How to Make a High Fidelity Mix Tape

Rob, the protagonist in Nick Hornby's 1995 novel High Fidelity, gives some of the most influential words of wisdom on how to make a good mix tape. As he puts it in the 2000 movie version, "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem." High Fidelity mixtape refers to the book and movie High Fidelity, in which the music geek protagonist rants about the art of making a great compilation tape. Whether you are making a tape or a CD for your significant other, love interest, friend or family member, Hornby offers some advice.

Instructions

1. • 1

     Start your tape with an attention grabber, then immediately take things up a notch.

   • 2

     "Cool if off a notch" after the first few songs, so as not to blow all of your best songs too early.

   • 3

     Avoid having two songs by the same artist next to each other, unless the whole mix is organized in pairs.

   • 4

     To paraphrase what Hornby writes in High Fidelity, don't combine music by black artists, particularly Funk, Soul or Blues, with music by white musicians, unless the white music sounds like black music. This can be tricky, since "white" music has a tendency to borrow heavily from "black" music and, to a lesser extent, vise versa.