As summer pushes spring’s face in the dirt, friends pile in cars, hop on planes, and move away, revel in respite on coasts and in log cabins, kissing the unexpected slap of humidity as they step into the new sun. Amid the departure of those I’ve spent my year with, I’ve rekindled one of my oldest hobbies – the art of making music mixes to send friends off. What I discovered last week, while rearranging songs on a buddy’s road trip playlist, before burning it to a CD, is how similar today’s mp3 mix-making process is to today’s writing process. Gone are the days when we taped songs off the radio, leaving off the beginning of “Motown Philly,” because we were too young to recognize the beginning, or using the gabby white noise of the DJ as transition from song to song. Gone are the days of writers’ trashcans barfing crumpled wads of spidery ink. Nowadays, we move songs around, find ways to crossfade, smooth the transitions, so we don’t make the mistake of following, say, Neko Case with Three 6 Mafia. Mixes are like stories and essays, in that they have to take the audience somewhere unexpected, but make them feel cool and comfortable at the same time, happy that they took the time to listen, hopefully with plans to re-listen. It’s sad to see the days of making mix tapes go, but the craft has become more conducive to success through drafting and editing. So, at the risk of High Fidelity-ing, I’m going to list some of my personal rules for making 60 – 75 minute mixes, and attempt to liken them, perhaps stretching in a few cases, to the writing process.

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