Extra: How to Make a CD: The Lost Rulebook

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Okay, so you ignored my advice, you just want to know the secret to making the perfect mix CD.  Maybe you're new at this, maybe you'e in a hurry, maybe you want to read it so you can tell me this is never in a million years what Rob Gordon would actually have said if he'd finished the scene (Did anyone else notice that he interrupts himself because he realizes he's making the mix for horrible reasons?  No?  Oh well).

Whatever it is brought you here, I will now proceed to lay it on the line.

This, the result of many many years of hard labor and careful thought, is the extrapolation of the rules of how to make the perfect mix CD.  Finding which tracks suit this mold is, of course, up to you.

START

1.    Killer - Grabs attention.  Energy, familiarity, forward momentum is key.  Get them on their feet.

2.    Topper - Turns all good aspects of the first track up to 11, most often the hardest track on the CD to really nail

3.    Cool-off - Light without losing momentum, mellow but not melancholy.  Instrumentals or soundtracks good

4.    Renewed Interest - Solid track, not as important or keyed-up as track 1, but gets attention.  Easy to pick one.

5.    Genuine Interest - Permission to use “key track” here, the one you wanted them to hear if they haven’t.

6.    Down Turn - Just as much forward momentum as preceding track, but moody or minor-key feel

7.    Underside - Outright moody or bad-mood music, preferably with energy still

8.    Redemption Song - Rare kind of song, but we all have favorites: song that can take sad and make it happy, take slow make fast

9.    Contemplative Grab - Has hooks but slow pace, calmer tone, not lengthy

10.    Contemplative Solid - Mid or long length track, introspective mood, easy listening.  Better or best to use familiar and loved songs here

Nota Benne: The trick to a song being contemplative:  The more it sounds like itself over and over and over again, the more it lulls the listener into expecting to hear more and more of the same.  Doesn't have to be quiet or melancholy, just has to have a longish, even texture.

11.    Contemplative Climax - Put a song here that seems to add up to something, has a long fade-out.  Good place to put new stuff.

12.    Wake-up - Sharp start.  Essentially another killer, big tempo and energy boost.  Snap back to life

13.    Bottle Song - Somehow (sound, theme, lyrics? etc.) related to next track, but otherwise take your pick, as in track 4 above

14.    Message Song - Somehow related to preceding track – if you want to “say something” with your mix, say it here

15.    Unexpected - Play something here they would not have thought of from the preceding tracks.  Good place for inside joke.

16.    Wind Down - Another cool-down like track 3, keep up the pace, but feels like ending is coming

17.    Go to Church - A song that feels reverent, deep, important somehow, no one would want to mock it.  Instrumental?

18.    Parting Shot - Put whatever you want at the end, I like something light and tongue-in-cheek, wink at the end of the show.

Nota Benne: Bonus points for making it sound or feel like first track.                                  

PRESS REPEAT.

You're welcome.  

Follow this to the letter, add extras, take away, reverse the order, scramble it and start over.  Do whatever works!  But here's where I sometimes wind up, and other times where I start and leave.

To all my friends and family who have received CDs on this pattern before, well, there it is.

Creativity cannot be formulaic for me and still be truly from the heart: if anything, this is a pattern or ideal I strive for in terms of emotional function, but surprises in the material always lead me astray.

Besides, now that it's published here, I will never use it again.  Probably.  Maybe.