So what are your overall feelings about this mix exchange?

Since I've never participated in something like this before, I wasn't sure if everything was working out the way it was supposed to (clearly not entirely, since there are some folks who haven't reviewed yet and in some cases, haven't even MAILED THEIR GODDAMNED MIX). Personally, I felt like my mix was out of obner-league in terms of exclusive/rare/hard-to-find tracks, but I knew that going in. If I were to participate in another one, I'm already feeling the pressure to perform and come through for y'all! I know that's not the right mindset to have, but it is how I feel. I seriously feel like a charlatan around you folks at times, like I don't belong here.

But I must say, I'm really thrilled to have gotten so many cool mixes from y'all. It's really helped open my eyes to some artists I hadn't given much credit to in the past, as well as artists I'd never even heard before. I've even gone as far as to cull from some of your mixes to make other mix cd's for non-obner friends, and they've been a hit.

What do I think would be good for the future? Maybe this was a good experiment in finding out who is serious about this sort of thing. I think I mailed out around 25 mix cd's (is that right?). It was kinda expensive, but not overly. In retrospect, I think that might have been too many. Not trying to make this an exclusive clique-ish deal, by no means, but I think it'd be best if we had a smaller, more manageable group to do the exchange/review process. Like I said earlier, I think this was a good experiment to find out who those more serious folks are. I know there were other people interested in doing the exchange (elephantstone comes to mind), but for whatever reason, just couldn't do it. I think in the future, it'd be kinda cool to post a mix (or mail one-- it could be up to the mixer to determine which) one at a time, then give everyone a week to review. After that week, the next designated person could send out their mix. This would at least ensure that everyone would have a solid week to focus on one mix at a time, instead of getting a ton in the mail at once.

Sorry for the rambling, stream of consciousness post, but I'd be interested in hearing your overall impressions/opinions as well.

In the past people were better about reviewing them but that's my biggest complaint. There were a half dozen or so people who seemed to make a solid effort there but I was hoping for more.

Still, I thought it was a solid exchange for the most part. We hadn't done this in a while and I haven't been that focused on new music so it was nice to get some exposure to stuff I'd been missing out on or not missing out on whatever the case may be. I was hoping the physical cd mailing would cause people to take the exchange more seriously and lead to more reviews. I'm not sure if that was the case though? Maybe it would be easier to just ysi these things next time.

I've picked up a handful of cds as a result:

Subdudes x2 - Old Bullee
Throneberry, Bicycle Thief, CC Adcock - Radcliffe
Tubeway Army - Drinky

and I'll probably pick up

Dungen - a couple of people
Faust - Drinky
Doris Duke - Z

and maybe a few other things

I still haven't even listened to a couple of mixes I received so I'll probably end up getting at least a few more.

This is probably my biggest driver for not pariticipating. I barely make enough time for listening to new purchases much less mixes I get.

totally agree. i would love to participate in this -- on a much smaller scale though.

I love mix exchanges so I would do them anytime. But the mass mail thing is very hard for me. I can only mail 2 or 3 at a time so what Dana brought up wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I would also suggest we picka theme next time. It would set a standard for when we review the mixes and make it a lot more fun.



EDIT: And yeah, It would've been nicer to see a few more reviews.

I don't think picking/enforcing a theme would be a good idea, considering some people are stronger in areas where others are not, i.e. you know a heck of a lot more about international music than I do. Unless by picking a theme, you mean a loose interpretation, i.e. "music to chill out to," "music to help hangover recovery," or "music to crank when feeling road rage."

i really enjoyed the mix exchange. i feel like i did a ton of reviews within the first few weeks, but then slacked off. so my apologies to those haven't gotten a review yet. honestly, sometimes its a little intimidating writing those. i know a lot of you are much much more knowledgable about music than i am, so its hard for me to write reviews. it just ends up being about what i like/dislike, not really a review of the quality of the tunes..

but anyway, if you guys decide to start up another exchange, i'd love to do it, whether its cds or downloads or whatever.

Once I'm done with this mix exchange, and have sent out the last of my mixes, I'm going to be contacting people to do one-on-one mix exchanges. I think these are best for me so I can give each mix the time and attention it deserves as opposed to getting 10 mixes in the mail in one week and feeling overwhelmed.

I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Sometimes a response is all that's required. What you like/dislike is as valid a response to a mix as a 12 page philosphical treatise on the thematic implications of handclaps.

The mix review should be looked upon as simply a courtesy to demonstrate that you actually bothered to listen to it. That's all.

Course, it's easy for me to say, because I didn't take part in the full exchange. I might balk if I was staring at the duty of jotting down 30-some reviews. But then again, FT probably would've shamed me into it.

i know i didn't participate in this one, but what if for the next one - if it is on a smaller scale of say 10 people - the mail out date for each person was staggered weekly? that way everyone get's one a week...and everyone can concentrate on that one that week?

Exactly. We'll have to be really organized for this to work. Let's wait a few weeks and we'll revisit it and see how people respond.

But the whole one a week mix system sounds good. And we could all concentrate on that persons mix and give him or her feedback for that week.

Another reason why we should consider doing what Jason suggested. One mix a week for 10 to 20 weeks doesn't seem as bad as 20 mixes all sent out at the same time.

So a question for those who want to do a smaller scale exchange:

Which obners do you think we should kick out of the next exchange?

Don't forget since more people presumably are willing to do the smaller exchange its going to have to be a lot of people from the last round to make room.

While the one a week thing has some appeal, I wouldn't feel comfortable reviewing anyone's mix with less than 3 listens, and I'm probably not going to listen to anyone's mix 3 times in the same week so it doesn't really work for me.

We really don't have to kick anyone out. We could just set up 2 or 3 different clusters of people.

And as for your last point, I don't think we should be required to review the mix within a week. I just think we should receive mixes one by one with a week in between each mix to give us enough time to listen to that mix, without having 10 other mixes waiting in the wings. Reviews can come some time after. I don't think we should put too much emphasis on the reviews because I think a few people may be discouraged from doing the mix exchange if that's the case.

If you're not trying to encourage reviews or at least detailed discussion of the one mix for a given week, then I don't really get the point of limiting it to one per week.

I'm not really sure what the big deal of having a few mixs "waiting in the wings" is. I still haven't gotten around to listening to the mixes of Max and Shiv yet. I will soon. They just arrived later then the rest and I felt like I needed a break and wasn't rushing since they hadn't reviewed mine either.

I'm not losing any sleep that these are "waiting in the wings" and I'm sure they aren't losing any sleep that I haven't spun or reviewed their mix yet.

This idea seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Stop tearing down my Master's thesis, fuckwad.

Calm down, Tex - I still think your master's thesis is solid, important, insightful, and a thing of beauty. But I'm trying to encourage people here.

Sheesh.

yeah. do it by region. either cluster people into a region or purposefully out. or cluster people by anti/taste. or do a random thing.

If you're going to do that, why not just let individuals decide who they want to exchange with rather than doing assigned groupings. Then if some folks are happy to get 30 mixes and 30 people want to exchange with them, no probs and if someone wants to only do 10, they can try to find 10 people who are making a mix who they'd most like to exchange with.

Very well, then. Carry on, ya'll...eh?

Forget everything I said before... I think we should do this like elementary school kickball, where we have a captain who chooses their teammates, losers be damned. If billy g doesn't deem you cool enough to participate in the mix exchange, you're fucked.

now I know you're kidding but I'm not the one trying to downsize this thing. The more the merrier in my eyes. I'm just saying if size is an issue, why not just let folks who don't want to do a large exchange individually pm people and suggest a trade. I'd have been glad to trade my mix with estone, sketch or anyone else who didn't participate in the larger trade. I'd assume a lot of people would be as well. I'm also thinking that there was little advantage in mailing the discs to most people. I'm glad to mail to radcliffe and anyone else who can't ysi, but I thought the tangible factor would lead to more reviews and it really didn't. so why not just ysi it and let anyone have your mix that wants it.

I also think the assigned grouping is a bad idea. I put a lot of work into my mix and I'm not sure I'd do it again for just a 10 person exchange, especially if I don't even know which 9 people I'd be exchanging with. Not that knowing the 9 would even help that much, cause then I'd feel like a jerk if I said I didn't want to do it with those 9 people. I just think its asking for trouble and hurt feelings if some folks don't like the pairings they get. I'm pretty thickskinned and won't be offended if people don't want my mix but I think there are a lot of sensitive people around here.

I know, I know, I was just kidding.

But I must say, I think having a tangible cd in hand to spin really forced me to listen. I've been listening to Rads' the last couple of days at work and I'm still not through reviewing it. But I do believe that having the actual cd makes me want to spend the proper time to review, because I know hard work went into it. I might not be so thoughtful or careful with a ysi link.

No pre-assigned groups, I agree.

i was actually surprised by how many mixes i thought were mediocre. i'd never expect every mix to be great, but i've only listened to a handful multiple times for enjoyment rather than simply reviewing. there was also no mix that i absolutely hated, though. i found at least 2 songs that i liked on every mix, so that's probably a good thing.

oh well. different strokes...