB24r's that look good, never tried them.

NathanBowers @rohdesign I have and like Shure EC3 earbuds and over ear Sennheiser cans. Not sure what it's like to sleep with them. #cordDeath

steventrotter @rohdesign Skullcandy FMJ

I ended up buying Sony MDR-EX32s. They had a good frequency response and are quite comfortable. For my main listening though, I have used Koss PortaPros for years and love 'em!

Thanks Twitterfolk for your suggestions! I hope this is helpful to others seeking earphones.

New Wave 1980s Mix

A little fun for a Friday! Check out the New Wave 1980s Mix I threw together on Mixwit.com for your listening pleasure! :-)

Mixwit.com lets you create mix tapes from music already on the web. You enter what you want to hear, drag it into a list, customize the design, name and order of songs, then publish your mix for free! Check it out.

Bands include: New Order, The Fixx, The Cure, UB40, English Beat, Heaven 17, R.E.M., Tears for Fears, INXS, The Smiths, Haircut 100, Missing Persons, Flock of Seagulls and more... :-)

Check out my Mixwit Mix Tape Collection

Related Links:
Marcus Nelson's wife was inspired by my mix tape and pulled out a New Order Substance cassette in this Flickr shot.

Great Music: El Ten Eleven

One of my favorite parts of the film Helvetica is the soundtrack. After buying the DVD, I checked the track listing to find out who the collection of artists were.

As it turns out, the California band, El Ten Eleven, has 9 of the 21 tracks on the film's soundtrack. I've found this selection of tracks a perfect mix. The band's instrumentals have a quirky, optimistic sound which helps me stay focused whether I'm driving, sketching, writing or designing on the computer.

I've found all 9 of the Helvetica tracks on Amazon MP3 (DRM-free), spread across their 2 albums: El Ten Eleven and Every Direction is North.

Tracks from the film include: Thinking Loudly, Lorge, Every Direction is North, Central Nervous Piston, My Only Swerving, 3 Plus 4, Hot Cakes, Fanshawe and Bye Annie, Bye Joe, Bye Michael, Bye Jake.

El Ten Eleven also features 5 of their tracks as PayPal-What-You-Want Downloads on their site, if you want to check out full tracks before you buy them.

John Coltrane: Impressions Music Sketch

Last week, I had to get my mind in a logo sketch groove after working on the computer most of the day.

To do this, I sometimes choose a music-driven exercise to get into the rhythm of sketching.

Music Sketching
Pick a fresh page in your sketchbook, then queue up and listen to a piece of music, while expressing what you're hearing and feeling on the page.

Don't worry about making it "right" because it's based on how you feel at the moment. Because it's open and free, this can relax you to enjoy the feel of pen or pencil on paper.

This process really helps me focus in on the music, loosens my hand up and gets me in the right frame of mind for sketching.

Above is the sketch created while listening to Impressions by John Coltrane, a wonderful piece which itself helps me loosen up for sketching.

Give it a try sometime!

Related Links
Music-driven Moleskine Sketches