MIX CHALLENGE - MC091 April 2023 - Winners announced

[BenjiRage]

Hey all, I just found this site tonight while at a loose end in the studio and had great fun having a go at the latest challenge!

It's a great track, I love the energy and rawness of it and I hope my mix has done it justice.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AeB7Ny ... sp=sharing

Here are my supporting notes:

DRUMS
Overheads 320Hz highpass, nothing else
Used Metric Halo Thump (sub harmonic generator) to add extra bass and weight to the kick drum
Kick also gated and heaviliy EQ'ed with big peaks added at 1.5 and 6kHz for beater click. No compression though.
Gated the snare top and doubled up the track - one heavily compressed with 10db added to the top end above 5kHz, the other slightly compressed with some mid eq added
Put the snare bottom back to regular phase and inverted the top snare instead (always works better with the overheads this way)
Deleted the room track, reverb cues painted the room too small and it detracted from the overall sound
Used Waves Kramer HLS on Toms to add high and low boosts
Added artificial reverb with Valhalla Room to all drum tracks except kick
Kramer PIE on the drum buss with 2:1 ratio and shortest decay time - gives great transients and brings out the room effect and adds depth

VOCALS
Used both the main vocal tracks together panned 12L and 12R for a thick and wide sound
Used Graillon 2 on a slow setting for vocal tuning
Massey CT5 and PSP Vintage Warmer for lots of compression to bring out vocal transients and diction for clarity
Massey VT3 used to removed a little bit of high end and increase the mid and low end (vocals sounded a bit thin otherwise)
Some minor editing and alignment of phrases, breath noises etc in the choruses
Cleaned up and removed noise in between phrases for extra clarity
Duplicated the two main vocal tracks and used Graillon 2 to create extra harmonies a major 3rd above to add a bit more interest
Effects: Valhalla Vintage Verb (Cathedral setting, 1.8s decay) and AIR Multi-Delay on a quaver setting

GUITARS
Grouped in pairs and panned for stereo width
Used Eleven Lite and ENGL Savage 120 amp plugins
No additional compression or EQ
Added little bit of VintageVerb and delay on some of the tracks
Level automation of the main rhythm guitars for a lower leve during the verses giving more impact in the choruses

BASS
Used Audiffex GK Amp 2, PSP Vintage Warmer with lots of drive and a very slow speed to give lots of mid harmonic content helping the bass cut through on smaller speakers
6dB boost 100Hz low frequency shelf

ORGAN
PSP Vintage Warmer and TAL Chorus LX for extra width

MASTER BUSS
Waves API-2500 on feedback "Old" setting, 3:1 ratio, slow attack, slow release, aiming for no more than -4 gain reduction on the meters

Time spent - Approx 4 hours

[nebukatnessar]

Cool track.

I went for a somewhat more vintage sound.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ihjtC ... sp=sharing

DRUMS

Kick
Duplicated the kick track;
- One eq for low end and added distortion
- One with eq for the attack/click
Both with gentle 1.5:1 compression slow attack quick release
These kicks are summed back together with a gate and some more eq and light compression

Snare tracks
- Snare top some EQ 200 and 3k - 1:4 compression
- Snare bottom basically the same eq, but with distortion instead of compression

Overheads
- EQ lowshelf from 85hz and a cut at 250
- A dabb of reverb
- Light multiband compression

Toms
- Panning and verly heavy compression
- some automation on the panning for exitement

Room
- squashed with compression
- added saturation
- reverb
- eq out low end and highself down from 8k

BASS
eq and added distortion to the amped track
on the summing track added Native Instruments Supercharger

GUITARS
- did not re-amp but used amplitube british tube lead
- sometimes with the amplitube IR's and sometimes with Torpedo Wall of Sound
- panned to taste.
- the most important creative decision is to embrase the 2 sub channels and add a generous amount of fuzz to them

VOCALS
- Panned Voc1 and Voc2 30% left and right added eq/compression and reverb
- Added autotune to just voc2 (this gives a chorus effect)
- Voc 3 has copied layers with different formant shifts, reverb and a send to delay
- Copied the bridge vocal part to a separate track with a only some compression and is sent to delay

ORGAN
- Added distortion
- Added panning modulation
- Added eq
- A lot of automation

I automated a lot of tracks. Especially the drum room.

MIXBUS
Some eq to bring out the high/low
GSat+ plugin to add some saturation
Native instruments Solid bus compressor for just a little glue shaving of 1 to 2 db max.

[Candide]

Hi, I made a simple mix on a Neve analog console.
Drums kick: boost at 3Khz, 600Hz, 75Hz + mixdesk gate & comp
Snare: small eq brainworks less low mid and 2 specific frequencies + mixdesk gate & comp
oh: high and low cut
Drums: GSSL Bus Compression with distortion
Not completely satisfied with the drum sound, especially the kick but it's time to rec.

Guitars: Marshall reamp, mixdesk compression.
Bass: Sansamp + compression
Voice: Magma BB wave distortion plugin+ comp 1176 + delay filtered
A mix not very creative but I hope a little effective.
Thanks to the band for the title and congratulations to all for the mixes.
Candide
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D1UFws ... share_link

[GeorgeCorg]

Hello all,

Thanks for the opportunity to work on this track!

The drums were the most challenging I feel. Worked hard for them to sound good.
Had to make the kick work with tons of EQ and split tracks.
The bass had to be split in two as well, low and high, to be able to control it better.
The guitars were re-amped for the most part, I think only 2 tracks are original. Once u have a good working sound from the amp, EQ is easy and making them work in the mix.
As for the vocals, a bit bright original tracks for some reason, but I managed to "tame" them.

Here is my take on the mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0PBKI ... sp=sharing

Cheers!

[jasonmountario]

Hi everyone!

Thank you for the track. I did not do any edits, leave it as it is to preserve the rawness.

My thing was to have more clarity/definition despite its condensed wall of guitar grittiness vibe type of song.

After a long hour identifying the kick and snare sound, I guessed that (correct me if I misunderstood) the original mix had a kick sample and possibly a snare sample too, therefore my decision for the re-amp will be affected because the “mixed version” kick and the snare were a more modern hard rock/scooped sounded, therefore perhaps Jeroen chosen the guitar simulator sound to be also more modern scooped sound.

But I decided to choose the guitar simulator that perhaps suited well the original draw drum track, which is a more mid-raw trashy 80’s vibe. I did it with waves guitar, and choose a 4x10 vintage Marshall cabinet.

I only re-amp the basic left and right main guitar rhythm riff, and the rest were completely the miked one. I felt that the miked tracks really suit the rest of the track, and I also love the sound of the miked amp.

I did a pretty judicious amount of eq and compression to make it edgy and full, trying to be faithful to the original mixed vibe.

all tracks pretty much went into neve 1073 (EQed some of them a little bit) and tape simp 15 ips (VTM) to get the 80’s vibe.

drums got its EQ with api+ssl, compress with 1176, drum buss was api 2500. Kick and Snare got J-37 tape, the oldest mode and 7.5 ips for more trash and crack and saturated it a bit. I have a bit of parallel compression for kick and snare. Sent the OH to room reverb to make a stereo drum room. Sent the snare and toms a bit to 480 plate for a sense of width. And later the drum buss also got sent a bit to another slightly larger room reverb (bricasti) where everything later on also went into that reverb.

Bass got its EQ with api+ssl, compressed with 1176 and r-bass. Sent a bit to room reverb

Main rhythm riff guitar EQ with ssl, Culture Vulture, compressed with ssl, and had chorus dimension. sent a bit to room reverb, and some slap delay for dimension.

Lead melody guitar EQ and compressed with ssl. Had a bit of mono and stereo delay.

The rest of the guitar just a touch of eq and compression from ssl, and sent a bit to room reverb.

Vocal didn’t EQ that much because the original was already bright and EQed… Compressed a lot with 1176, then a touch of LA-2A and L1 to smoothen, De-s, and Culture Vulture for dirt. Had a mono and stereo delay, sent a bit to a plate reverb, stereo slap black, and to the room reverb.

For the bridge, I experimented the vocal with flanger and chorus. I thought it might be interesting to go into a psychedelic moment for a while.

Master buss had a Virtual mix console emulating ssl, VTM tape 15ips, shadow hill compression 2:1 slowest attack faster release, 2db of compression and a black box to fatten it up and make it even grittier.

Mastered to -16LUFS with -1DBTP. Mixed ITB

Here’s my take on it, I hope you like it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tD27hc ... share_link

[Eduardo Dinis]

Hi everyone,

I mixed this song on Pro tools.

A few timing and pitch correction applied in very few spots however left it pretty much untouched.

KICK: Eq, comp and saturation | Room and Hall reverb
Snare top and bottom: eq. ---- send to snare bus to compress it.
Snare top has parallel distortion
OH left and right: EQ | Hall reverb
room mic mono: compression
All sent to drum bus: Compressor, saturation and fresh air | Room reverb

Bass: CLA-2A, multiband compressor, supercharge with kick SC and Rbass
Parallel distortion on bass | Room Reverb

GT10 and GT9: Blue cats free amp and EQ | Slap Delay
Sent to bus with CLA-3A and dynamic EQ

GT5 and GT8: EQ | Hall Reverb
Sent to bus with CLA-3A and eq

GT11 and GT12: Blue Cat free amp and eq | Room Reverb
sent to bus with CLA-3A

GT1 GT4 and GT6: EQ | with room Reverb and tape delay

All GT buses sent to a main GT bus with dynamic eq and oxford inflator

Organ: Compressor and Eq | Hall Reverb

Voc 1: Compressor, Eq, ButchVig Vocals and vocal doubler | Plate, room hall and non linear reverb (automated) and tape and throw delay
Voc1 with parallel chorus fx

Voc 2: eq and compressor | Plate and Room Reverb
mixed parallel with Voc 1

Voc 3: eq and compressor | Multi delay, tape delay and room reverb

All vocals to a vocal bus: with vocal limiter, Eq, Little Radiator and dynamic eq

Mix bus: Oxford inflator, EP1a Eq and shadow hills


https://www.dropbox.com/s/qz5vm5xmcwxwx ... s.wav?dl=0

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your mix.


So far, we have 20 entries. To the late adopters, please take note of the "TL;DR Rules.txt" file as part of the Mix Pack.

[Christoph_K]

Ok folks, that was not easy. No time for snare jokes. And so many guitars - what could possibly go wrong.
Thanks to @JeroenZuiderwijk for giving me a hard time

Like in the past challenges I worked with the Brauerize template.

The Drums
Before anything else I used soundradix auto align to get a better tone from the whole kit.
The snare top has a lot going on: UAD Studer 800, Sonnox drum gate, Waves Aphex Exciter, Soundtoys Decapitator, Waves RBass and a UAD Distressor. The snare bottom goes with the Studer, UA Fairchild 670 and EQ.
The room has heavy compression with the Waves Kramer Pie and quite some Abbey Road Plate. OH and Room have Soothe2 to tame harshness.
I treated the rest with the Studer and FabFilter Q3.
I created an additional parallel process with heavy transient saturation and distortion the help kick and snare cut through the mix: Denise God Mode, Fairchild 670, Neutron Transient shaper and Standard Clip.

The Bass
I duplicated the track and distorted it quite heavily, blend to taste. The original track as a B15 plus dbx160. I did also some timing tweaks in one or two spots.

The guitars
First I put them in pockets which made sense to me. I reamped most of the DIs with the bx Rockergain and Softubes Amp Room. In the verses I used a vibrato to get more texture. I used a Tremolo Effekt in the re-entry after the bridge. Dunno, I wanted this Who moment there…

The Organ lives with the automated IK Leslie and the UA Culture Volture.

The Vocals have the Waves Vocal Rider, the Studer. Q3 and the new Acoustica Fire Gold for Saturation. In the bridge I heard a second voice in the original mix but it had no presence in the provided files. So I recreated this with melodyne. The radio voice is done with MacDSP’s FutzBox.

The FX is plates, delays, spring verbs.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/njpvea1pqna20 ... K.wav?dl=0

[jules666]

Thanks to @JeroenZuiderwijk had a lot of fun with this challenge! Took me a while to get going, then could not stop trying to tweak it!

Here is the link to my version of this month challenge:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sLZKYn ... sp=sharing

I experimented with a few different things in this song- mainly using multiple parallel compressors on the drum and also low/mid/high parallel saturation buses for the drums. Not sure how much it adds for the effort it required in setting them up....let me know your thoughts

I nudged a couple of tracks here and there, to get them sitting better in the mix.

Drums:
All shell tracks has an SSL G Series style channel strip on utilising the EQ and compressor, and the gate for most the tracks - they also had some subtle saturation.

Kick: Further EQ removing more mids/clipper

Snare:
Duplicated TOP both then had used a similar chain gate/SSL/saturation/Transient shaper/EQ/compression/clipper.
One track had a standard API compressor the other a multiband API which I targeted mainly the Low/High end.
Used IR on a bus which I sent one of the TOP snares to - it added a little bit more thump in the low-mids.
Snare bottom, only kept high end and sent to a reverb and blended in.
Reverb also got one of the Snare Tops sent to is.
(In slow section I did add a delay on the snare as I felt it give it a nice effect)

Toms: EQ/Compression into a reverb

OH: Saturation, removed some low end and compressed quite hard
Room Mic: Compression/EQ to remove lows and some highs
"Room": Created a false room by duplicating OH and adding compression/EQ to rom lows/highs and verb to defuse them and blended in to taste.

Bass:
Created two more versions of the track. Processed one for lows the other for highs. The 3rd track, has some distortion on, which is automated in and out throughout the song.
Sent to a bus for some further EQ and a little saturation.

GTR:
Reamped all guitars that had a DI - dropped any amp tones already supplied if there was an existing DI.
Wanted some crunch so used a Mesa emulator (ML Sound Labs), with gain dialed to its lowest point, pushed the treble and presense. This setting was for all main rhythm guitars, did duplicate GTR tracks 09 & 10 - this time used an Orange amp sim, to get some more saturated high end which I blended under the Mesa tone.
Tremlo effect when coming back in from the bridge.
Some slight verb in places, but tried to keep the tone "clean" most of the song.

Used a 5150 style amp for the lead and Intro/Octave guitars just to give a different tone there.

Organ: Distorted it, and removed some lowe end, and added flanger/verb and filter effects to just have some fun, this was automated a lot.

Vocals:
Just saturation/compression/EQ removing some low end and boosting some highs abover 12k then a limiter and finally a desser
All vocals tracks has same treatment and we sent to various parallel buses which included:
Slap Delay
Verb
Chorus
PitchShift- used in chorus mainly to thicken up
1/4 note delay throw.

Used H-Delay with the lofi engaged for the "telephone" effect in the slow vocal part in the bridge

Mixbus
I use a rear bus technique and the mix bus has a compressor (SSL Style) which I mix into, I also like to mix into some tape saturation Waves J37. I then added the Plugin Alliance Digital V3 - to add a little more width, and mono'd everything below 80hz.

Automation - used everywhere, had a lot of fun with that, from simple volume changes to changing send levels on effects.

Hope you like!

Cheers
Jules

[UHLS]

hello guys, thanks for the tracks.
it wasn't easy at all to mix the tracks as they were heavily processed.
so i used the blackbox hg-2 on all tracks - i.e. distortion instead of compression. i took also PA SSL 4000G on all tracks. for additional guitars i used U-HE amp sim, SieQ for the bass and rvox und LittleMicroShift for the voices.
as reverb and delay I used bx_2500delay and bx_rooms.
here is my attempt:
https://workupload.com/file/3PY7EUbVXef