I am in here.

Oops - I mentioned ignoring the track lists of the mixes I posted, and then I ignored the track lists.

Castor:
http://rapidshare.com/files/161294287/The_Gemini_Mix_-_Castor.zip.html
or http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VYJPE8BA

Chain Reaction- Journey
Framed- Samantha 7
No More Lonely Nights- Paul McCartney
Someone Else Not Me- Duran Duran
No Time For Yes- E.C.C.
Fire Woman (Bob Rock NYC Mix)- The Cult
Mamma Mia- ABBA
Some Weird Sin- Iggy Pop
Do What You Like -Foreigner
In My Life -The Beatles
Half A World Away- R.E.M.
Crazy Train- Ozzy Osbourne
Hard Drinkin' Lincoln- Mike Reiss
Got To Give It Up (Part 1)- Marvin Gaye
Stuck In A Moment- U2
Shells (live) -Tenacious D
Shannon- Henry Gross
Lost In You- Chris Gaines
Flash's Theme (live)- Tenacious D
Wonderboy And Nastyman (live)- Tenacious D
Do You Wanna Hold Me?- Bow Wow Wow
Elemental Child- Tyrannosaurus Rex

Pollux:
http://rapidshare.com/files/161294289/The_Gemini_Mix_-_Pollux.zip.html
or http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IWVIJUKJ

Canada- Pilot
Since You've Been Gone- Rainbow
What's The Time (Hey Buddy)- Bow Wow Wow
I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine- Poison
Walk On- U2
Rocketsauce v.2 (live)- Tenacious D
Buggin'- Flaming Lips
Chariot Choogle- T. Rex
Don't Look Back In Anger- Oasis
The Salaminizer- Gwar
Jane- Starship
My Love Tells Me So- Crush
(I Don't Want Nobody Gonna) Steal My Love From Me- Esquerita
Say It Isn't So- Bon Jovi
Even If You Don't- Ween
Can Do- Journey
I Don't Care- E.C.C.
There Goes My Heart- Enuff Z'Nuff
Go All The Way- The Raspberries
This Whole World- Beach Boys
Aren't You Glad- Beach Boys
Little Guitars- Van Halen
The Dope Show- Marilyn Manson

I'm going to post some CD mixes that I made in the past. My favorites of all timeses.
This one is a 2 parter from 2000. Don't be fooled by the track list, I added samples and little things in between songs.
Grab it like a rabbit.
http://rapidshare.com/files/161294287/The_Gemini_Mix_-_Castor.zip.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/161294289/The_Gemini_Mix_-_Pollux.zip.html
rapidshare restricts to 10 downloads per file, so here it is also on megaupload:
Castor: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VYJPE8BA
Pollux: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IWVIJUKJ

Deb left for flight attendant training yesterday, for a month.  Questions about my future sanity aside, I made a quick mix for her( and here it is )

A mix of incongruous disco singles by non-disco bands.
Springing to mind are:
Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You
Rolling Stones - Miss You
David Bowie - John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)
Beach Boys - Here Comes The Night (12")
Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy (debatable, but I think he's more of a rocker/crooner than dance maven)

If enough examples can't be found, you can expand this by pairing the disco song with a normal song from the artist, preferably one that exaggerates the dichotomy between the two styles. I would name this mix something that points out the whorish nature of the music business.

I'm getting more adventurous in mixes for parents. I'm still not going to include any Vixen, but "rock" is more ok than before. Dad's open to just about anything. And he has an iPod, so he wants fuel. A lot of the tracks are recycled from the recent mix triumph, but I got to include some stuff that I've never put on mixes before. EVAR!

( Happy Birthday May 13 2006 )

I listened to mostly the whole thing to proof it, and realized that "Somewhere Down the Barrel" was way too long.  I got bored waiting for it to end so I could get to the next song.  Lot of repetition.  So I spent almost two hours trying to cut it down.  I was in a bad zone where nothing was coming out right - the crossfade would always have a part that clipped, but when I renormalized the song lower, crossfaded, left the spike in and then renormalized, I got a drop in volume there that maddened me.  Finally (as it always happens), I found that a regular splice with no crossfading sounded just fine.  I did two of them, both in the extended coda, and cut the running time by 47 seconds.  Some people don't know how to self-edit, but I'm happy to do it for them.  New time: 3:52.

And of course, this also shows how I can't leave well enough alone.  Although it wasn't well enough in my opinion, so that must be okay.  Luckily Deborah had a soap opera to watch and a bath she could take while I puttered away in my workshop.

Now I just need to not listen to this thing for about a year. ;)  

Done! I also made a version of this without the movie quotes, just to see what it would sound like in the "old school" fashion. I'm quite pleased with this - I think it will live on for a while as a favorite.

( Track List )

Well, basically done. I fixed the two Vixen songs by just tweaking the treble up before normalizing. Sounds great. And the new song fits in well after a minor shuffle. Yay! Only glitch with the resulting disc is that I beefed the track division between two songs, and it ended up in the middle of a quote. Just need to fix that and I'm done done done.

Dinner last night at Vegan Plate, a new vegan thai place. Also there was Sanaa Lathan from AvP. Whoopdy.

Mix is progressing with a couple of snags.
I've got the song order and the "sweeteners" (quotes) all arranged and crossfaded, etc.
BUT,
The two Vixen tracks (I've said too much) are not popping. They're from mp3 and are flattened a bit. I ran a loudness maximizer on them and that makes them pop but again, that makes the highs damaging to my tender ears. I think I have to spend quality time normalizing and working the EQ. Sigh. I must have these songs.

And, the second Loretta Lynn song is not what I want. It has "it doesn't fit" coupled with "I'm just not that into it", a deadly combination. I subbed a reserve song from the same CD, but that's got the same problem. So I'm back to the drawing board for a song to fit in there. Again, trying to be patient and let it come rather than forcing a song in that I don't want. I have too many cassette mixes where the last two or three songs just don't do anything for me, having been tacked on to fill the time. This mix is way too good to ruin with a track that I will skip over every other time.

There is always the option of just leaving it out and having the CD be 5 minutes short of full. I don't want to have to do that, but if that's what I have to do to keep this CD 100% stuff I love, I might not have another choice.

This does seem obsessive, I admit, but it's obsession similar to a painter's obsession to paint what he sees in his head, for a painting he's going to hang in his own house. I know what I want out of a mix, and if I don't work to make it right, it's a flawed creation.
---

Update. Found a coupld of likely candidates, but we'll see what they sound like on the way home. There's also a placement issue, since they're by the lead singer of a band malready making two appearances on the mix. Sigh, you know. But I think one will fit in well, and provide the title for the compilation. We shall see.

Ice Cube track, remixed to 2 minutes. Sophie Ellis-Bextor track, remixed to 3 or 3.25 minutes.
And Van Halen, remixed to 3.75 or so... depends. And maybe "This Whole World". Where can I find some Alex Van Halen drums all alone to put under them?

Oh my god, I have the biggest crush on Alex Van Halen's drumming. Just hearing him play a straight 4 beat makes me breathe faster. Don't know what it is. Example: "I'll Wait", where the drums just start in the intro. Nothing remotely fancy, but there's something there: Magic!

Deb's working tomorrow morning, so I'll do a bit on that perhaps. I also want to see about playing with these a capella Beach Boys tracks... maybe match them with other BBs backing tracks, heh heh.

The mix capacitor is reaching its discharge point - I've got several instances where I have multiple songs from the same album, which I usually do for 'just in case' I need to fill in time, so I am casting about for more tunes. The hard part about this is having the patience to find a song that you really do want on there, that you want to listen to often. So I've brought a pile of discs to go through to see what might grab my ear:

Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Beach Boys - Hawthorne, CA
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations box, disc 1
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations box, disc 3
T. Rex - Electric Warrior
Van Halen - 1984
Van Halen - II
Stryper - Against The law
Mick Ronson - Slaughter On 10th Avenue
Suede - s/t
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Read My Lips

I've gotten a few possibilities from the Beach Boys, and I may edit down an Ice Cube track to 2 minutes. Everything else I've either heard a million times or isn't special enough to be included. Sigh.

A friend's son asked for a bunch of "drill press" songs; ones that sound, you know, like a drill press.

That friend turned to my brother, who in turn created this mix. It was partially sanitized for young ears.
I've gotten to track 7 so far and it's pretty good. I like having samplers of music that I'm not that into, so I can at least appreciate it.

( Track List )

I threw together a mix from cover songs I had on my hard drive. There's about five hours of material, but I found myself hard-pressed to pick a cd's worth. Perhaps I should delete some of them. The Ozzy ones are rather uninteresting. I didn't spend any time on this because it just made me think of covers that I have on CDs that I would want to include, and I didn't want to get all involved. Although now I'm thinking that a CD of my favorite covers would be cool. It would definitely include Racer X's Moonage Daydream. And Me First and the Gimme Gimme's Danny's Song. Oh dear.

White Flag - Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush)
Racer X - Moonage Daydream (David Bowie)
Don McLean - Crying (Roy Orbison)
Jon Brion - Play The Game (Queen)
4 Non Blondes - Misty Mountain Hop (Led Zeppelin)
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)
Bangles - Hazy Shade Of Winter (Simon & Garfunkel)
Bee Gees - Oh Darling (Beatles)
Rooney - Death On Two Legs (Queen)
David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (Louis Armstrong)
Billy MacKenzie - The Secret Life Of Arabia (David Bowie)
Def Leppard - Only After Dark (Mick Ronson)
DJ Pain feat. Michael Kent - Eye In The Sky (Alan Parsons Project)
Seal - Quicksand (David Bowie)
Dixie Chicks - Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis - Cruisin' (Smokey Robinson)
Carpenters - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (Hank Williams)
Mick Jagger - Use Me (Bill Withers)
Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around (The Troggs)
Hootie and the Blowfish - Hey Hey What Can I Do (Led Zeppelin)

Mixes from the Poland 2006 trip. Made up of songs we heard while we were on vacation, in videos or on the radio or in stores.
( POLAND 2006 mixes )

I think I'm done with this one. I added a couple of songs that I don't know inside and out, like "Kite", but which really grabbed me when I reviewed them. Plus "Angel Of Harlem", which I've never had on a mix, but when I listened to it, it seemed to joyous. Plus we used to cover it, and the harmonies are fun. So:

( Christian's Best Of U2 02-09-06 )

I listened to the mix yesterday, and thought that the end of "Buick Mackane" went on way too long, so I cut it down by 45 seconds. Meaning I cut the instrumental outro in half. Yes, it's very long. But that gave me about 2:20 free, so I added "Tenement Lady" after forcing myself to cut a verse from the second half. I do apologize to purists, as I sympathize with the desire to keep songs original. But it was either that or leave the song out all together, and I love that tune, where the second half of the song is in an entirely different tempo and key. Plus that rounds out the mix to thirty tracks. As a contrast, the U2 mix is looking to be 19.

( Christian's Best of T. Rex 2-8-06 (Mark II) )

Oh, I'm rocking. U2's up next, and soon, unless I discover a grievous error while listening to this one.

( Christian's Best of T. Rex 2-8-06 )

I think that Blondie's "Hanging On The Telephone" would be nice on a mix. It's a breezy uptempo number.

My glasses broke last week and I went in for my first vision check in like five years. New glasses should be in this week. I got more frameless ones, but these ones have a magnetic brodge so I can use clip-on shades. We'll see if I can tolerate my first sunglasses evar. Now I'm wearing my second pair that I got at the same time as my broken pair, but didn't wear as often. They're cool, but heavy, being glass and framey.

Also ordered new cel phones, as my motorola with t-mobile has the worst performance in the world. Deb has the same model, and is fine, but mine is unreliable completely. So we switched to Cingular after about three hours of agonizing decision-making. New phones should also be in this week. Yayz.

Plus I made a Best of Prince mix, which caused me to be shocked that I do not have all of his albums. I don't have 1999 or Head (which I had on vinyl). So odd. In addition, I was not aware that Prince was going to be on SNL that Saturday. Coincidental. The first song was good, but the second was the worst thing I've ever heard. I was sad that he didn't appear in any sketches, as I've always loved his humor. Next up for mixes - Adam Ant, Gary Numan, T. Rex, U2.

( Track List )

Deb's new schedule has her work nights Thu and Fri, so I'm on my own those nights. Last night I did dishes and washed a comforter and taped shows for her friend. Plus also I made another mix. It's a Type II mix which only took me an hour. Which new leads me to this bit of obsessive classification:

Type I - Throwing existing songs into Nero Express and burning a CD
Usually used when you have new tracks you just want to hear, or just want to get off the hard drive.
No crossfading, normalization, etc.
Song order is not necessarily intentional.
Songs have not necessarily been heard before.
Emphasis is on the individual songs.

Type II - Throwing existing songs into CD Architect
Still working primarily with tracks that happen to be on the hard drive (effort to rip from CDs is not made).
Song order is analyzed at a basic level, track volume is normalized, and crossfades are performed.
Additional effects on track may be done (equalizing, reverb, etc).
Most songs have been listened to once.
Emphasis is primarily on the individual song, with some focus on transitions and additional inclusions (samples, sound effects).

Type III - Full-On Crafting in CD Architect
All songs from CD collection are examined for possible inclusion.
More candidates are selected than will fit in the time allotted. The idea is that by selecting more good candidates than can be used, the ones that do make the cut will be the best of the best. (Note: this sometimes results in an inability to choose, and therefore multi-disc mixes)
Song order is analyzed thoroughly to provide smooth flow, track volume is normalized, songs are edited or extended to enhance listening experience
Tracks may be modified in other ways (stereo expansion, isolation of one channel, etc).
All songs have been listened to several times.
Emphasis is on the mix as a whole, in which the entire disc is considered a single subject.


In other news, I didn't hear my alarm, woke up two minutes before my shift, and got to work 28 minutes late.