I remember having to flip the cassette.
The physical action and little bit of time it took to flip the tape made the second half the the album to feel like an exciting reawakening. Revving the engine back up.
And because of that (as with actual records before) I can only guess the running order of the songs was juggled. Which song was first? How should the first side end? When people flip the tape what sounds best to open the B side? How do we want to end not only the B side, but the whole thing?
The medium of a cassette meant there was going to be a little silence, a built in lull to the listening experience. And silence makes a difference to how people hear your songs.
The gap between the A side and B side (records and cassettes). The little bits of silence from one song to another…and secret songs (CDs). The amount of nanoseconds from when someone presses play to when the song starts (Streaming). Silence and space and gaps are interesting parts of the music listening experience.
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Drop me an email: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com