I put together this playlist with superhero-type characters in mind. I really love how in movies certain songs are played along with the introduction of a character and at the climax of that movie. These are meant to be character and moment-defining songs that stick in your head. The songs that I put on this playlist are meant to those types of songs. I initially was imagining songs that heroes can fight to but that can vary too much or just be cliche. There are some fight-y songs on this playlist that I feel can serve as character intros. I imagined that most of the characters I would use these songs for would be teenagers coming to terms with their powers, how to use them and what to use them for. Rather than melancholic melodies I chose songs with a strong beat and some screaming; really good songs to listen to when you’re walking somewhere and want to feel *powerful*.
I made another mixtape for my final project, Long Awaiting. Granted this was rather easier as it didn’t require me to add plugs and drops…and every song had a fade out so I didn’t have to go through the trouble. THANKS JAZZ.
I guess some background on this playlist is necessary, right? So first off, why a jazz playlist over a bossa nova or modern café music? The story revolves around a girl whom I based off of myself and my apprehension to go outside because of the struggles of anxiety, so I chose songs from a personal playlist that I use to soothe my anxiety and help me remain calm. Why is it only Touhou and Vocaloid? Because dang it, I’M A NERD. The songs are actually quite representative of myself and the places I find my mind at. For example; “Thoughtful Zombie” is about someone who doesn’t know where she quite belongs and finds herself studying the world which is where I find myself at time to time as does the girl in the story. “Meltdown” is a little more on the serious side, but depicts my sleepless nights and feelings of lack of control. So, every song has a reason and a purpose.
With that said; I hope you enjoy it and find the tutorial helpful. As always, if you have any questions on what I did or how I did it…please ask!!!
It’s barely morning when she wakes up. The sounds of the outdoor world penetrating through her windows softly. She finds comfort within the confines of her house, away from the rustle and bustle of the city she sees from her window. Her daily routine she finds safety in all of it’s perfection:
She prefers to wake up in the afternoon surrounded by the technology she dedicates her life to. She will lay there for what feels like hours before a nagging voice in her head tells her to get up and showered. She takes a peak outside and graciously greets the day before making a cup of milk tea and a breakfast of only a Nutella covered bagel. She takes what’s left of her tea back to her cave.
She turns on her PS4; the dominant system in her opinion. Some days she feels like divulging in 10…or maybe 12 hours of Final Fantasy X, other days it’s Dynasty Warriors. A quick look at the window and she realizes it’s dark and she’s forgotten to stuff her face. A microwaved Hot Pocket, cup of sweet tea, and some quality time with the humble folks of Tumblr is honestly a great ending to any evening…but what if there’s more to life? She looks outside once more and her mind begins to soar. Anxiety grows. Is it really that awful to go outside and partake in mild interactions? Maybe…not? She then decides. Tomorrow.
The morning comes. She lays in bed though not as long as she would prefer. She dresses, rather quickly with what she figures is anticipation. Or was it anxiety? She’s not sure at this point. Shoes on and keys in hand, she walks out of her comfort zone into an unknowing world. She plays off the fear well; humming to keep herself sane. At some point she stops and looks up. She’s found herself at a rather sarcastic yet adorable café with the most obvious name: Cafe de Introverti.
She walks in and holy crap, it’s busy. She disregards the chatter and heads straight to the register as she mentally prepares her order in her head and repeats it over and over and over…until the cashier greets her warmly. She orders the same drink she makes at home, a London Fog Latte along with her favorite pastry, a simple donut. With the painful yet pleasant exchange, she pays silently and immediately heads towards a nearby table to await her goods. There’s an aesthetically pleasing magazine conveniently placed on the table of her choice and she flips through looking for an article that catches her eye. She stops for a moment. This isn’t home. This is everything she feared and more. She’s done it. An anxious breath and and a pair of headphones later, she maneuvers her phone to create a playlist for this experience which she calls “Long Awaited.”
I run a small record label called Petty Treason Records, mainly putting out my own music, and that of friends. I’m also friends with a guy who runs a group on Facebook specializing in music promotion, called Cult XLV. A little while ago we worked on putting together a compilation album/mixtape like thing of a bunch of local/regional bands to cross promote to each other’s fan-base, and I love how it turned out. I would recommend giving this whole thing a listen, as many great Punk, Metal, Rock, Hip Hop, and Noise acts from DC, Maryland, and Virginia are featured. I didn’t edit the tracks much, but I did use audacity to convert the songs (that were usually sent to me as .mp3) to proper lossless audio format (.wav or .flac). Anyone can run a record label with enough time, and if it’s not a serious thing, you don’t need to take much time. The album cover, track listing, and all the info was of my own doing also.
Cleaning and organizing can be difficult in silence. That’s why I must have a cleaning playlist. I like for most of the songs to be upbeat to keep me moving. If classical music was playing, I’d probably end up laying in bed while looking at old photo albums or something. Then I wouldn’t get anything accomplished. While the first to songs are a little slower, I still like them a lot (Harry is one of my all-time favorite music artists). It kind of helps me get started as the other songs get faster later on. The other songs don’t really hold any personal meaning, they’re just fun to listen to. I don’t want a lot of super serious songs that will put me deep in thought because that’ll distract me from cleaning. These are songs I can sing along and occasionally dance to in the comfort of my room knowing I won’t be judged by anyone. It’s just a way to make cleaning less painful.
I searched for each song I wanted then added to my playlist in Soundcloud. You can see in the picture how I went about adding each song…just find the song, click on the ‘More’ button and then add to playlist. Very simple.
The last assignment I chose to do this week was to make a mixtape of my choice. The day was rather gloomy and I wasn’t feeling the best so I decided to make a rainy day mixtape. The theme of these songs were slow, lots of piano or acoustic instruments, but some have an uplifting end to them. So they will fit the mood of the rain, but will pick you up a bit so you are not sad! To do this project, the method will always remain the same but you can pick and choose what songs to put in. First start by picking your songs (I would say no more than 10, unless you want a really long mix tape), and download the mp3 versions of them. Import all of those mp3’s into Audacity and drag them up and down to the order that you want to hear the songs in. Next, use the move tool to move the start of the next song to the end of the previous. This is so when one song ends, the next will begin and they are not all playing at once. It should look something like this:
Next, highlight all of the tracks (ctrl + a) and go up to the tracks tab. Choose mix and render. This will combine all of the tracks into one single track, with all of your songs back to back.
When you’re all done, it should look something like this:
And that’s it! You have your mix tape and the great thing is you are totally in control of the tone of your tape. You can make it sad or happy. Rap or rock. Whatever you want! You can listen to my rainy day mixed tape here:
There are few things that inspire me as much as going on a car trip with my friends from home. Whether it’s a five minute drive to Burger King, or an hour long drive to the beach, I leave the car feeling inspired to live life and create beautiful writing. I mostly associate summer with these drives, as my friends can’t come up to see me that often when I’m at school. Not all of these songs are ones we still listen to, but one point, I felt full of affection and life as we rolled along to our destination.
Cool for the Summer. Starting off singing quietly, meeting eyes with a friend in the rear view mirror, voice growing louder as we jokingly serenade each other and smile.
New Rules. Driving home from the beach, towels underneath everyone on the dark seats of the car, a satisfied silence after long hours of lying on the sand.
Drag Me Down. Windows rolled down, wind blowing our hair in our faces, thinking about how excited we are for tomorrow.
Lipgloss. Volume turned down almost to nothing as we order at a drive through, beat faint but present all the same, dividing our food onto two separate orders.
Touch. Thinking about a story I’m writing, leaning my head against the car window carefully, leaving my phone in my lap so I can take a quick note if I need to.
Run Away With Me. We all interpret the song the same way, closing our eyes as we sing passionately, cramped too tight in the back seat but not finding it within ourselves to care.
Gold Trans Am. Shouting the first word of the song, the heat smothering our skin like a blanket but not reaching our good cheer, headbanging with each beat.
WILD. A friend bringing me home after a week-long stay at their home, both of us a little sad despite knowing we’ll see each other again soon, watching the sun slowly lower itself in the sky.
I chose this assignment because of the inspiration I mentioned in this first paragraph. Creating this playlist and listening to these songs in the process was really nostalgic, in a good way. It reminds me that I’ve got friends for life. I’m not sure that this playlist would have the same impact on someone else as it had on me, but creating it was as inspirational for me as I thought it might be.
I created the playlist on Youtube because I knew for sure that I would find all of the songs on that site. I would have preferred using Soundcloud, but only remixes of the songs could be found there. Remixing the songs felt to me like it would change the mood, and thus the memories that they brought to mind for me. I wanted the songs untouched, as I heard them in the car with my friends. Honestly, I think I’ve created a pretty fun summer mix!
Today’s audio assignment was a difficult one…I made a mother freakin’ mixtape! H O L Y C R A P.
Why yes, I gave myself a DJ name because I was that dead set on this assignment.
A funny story on this assignment actually; I think I’ve mentioned before my fiancé dabbles in making mixtapes and was a DJ when we first started dating. I told him I was about to make a LIT mixtape of my own and he wasn’t allowed to listen until I was 99% done. So I have been working on this sucker at home, at work, and his house and I actually enjoyed it so much that he’s now teaching me how to mix properly. But I loved his initial reaction to hearing the full mixtape…”oh crap…it’s not as bad as I anticipated.” THERE IS HOPE FOR DJ TAYLORRAE YET. LOOK OUT FOR ME ON YOUR NEXT AMV.
For this 20 minute mix, I chose the following songs:
Ain’t nothing like some good J-pop to get your mornings started. As for the name of the mixtape; I used music that I normally listen to in the mornings on my way to work because it keeps me awake in the god awful north bound traffic. The mixing process was difficult because it’s nearly impossible to match beats in audacity so trying to tie in songs was a pain in the butt. However, through nifty tutorials online, I was able to make it decent. I also created the plugs via a text to speech generator. I freakin’ love Alice’s voice. Overall, this assignment was stupid difficult but so fun…AHHHHHHHH.
So…now the most anticipated question…what do you think?
P.S. I’m hoping to have the tutorial up soon…but editing it has been awful.
For the first Audio bank assignment I decided to create my own mixtape. I choose this assignment because in the summer I like to listen to a lot of different music with my windows down in the car and almost feel like I am on a road trip. This playlist is not all of the songs I listen to because theirs hundreds. These however are some of the main ones. On this play list their are several genres: country, rock, and hip hop such as Kane Brown, Josh Turner, The Weeknd, Brantley Gilbert
In order to make this playlist I used soundcloud and typed in each song individually and then found the correct song, then clicked the more button and clicked add to playlist and selected the playlist I wanted to add the song too.
For this 4.5 star assignment, I had to create a mixtape of songs. I chose to do this for our hero from the sound effect story. His music needed to be epic, telling that he is a hero worthy of being known. What had he done to earn his fame? Slayed monsters, saved princesses, or is his story one that is a little darker? A little more real. Human struggle tends to turn men into monsters, will our hero turn into a monster or continue to slay them? Let’s take a look at the songs.
I chose Ken Ken Ashcorp’s Ryder or Riot as the first song. It’s always had a fast paced feeling of “I can take on the world” just like our new hero feels.
Next is Glory and Gore by Lorde a song about exactly what it sounds, our hero makes a name as someone who can handle difficult situations that others would run from.
Fourth on the list is Breaking Benjamin’s Breakdown as our hero finds some of his ideals of the world broken and is thrust into a world a little darker and a lot more dangerous than he previously knew.
This new knowledge sends him to a dark place and he starts doing some things he’s not entirely sure are heroic, in our fifth entry we have Champion Sound by Ill Factor with its heavy beat.
Sixth is Dorothy with Wicked Ones and our hero meets up with some dangerous folks, but for good causes.
Our penultimate song is Human by Rag’nBone as the hero realizes that the world isn’t some ideal but that’s okay as he’s only human and he can only do so much.
Finally, we get to Hercules by Sara Bareilles and our hero sees that the world doesn’t have heroes to come save everyone and that more often then not you need to be your own hero, your own Hercules.
Our hero stays a man and not a monster, albeit with a little darker view of the world and how it operates. He’s made some friends along the way, not all nice people but not everyone is.
Assemblying this playlist was quite fun for me. I just thought about the story this adventurer would have. Where he would go and what he would do. From there, I went to youtube to find songs to fit with the flow of the story. I knew pretty much most of the songs that I wanted and so I added them all together and started bullet pointing his adventures. I hope you all enjoy.
