Title: Flotation Device (full mix)
Artist: Noggin
Album: Noggin
Date: 2001

This was the first mix cd i recorded and gave out lots of copies of. I couldn’t even tell you where it came from…I had experimented with a bit of mixing in cool edit and soundforge earlier, but was just not happy at all with the results. Then one afternoon, I came back from class, sat down and started making this. A couple of breaks to make some beats (to use in the mix) and to eat once, but from that afternoon to about 6 am the next morning I just laid this thing out, one track at a time.
Now, some of yall might think, that’s cheating and/or easy laying out a mix in a daw like that, but let me tell you it was definitely a lot harder than mixing by ear. First, this is 2001, timestretch is still the new thing but takes ages to process, and the concept of syncing audio to tempo beyond anything offered in a tracker/sampler, was just not a popular paradigm yet. I’d be selecting chunks of songs, calculating the resample amount needed, extrapolating that over the entire file, finding where it starts to ‘drift’, and redoing the entire analyse/adjust process. You are also pretty much limited to volume curves for modifying the sound (or non-realtime fx, of course). Anyway it was a huge PITA, but it’s all I could do, so I did it.
And frankly, this is still a work I’m extremely proud of.
Contains hits from, but not limited to:
R.L. Burnside
Thievery Corporation
Stupid American Pig
Handsome Boy Modeling School
and of course, yours truly
Download: Noggin – Flotation Device (full mix) (right click and choose ‘save as’)

Tracks:

1. Stupid American Pig – Smoketerlude
2. Handsome Boy Modelling School – Once Again
3. Tricky – Christiansands
4. Pelican City – The Northside
5. Noel Gallagher – Teotihuacan
6. Tupac vs. Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight (Maniac Bone Mix)
7. RL Burnside – RL’s Story
8. Handsome Boy Modelling School – Sunshine
9. Pelican City – The Bordello
10. Portishead – Humming
11. RL Burnside – Hard Time Killing Floor
12. Noggin – The Soldier (Original “Johnny has Gone for a Soldier” performed by Jacqueline Schwabb, Jesse Carr)
13. Dzihan and Kamien – Colores
14. Kid Loco – Flying on 747
15. David Holmes – Gone (K&D Session)
16. Elton John – Rocketman (beats by noggin)
17. Thievery Corporation – Le Monde