Mixtape: Load-In Theory by Joaquin Torres
A load-in mixtape for live television audiences from the guy who makes load-in mixtapes for live television audiences.
My friend Joaquin Torres produces a TV show in Hollywood, California. And like all successful, big-time, hot-shot Hollywood producers who run all media, he wears many hats. (One of his hats says “Commerce Casino,” another says “Jiu Jitsu Will Save Us.”) On that mile-long list of things he has to handle from week to week, one of his favorite tasks is prepping the audience load-in mix for the show’s live studio audience. This is not anything he was asked to do and it is not anywhere in his job description. He pretty much just insisted on doing it. “It was, like, a calling,” he says. “I needed to do it,” he says. So, as the entertainment industry closes in on a full year without audiences, I asked him if he’d give us a mix to remind us all how good we once had it. And he delivered:
Listen to Load-In Theory by Joaquin Torres
GREEN BANANAS: For the people who don’t “talk tinsel,” can you explain what “load-in” music is?
JOAQUIN TORRES: For starters, I need to ask you again to please stop trying to make “tinsel talk” a thing. It’s not a thing. It’s the opposite of a thing. If everyone in Tinsel Town spoke Tinsel Talk I’d tinsel take my own life.
Now that is some spicy tinsel talk!
Also the load-in mix is the music a live television studio audience hears while waiting for the hilarious warm-up comic to come teach them how to clap on cue. The music’s a great kick-off to the good time we’re hoping they’re about to pretend to have.
Part of your job is to make mixtapes. How did you get so cool?
The truth is I asked to do it once and took it off the hands of one of my bosses, who from that point, I think, appreciated not having to worry about it. Then when the audience seemed to like what I’d done, I just took it over. So, yeah, I guess my cool came from them… the audience. Also, Fonzie.
Fonzie is good with the jukebox. But how do you feel about cool jackets?
I buy them constantly.
Now, the one thing I know about load-in music is that it should be upbeat. And while every song on this mixtape is upbeat, the tracks are not just thrown together at random. There is a sequencing and build-up here that seems very intentional. Can you walk us through your mixtape?
It should definitely be upbeat, but not to the point where it wears out the audience before we need their energy. I don't want to steal too much of that energy from the host.
The studio’s empty for a few minutes after the mix starts playing, so I try to start off the first few with something familiar that I think the crew will enjoy. (Almost always classic rock.) The first song in particular I started picking with one of our executive producers in mind. Huge Beatles fan. I caught him singing along once backstage before the show and decided I liked that. So I just made that a thing for a while.
Then around song five the audience and their excitement start to fill the studio, so I like to pair that up with something familiar and high energy that you don’t already hear all the time. The ‘80s are great for that. Feel like it matches the audience’s excitement for finally getting inside after waiting a couple hours out on the benches. They should come into something happening. Which is why this is also when I ask our sound booth guys to start turning up the volume just a little.
Transitioning between vastly different genres of music in a mix can be very jarring if not done well, but you do it seamlessly several times at the top of this mix. I want to admire your use of “New Sensation” by INXS. It’s one of those songs that’s so immediate and crystal clear that you can almost throw it anywhere on any mixtape and it earns the change of pace. Here you use it to segue from Stevie Ray Vaughan to g-funk.
You.... you’re good, you. That’s 100% the reason I chose that there. The instant interruption and takeover. There were a couple in the running for that spot. “I Ran” by A Flock of Seagulls was the close second.
Now that I’ve received the compliment I was fishing for, please continue.
From there I transition to what it is I’m really trying to get to, ‘90s hip hop. To me, nothing else has an edge to match the setting more than ‘90s hip hop. And as always, I’m looking for stuff that people don’t hear all the time but hits ‘em hard when they do. Now I’m trying to set a scene. I want people to feel like they’re somewhere… yeah, cool. A lot of people who come to the show are from out of town. And now they’re here, in our studio, for a night out on the town. And the town is Hollywood. So the music has to match.
After some classics, it’s getting closer to show time so I start ramping up the energy in the room by adding in some house/dance music. Hip hop and house collaborate well together so it’s a pretty easy transition. Nothing too fancy or electronic, but always a few beats faster than the last block of songs we heard. This is usually where the most chair dancing starts taking place in the audience. That’s pretty much it. I’ve usually got it timed out so that when the warm-up starts his act, we’re right in the thick of everyone’s good mood.
“Get By” seems like it’s an important song in this mix. The entire mix feels like it builds to this energy level and then never falls below it. Beyond that point the styles and tempos change, and things get a little lighter and dancier, but the intensity seems to plateau right around this range. Is this what you mean when you said you don’t want the music to wear out the audience?
Exactly, I was looking for something, and at the time Michelle Obama had released some kinda playlist for whatever it was. I just remember seeing that “Get By” was on it and I remember not being surprised at all by her taste level. That was the clincher. It’s completely a nod to Michelle Obama.
So walk us through the ending.
The last two songs on the mix are always reserved for the load-out. For after the show when everyone starts filing out to claim their cell phones at security. I like to end with the same kinda attitude the ‘90s hip hop brings to the mix, so I use something gritty and contemporary, and then wrap up with a classic that’s got a good message.
Okay, so first we have load-ins, and now we have load-outs? I can’t get enough of all this La La language! Any idea where these words come from? Or is it just like how when you’re getting off a plane you don’t exit, you deplane?
Did I do the “If everyone in La La Land spoke La La language” bit already?
What was the first song you added to this mix?
The first song I choose is almost always the very first song of the mix. And if it’s not The Beatles, it’s something I think would sound great on the stage’s sound system in an empty studio. Always something classic rock. In this case, it was “Day Tripper.”
So do you build the mix sequentially from the opener? Or how much shuffling and re-sequencing of tracks typically occurs in your process?
I definitely shuffle things around a bit, but have a general sense of where things are gonna go.
What is your favorite moment on this mixtape?
There’s a few, but about three minutes into Anderson .Paak’s “Am I Wrong” there’s a fantastic breakdown. The horns there get me every time.
I also love when I have Biggie or Pac on a mix and I’ll hear people react in the audience when they drop. Happens all the time. People love those guys.
I like to ask my mixtape makers about where the title of their mixtape came from, but in this case, I pitched the title to you. I liked it because it’s a nod to nineties hip hop (see: The Low End Theory) which features heavily here, but since there are no longer audiences to load-in, this mix is literally theoretical load-in music. Of course, like all successful, big-time, hot-shot Hollywood producers do, you put your fingerprints on it.
Drop the “the.” Load-In Theory. It’s cleaner.
How long does a mix typically incubate before it’s ready for the show?
Probably a few weeks, I’d say.
Have you ever put a song on that got a really bad reaction from the audience?
Not that I’ve heard about. But the crew? It happens.
Lastly, what if our listeners aren’t going to see a live TV show anytime soon—how else might they enjoy this mixtape?
Text me.
If you didn’t already know, Joaquin possesses an immense amount of genuine intentions and attention to creative detail. We sincerely thank him for making this mix and sharing this glimpse into his process by answering my signature hard-hitting questions.
Now I’m wondering what are some other instant mixtape takeover songs like “New Sensation” by INXS?
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Stay safe. Stay sane.