By Gina Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The music mix is for those occasions when words alone just won't do.

The Romance Mix. The Break-up Mix. Road trip, dance, hangover, betrayal and love mix. Even the "I lost my job" mix.

Ohio University student Michelle Zenz, 19, recently burned her 15th Michelle's Mix and the End of Freshman Year mix.

"Right before I left college, the girls in my freshman dorm and I made a mix of all of our favorite songs," Zenz said. "Whenever I miss them, I just put that disc in."

For every emotion and occasion, there is a suitable soundtrack waiting to be created at a computer, turntable or tape deck near you.

The mix will serve you. If you feel like crying, pop in the Depressed Mix. If you feel like running, try the Nike Mix. If you feel like sitting back and enjoying an ice-cold beverage by the pool, the Whiskey Mix.

Someone said it well

Decide how you want to feel and what you want to say and, chances are, somewhere in your music collection, it has been said better in song. Perhaps Bob Dylan best sums up your latest break-up with cuts from Blood on the Tracks. Or maybe you can't clean the house without hearing 15 one-hit wonders.

Jason Arbenz, 38, an employee at Everybody's Records in Pleasant Ridge, is an experienced mixer. He's especially adept at the romance mix. He likens it to dangling a piece of bait in the water, to see if you might catch the romantic attention of the mix recipient.

"You don't make the mix tape for the person you already think likes you," he says. "When you make the mix, you are fishing in the bracket above the bracket you reside in. She is out of your league a little bit, so clearly you are trying to inform her of how cool and diverse your music taste is."

Getting musicians and lyricists to recite your deepest feelings is what the mix is all about. It's like saying, "Hey you, look at how eclectic and deep I am. Now let's you and me share some private jokes."

On the flip side, Arbenz says, "it's flattering when you are the recipient and you know someone sat there for 90 minutes and thought about you."

Of course, since the advent of blank CDs and music downloads, making a mix doesn't mean the time investment it once did. But it hasn't lost its emotive cachet.

The coolest Web site devoted to the art and science of the mix is ArtoftheMix.com, developed by software engineer Jim Januszewski.

Januszewski, 31, doesn't remember the first time he made a mix. It's just something innate in the Gen-X culture, something that's always been there, he says.

Process can be addictive

"Making mixes is an active thing," Januszewski says. "You are in control of what is normally a passive activity, and that is addictive. You love music so much, and this way, you can be an active participant."

Anderson Township resident Jennie Martin, 19, burns a new mix every month. She mixes to add variety to her drives and introduces herself to new bands such as Dashboard Confessional, which she recently discovered through a friend's mix.

"As long as it's someone close to you, either a guy or a girl, the mix means a lot," Martin says. "It means something because they picked out the songs they thought you would like and sorted through other songs. It takes a long time. They put a lot of thought into it."

And that is what makes the mix invaluable - knowing that someone thinks that much of you.

E-mail gdaugherty@enquirer.com