luciazephyr | THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I CANNOT USE A COMPUTER MOST OF THE DAY

Was working on a fanmix (yay for my Zune) and I started to break my cardinal rules of mixing. Then I realize that I've never written down the rules.

So I grabbed my composition book and started writing them down! Obviously!

Aunt Lucy's Ten Cardinal Laws of Fanmixing

Rule One: Do not reuse artists.
Mostly self-explanatory. Having two songs on a single mix by the same music artist is a bad idea. Having three is right out and inexcusable.

Rule Two: Be specific.
Have lyrical evidence for every song you use. Just because it invokes a certain feeling in you doesn't mean it will in everyone else. Having lyrical back-up will help. Make friends with AZ Lyrics and Songmeanings. Nothing sucks more than getting a comment that says, "Oh that song is soooo Character Y!" when you meant it for Character X.

Rule Three: Avoid .aac and .wma file formats.
Speaking from personal experience, it seems these are the formats that cause the most trouble for people. I think it's because most people use iTunes as a player and it won't play these without some interesting coercion. I wouldn't know, I use goddamn VLC, muthafuckahs, whoo.

Rule Four: Number your filenames.
It sucks to open the folder with your just DLed fanmix only to discover there are three #1s, four #7s, and a conglomeration of other numbers. Rename the files to give them an order so people don't have to play the click-and-drag game. Better yet, DL winamp (or a similar player with a metadata editor) and edit the songs themselves so the album slot is your fanmix title and the song number cooresponds to your fanmix's numbering.

Rule Five: Include a .zip. or .rar, you asshole.
No one wants to right-click-save twelve different songs. I have skipped every single mix that has done individual DL only. Zip or rar the files together and put up a SendSpace/Mediafire upload.

Rule Six: Put the album art in the .zip.
Admittedly, this is a very personal pet peeve, but I use a Zune and I like syncing the fanmixes I DL to the art the creator made. I hate when I DL a mix, then after unzipping the folder have to go back and grab the art. It bugs me.

Rule Seven: Vary music styles.
Mixes with many loud, rockin' songs in a row are exhaustive. By the same token, mixes with a long line of pretty, soft songs are boring. Stagger them, especially in character mixes where you have no excuse not to. Order and flow is important.

Rule Eight: Pick a language and stick to it.
I have this old McShep mix. I love it, it's great. But a few months back, I cut one song out of it. Why? It was in French. Not kinda-in-French like "Rebel Prince", but completely in French. It was incredibly jarring and threw off the flow completely. Don't do that.

Rule Nine: Do not use the following songs:
"I Will Follow You Into the Dark", "One Week", "Simple and Clean", that one instrumental from Brokeback Mountain, "Brothers on a Hotel Bed", "Delicate", "Life Less Ordinary", "Mr. Jones", or "Chasing Cars".
They are overdone to a ridiculous degree. If you use any of these, you better justify the hell out of it.

Rule Ten: Do not use "Hallelujah".
Yes, this needs its own rule. Don't fucking do it unless your subject matter is an actual barber/musician experiencing deja vu about a woman in a bathtub. No, you cannot use one of the more obscure covers. Yes, it's a gorgeous song (especially the Wainwright version, if you ask me) but it's a song that is overdone in every fandom. It's the song that you will find a fanvid of everywhere you go (along with "One Week", it seems).
Don't use it. I'm serious.

Now, me, I say you can break up to two rules and have a decent mix (except Rule Ten). I have a habit of breaking Rule One a little but goddamnit, can you blame me, I listen to Rice, Folds, and Bird!

Thoughts? Contest? Any more dumb personal rules?

-Luce

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I CANNOT USE A COMPUTER MOST OF THE DAY

no subject

no subject