Awesome Mix Vol.1: Mixtape from the vinyl records [Guardians of the Galaxy]

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This may be a case of verisimilitude gone overboard, but to me, the film presented an unrealistically idealized playback of a cassette tape. Where's the tape hiss, pops and crackles, songs being cut off, or the click of a needle drop which may represent one of the few reminders of physical contact between Peter Quill and his mother?


So I set out to recreate the mixtape using materials and equipment that would have been available to Meredith Quill prior to her death in 1988.

Apparently, I can only attach 25 photos per post. I wrote up a full instructable here detailing the recording process and the labels.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Mixtape-Awesome-Mix-Vol-1-from-Guard/

Here's a small preview video:

If you have the time, you can listen to the entire mixtape to see how it turned out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Vz7-P8Mis

Equipment

• JVC TD-W10 Stereo Double Cassette Deck manufactured in 1985

• JVC AX-44 Stereo Integrated Amplifier manufactured in 1986

• JVC AL-A10 Auto-Return Turntable System (can't find a year on this, also it's currently out of commission pending arrival of a new cartridge)

• Numark PT-01 USB Turntable (I primarily use this for my 78 collection)
  

My tape recorder of choice (to check up on how the tape is doing) is the Realistic Minisette 19 Model No. 14-1054A manufactured in 1991 for Radio Shack. It seems like everyone and their mother wants to get their hands on a Sony Walkman TPS-L2. I'd imagine it would have made things easier if the movie went with the Yellow Monster "Sony Sports" Walkman.

The Records

I'm assuming that the beginning of the movie took place in the United States, as such I focused on the original US pressings.

Most of these are 45s as opposed to the albums because:
1) I already had some of these as singles (and they're easier to showcase)
2) Most of these songs were first released as hit singles and later put on an album
3) My skills for hitting just the right spot in the groove between the tracks on an LP leave something to be desired


Hooked on a Feeling
Blue Swede
EMI Records 3627
B-side: Gotta Have Your Love
1973


Go All the Way
Raspberries
Capitol Records 3348
B-side: With You in my Life
1972


Spirit in the Sky
Norman Greenbaum
Reprise Records 0885
B-side: Milk Cow
1969

Moonage Daydream
David Bowie
from the LP "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"
RCA Victor Records LSP-4702
1972

Fooled Around and Fell in Love*
Elvin Bishop
Capricorn Records CPS 0252
B-side: Have a Good Time
1976


I'm Not in Love*
10cc
Mercury Records (Phonogram) 73678
Channel Swimmer
1975


I Want You Back
The Jackson 5
Motown Records M1157
B-side: Who's Lovin You
1969

Come and Get Your Love
Redbone
Epic Records 5-11035
B-side: Day to Day Life
1973


Cherry Bomb
The Runaways
Mercury Records (Phonogram) SFL-2121 (Japanese pressing)
B-side: Blackmail
1976

Escape (The Pina Colada Song)*
Rupert Holmes
Infinity Records INF 50,035
B-side: Drop It
1979

O-o-h Child
The 5 Stairsteps
Buddha Records BDA 165
B-side: Dear Prudence
1970

Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Tamla Records (Motown) T-54149
B-side: Give a Little Love
1967

Some notes:

• "Moonage Daydream" is taken from the LP album. This specific arrangement of the song was never commercially released as a single
• Songs marked with an asterisk (*) use the longer LP version on the official soundtrack. These were cut down from the album version so that they could fit on a 3-4 minute single
• "I Want You Back" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" are shown to be on Awesome Mix Vol. 2, but it would be impractical to make a tape with only two songs.
• "Spirit in the Sky" never plays in the movie, only in the theatrical trailer.
• "Cherry Bomb" reached No.1 on music charts in Japan and Scandinavia, but just barely reached the top 100 mark on Billboard in the US. It is the only single from the soundtrack to not reach Top 20 on Billboard in the US. As such, US pressings were not common, but would have looked like 10cc's "I'm Not in Love"
• Director James Gunn has mentioned two songs used in deleted scenes which will be included on the Blu-Ray release.
  • 
  • The blue-skinned Kree prison guard who confiscates Peter Quill’s treasured Walkman meddles with a tub of Play-Doh and dances through the prison halls listening to "Magic" by Pilot.
  • 
  • The synths and space-age tones of "Living Thing" by Electric Light Orchestra was used in a montage which was cut from the film.

• The same link indicates that two other songs were considered in place of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream". As far as I can tell, they were not used in filming
  • "Wichita Lineman" by Glenn Campbell
  • "Mama Told Me Not to Come" by Three Dog Night

• This is the only site that mentions it, but the official soundtrack may use a different version of "Come and Get Your Love" than was used in the movie. Upon release of the Blu-Ray, I can't double-check.

http://cultural-learnings.com/2014/08/10/awesome-mix-guardians-soundtrack-spotify-youtube-streaming/


"potentially because of simple oversight, the official version of the playlist has a different version of “Come and Get Your Love” than the used in the movie. The version used in the film—listed on one compilation album as a “re-recorded” version of the song—would appear to be an edited version of a longer version of the song that is featured on The Essential Redbone with a different introduction and a longer outro."



The Cassette
Of course I'm using the ever-elusive-to-find-in-the-United-States, CDing2. Unfortunately for the movie, it was first manufactured in 2001 for distribution in Europe.

I explained in the instructable of the impracticality of having two separate Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and Awesome Mix Vol 2. tapes.

The CDing2 comes in 60 minute and 90 minute variants or 30/45 minutes per side. Since the soundtrack clocks in at 44 minutes, I find it more convenient to use the 60 minute version to have less blank tape to fast-forward through. It's also less nerve-wracking to exactly fit 44:33 onto a 45 minute side. As previously explained, some of the records use the shorter version, so my soundtrack weighs in a little lower.

Since we apparently never see the other side of either tape, I stuck on both labels onto each side of the cassette.

Labels
Thanks to this forum thread, I was able to find the label for Awesome Mix Vol. 2 that appears later in the movie.

With color correction, the handwriting appears blue instead of black.

So I set out to find an appropriate color pen.

The Ultra Fine Point Sharpie (Blue) is probably the most likely blue pen to find in an office supply store (If you're in luck, you may find Navy). Works in a pinch, but color is a bit too bright and the linework gets blobby if you move too slow.

After several bouts of testing, i settled on a Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner Pen (0.4mm) Night Blue Art No. 88/22. The color matches well and the linework is consistent.

Since I'm out of my picture quota, the rest of the process is documented in the instructable.

I wanted a more realistic approach than vectorizing the handwriting and printing it out. So I traced the writing with a lightbox.

Something that I noticed that people are somewhat sloppy cutting out the label. It's meant to be die-cut, so lines have to be perfectly straight. I used a self-healing mat with a steel ruler and an X-Acto, even then paying close attention to the finicky center cut-out.

Other
In the instructable, I demonstrate how to enable write-protection to prevent accidental recording.

Alas, just as I was finishing the writeup, Marvel announced that they were releasing an actual cassette tape, possibly rendering all this work a moot point.

However, it does give us a good glimpse of the J-card.

Using the same techniques above, you can protect your mixtape and know what's on it.

All this managed to condense 12 records into a single tape. Would the movie have been the same if Peter Quill was lugging around a record player and a platter pak?

 

[Coop]

Wow! Great write-up. Though I have to admit, it pains me to see you putting in all this work and not using the right tape.

I've cut dozens of labels for these tapes and you're definitely right about the straightness of the cuts, although I believe the method you (and I) are using - x-acto - is likely the same method the prop makers used. I also believe they used a corner cutter rather that cutting the rounded bottom corners by hand.

 

[Abelugo]

Interesting tae on making the mix tape.
One thing to note is that some people didn't have the record available and would just record tapes right off the radio plying. Which a way crappier quality. But it was easy for kids or whomever making tapes. That is kind the reason they went away.

I just saw the release also. I wonder if 15.00 tapes are still in? Only a few peole will buy them as they are not exact replicas and have all kinds of Marvel logos on them.

 

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Cassettes

I grabbed a couple of used CDing 2 90 minute tapes for a comparison.

It seems like there's little rhyme or reason as to why some of the 90 minute tapes have black C-clamps and the others have white C-clamps.


The top one has the C clamps and the dimple in the center like on the soundtrack cover


For comparison, here's the original 60 minute tape I used


Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a place that just sells the reel hubs. You'll probably have better luck buying the blank cassette shells.

Or you could just unscrew the case and color in the clamp.

Recreating the dimple is tricky. Possibly heating up the end of a metal dowel?

J-Card

As previously mentioned, the official Marvel cassette provided a nice rendition of a J-card.
which I think looked a lot better than Mondo's rendition.

It appears that they got the same prop person to handwrite the card.

I made up a squared version using the video footage and a generic template. I didn't particularly care for the Marvel logo for the spine and it looks like it's the same letter design from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 cassette.

You need have to have the patience of a saint to either trace or vectorize the letters.

It's odd that all the song titles and artist informationrunstogetherlineafterline. Perhaps writing in all caps prevents fitting everything neatly on one line.

Also weird is that the tracklist is upside down relative to the spine compared to traditional fill-in cards.

They seem to have taken a lot of inspiration for the design from a common TDK card, right down to the Date and Noise Reduction labels.
Below on the left is the TDK J-card, the right is the CDing 2 J-card that comes with the package.

 

[Whacko]

Hi… first post here in the forums. But I'm making my own tapes now too. Thought I'd chime in

I found some 46min CDing2 tapes. Fits all the music perfectly, so that's a plus. But as mentioned above. there doesn't seem to be a real reason why some tapes have black c-clamps and others white. I got three tapes, two of them have white and the other has black.
Also The one with the black c-clamps seems to have a lighter shade of the grey body. So I will be opening them and switchin the bodies to match it better to the original prop.

It also seems to have the dimple in the center.

One more tip. If you use 60 or 90 minutes tapes. You can just open them up cut the exess of tape, so you don't have the silence on the end of each side. You can snap them back into place with the c-clamps anyway. So why don't you guys do that?