MIX CHALLENGE - MC38 November 2017 - Winners announced

[kevin gobin]

Got it.

[HerbFelho]

so you simply added silence !!

yeah, I do this all the time. So to speak I´m a virtuoso in adding silence

[HerbFelho]

Maybe we wait and see what our client has to say...
Btw, is he still alive?

[Mister Fox]

but i'm doubt to do it, because theres no rules about further discussing with "client" (correct me if i'm wrong about the rule)

Why should there be a rule for that?

It is a rule that the client is present throughout the challenge. So he/she kind of expects questions. This is the main concept of the Mix Challenge (and in fact, in the real world as well). If in doubt, just ask. If you have a creative idea outside of given rules, and you're unsure if the client might agree to that, spark a discussion.



A little bit of "background info" from my end, every time I'm involved with a mix job:
Before I do my first listen, I ask the client (even easier if he/she is right beside me) which general route this should go, what the focus is, etc. To which the client responds with what to do, and what not (see: words by the song provider). I usually also ask (since I mostly have to finish the mix, aka mix and master) what the end-format shall be, so that I know in which limits I wander around. In case of the Mix Challenge, we always assume "this is just a mix, mastering will be done separately". One I know what's going on, I then listen to the material from start to finish, maybe make some notes already, make up my mind "where" this could go personally. Then I have free reign in terms of working my "magic".

After the editing work, the track is getting a listen. I then usually get feedback "this track is too quiet, this one is a bit too harsh, this one needs to stand out more", etc. Basically "Mix Round 2". I then ask again what I could do, what my limits are, and then work away. After 2 renditions max, we've usually found common ground. Those clients that know my work from various previous collaborations, are mostly already happy after the first round.


And this is what the Mix Challenge is basically copying.


You need to interact, you have to trust your gut instincts. There doesn't need to be a rule for that like "you have to" or "you mustn't". Don't be shy, just do it, gather the experience. What's the worst that can happen? The client saying "no dice!", and that's it. But communication is absolute key in this area. We had to somewhat cut it down for the fact that this is a challenge, but it's definitely not forbidden or anything.

Maybe we wait and see what our client has to say...
Btw, is he still alive?

I got a mail last night that he's down to 2-3 remaining participants and will post the results shortly. So please be patient.

In the meantime, there is enough happening on this forum to keep you busy.

[Tbase2000]

I get confused often with 40+ tracks and 1/2 of them are guitars and DI tracks that are not labeled as such. If your not going to re-amp a guitar then that track gets scrapped. Sometimes if it's an acoustic sounding song you don't know if that DI mislabeled track is supposed to be there or not because it sounds ok...just a little boring. Here's a great opportunity to press the mute button and see if it helps. I just got done doing that 15 minutes ago (another project). Can we get a track naming convention in 2018 please?

[Rendyarr]

You need to interact, you have to trust your gut instincts. There doesn't need to be a rule for that like "you have to" or "you mustn't". Don't be shy, just do it, gather the experience. What's the worst that can happen? The client saying "no dice!", and that's it. But communication is absolute key in this area. We had to somewhat cut it down for the fact that this is a challenge, but it's definitely not forbidden or anything.

okay, i got it maybe i'm just not cofidence with my english to have conversation with you all.
next time i'll ask anything what i need to know more thanx Mister Fox.

[Mister Fox]

A little update:

The client is still in the evaluation process. He wrote me the other day that he's been listening to all tracks again, since he found some new things to talk about. So apologies for the delayed response. He'll get back to you ASAP.

[JonasLasse]

Hey there,

since i just found out about this project i come up too late with a mix. Out of contest.
I tried to seperate all Instruments and used mainly mono Guitars. Plugins were SlickEQ, Cla2A, VMR, RComp, H-Delay, Valhalla etc on Cubase 8.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ktsm9liyu49o ... och4a?dl=0

I tried to keep it more folkloristic and made no edits, because that would end in an endless story..
The loud vocals will take a step back when there will be compression on it.

BTW: I'd like to say hello to the community.
Hello community.

Jonas

[Mister Fox]

BTW: I'd like to say hello to the community.
Hello community.

Hello Jonas, welcome to the Mix Challenge!

[fajebru]

Hi to everyone,
first of all, sorry for the late response and thank you for your mixes and thoughts. I got a lot of feedback, compliments and honesty from you. I appreciate that.
Next point: As the client, I have to judge over your mixes and decide whats better. But I want to make clear: I am an amateur. I am still learning, and actually I would not see myself on a level where I would be in a position to judge over your mixes, but since this is part of the Mix-Challenge, I tried my best to be as fair as possible. I hope some of you agree with what I heard and mentioned.
The decision, who comes to the next round is unbelievably hard...I got some favorites, but the amount of interesting stuff going on in your mixes was crazy. So I decided to decide based mainly on these two criterias:
1. How good was the mix?
2. How good could it be after the 2nd round?

And 'good' is a mixture of what I recognized in an objective way in terms of overall balance and what I found, was interesting and creative and still sounds pleasant.

Ok, so here we go:

Photonic
- a little harsh acoustic guitars
- nice snare drum, very interesting and punchy. could use some precomp automation or something like that, because the varying volume of the snare makes the amount of punch change a lot
- good kick-bass balance
- leadvocals sit well in the mix
- hihat got som problems. you can hear it getting louder and louder towards the snare drum hit sometimes. it seems to suffer from the snare treatment compressionwise. maybe a gate on the snare and more hihat from the close mic?


MedII
- good acoustic guitars
- nice overall feel when the bands comes in
- the snare drum benefits from the space you left it
- leadvocals could get a tiny touch more upfront
- same for the harp, but thats an option since it fits the rest pretty well and isnt as important as the lead vocals
- kick sounds good, but maybe is a little tiny tiny touch too boomy and loses the connection to the pretty thin snare
- solo is a bit to quiet
- the electric guitars sit in the mix very well


Dodgingrain
- a very natural mix
- kick a little too boomy
- the overall balance is good. very different to all the other mixes. but one of the most with itself matching mixes. the style of mixing is hearable on every track, exept the solo. yes, you made it stick out, but maybe a bit too much. this natural feel gets lost at this part and is distracting. I think the mix would benefit more, if you would get that to match better too
- the harp has a tiny touch too much highs at some point and not enough thickness


Tbase2000
- harp sounds interesting for itself, but gets lost behind the rest, especially behind the acoustic guitars
- for the leadvocals i would try another kind of reverb
- the backingvocals could be a little more back, as they are stealing a little bit from the leadvocals
- hihat sticking out a lot, maybe better, if the high frequencies get tamed a tiny little bit
- nice bassound
- like the subtle overdrive/distortion on the electric guitars
- nice effect with the delayed, more distorted solo guitar on the right. at some points its a little bit distracting. maybe automated, that it comes up only at the points where it sounds really good


FixInTheMix
- kick a bit too aggressive compared to the snare
- nice natural snare drum, maybe needs a little bit more space
- you here the overheads compressing a lot when the kick comes in
- the delay on the vocal is distracting at some points.
- nice backingvocals in terms of treatment and loudness
- harp sitting well in the mix
- solo a touch too loud
- leadcovals need a little more space


Rendyarr
- thin acoustic guitars, may need a touch more lowend
- natural snare with a little punch
- the delay on the vocals is partly distracting
- the kick could benefit from a touch more lowend also
- overall not an exciting, but a nice balanced mix


HerbFelho
- first of all, you did a lot of good editing things timingwise. that sounds like you out a lot of time it. already the intro sounds better than it did before. well done
- mixwise, nothing too aggressive, pretty natural, maybe a touch too much compression here and there. Often hearable on the vocals
- the overall bassbalance is a little unsteady…maybe some multibandcompression to tame that
- interesting solo mix, could maybe be get a touch dryer to fit the rest better
- ok now to the last verse. idea is awesome. Bet when the drums come in the edits are very hearable. maybe you could use the introfill to get back in the rythm…
- the overall balance is good, at some points the harp has some annoying higher frequencies, maybe around 2k?


Mork
- nice punchy snare, maybe a tiny touch too much highs
- interesting kick sound. maybe also a touch too much highs, since it is very hearable that they had to be boosted a lot and sound a little to processed.
- the drum sound overall is good, but would maybe fit the rest more, if you take a little highs away from kick and snare
- leadvocals nice natural treatment. also the backing vocals, they fit together pretty nice
- solo also very interesting, maybe a little too wet in comparison to the leadvocals.
- harp also very natural, fits the leadvocal very good


Arthur Labus
- nice first impression of the acoustic guitars
- the song really opens at the start when the band comes in. well done
- kick a little too boomy
- veery interesting bass treatment. sounds weird as f***, but very cool thow. maybe a little less of that, since its starts annoying at some point
- I hear some compression problems especially with the eletric guitars and some times with the harp, but that could also be the reason for this nice band entrance. Try to keep that while solving the problems!
- other than that, the distortion on the harp is very nice and fits very good
- nice leadvocals. at some points a liitle problematic compression with some beginnings
- the delay on the solo are a little distracting and to much upfront to my taste. overall very energetic, but a little too loud
- sometimes the snare hides behind some stuff, maybe a little treatment for that to get it more space
- the cut at the end of the song is a good idea, but comes too sudden. maybe find a way with automated reverb at this point to make it fit more?


kevin gobin
- the drum sound suprises a lot at the start. especially the thin snare against the boomy kick. that balance may need some treatment. other than that, you kinda start to like it more over the song. it gives the overall sound an interesting ‚garage-feel‘ to it
- the bass is a touch too much back in the mix for my taste
- nice solo sound
- the leadvocals almost sound too good compared to the drums. that takes away a little of this ‚garage-feel‘ and makes it feel more unnatural than it actually is
- the backing vocals have an interesting sound that I like, but the uuh’s have some muddy frequencies going on in the 500-600hz are…maybe?
- overall interesting vibe but the balance of treatment of the different tracks is off a lot


Wizzo
- acoustic guitars a little thin and a touch too much compression in the intro
- kick drum is very loud
- the snare drum is very far back in the mix and maybe misses some transient design
- the very quiet snare and the thinner acoustic guitars leave a lot of room for the leadvocals. that sounds good, but maybe with a little different treatment of the guitars, the leadvocals may have to be adjusted
- nice solo sound, maybe a touch too much compression and a little too wet in comparison to the vocals


VasDim
- drums very far back in the track
- cool treatment of the backing vocals, but they dont fit the treatment of the leadvocals that well. BUT they fit the drums. maybe if you adjust the leadvocals and the acoustic guitars more to fit the drum and backingvocal sound, it could work out with the drumsound
- interesting delay on the leadvocals. at some points it sounds good, but at a surtain point it starts to annoy a little bit. maybe only use it at some points of taste
- I like the solo, but its a little bit too loud


davemcisaac
- nice airy acoustic guitars
- veery interesting snare. not much highs, but it somehow fits in very cool.
- the chorus on the eletric guitars sounds nice and they fit very good, but they have a tiny little bit of harshness going on in the chorus. dont know if thats eq or compression
- harp reverb sounds very nice and wide
- like the snare drum, the vocal has not that much highs, but since the snare drum has the same, it kinda fits pretty good.
- nice dynamic differences between the different parts
- very surprising solo sound. maybe this should be i tiny little bit quieter.
- bass sound fits very well
- overall very interesting mix. needs some corrections here and there to make it a little rounder


jhkennedy5
- drums miss a lot of space
- the acoustic guitars and the electric guitars sound good, but steal a lot of space from everything else
- I like the interesting processing you did to the backingvocals, but it surprises a lot. maybe they fit a little better if theyre a little more behind in the mix
- harp sounds very nice
- same with the solo, as for the rest, theres not much space left for it. the rythm guitars are taking a lot


erictracks
- very nice acoustic guitars
- harp fits good, but I hear some problems in the 2k area I think
- nice punchy snare
- kick sounds very well balanced also
- very intersting lead vocals, has a little bit radio feel to it. makes it sound more oldschool and fits good in the mix
- the harp has some problems especially in the second part that sound like clipping to me. its very loud and is out of balance.
- the electric guitars are more behind, but fill in very well
- maybe just a tiny little bit less of reverb on the solo
- nice bass guitar


SRMix
- snare very nasal, maybe around 1,5k or something, otherwise very interesting
- shouts are very loud and dry…add some reverb maybe
- harp misses some space in the mix
- leadvocals sit very well
- nice acoustic guitars
- electric guitars are very far behind, a little a lack of support in the chorus
- solo fits the overall sound pretty good


OctopusOnFire
- acoustic nice and poppy
- good snare drum
- kick a little too booy and misses atack
- the leadvocals have a loot of deessing going on, a loooooot. They could take a little more or different reverb
- the reverb on the electric guitars in the chorus is nice, but maybe needs a little more compression to tame the dynamics of his playing a little bit
- solo sticks out a lot. seems unbalanced in comparison to the leadvocals


Beeble
- snare very short (gated?), maybe a little too short. and very quiet
- acoustic guitars a little too loud
- the oldschool style that you are going for is hearable, but I think, the problem I hear is, that you still here a lot of modern ways to record and process it, what makes the distortion’ish thing on the leadvocals sound interesting, but very irritating and more like a fault than intention
- the shouts fit the leadvocal very much, but if the leadvocal gets treated differently (what I would recommend), they may need some changes to fit in an other way
- solo sounds good, maybe some annoying frequencies somewhere around 1k-2k…I’m not sure


kc23 (submission after deadline)
- acoustic guitars have some boomyness going on in the 200-300 hz area maybe
- kick snare relation is a little bit off. the snare sticks out a lot while the kick is left behind
- snare in general sounds nice, nice punch
- the shouts and the uuh’s are very dry, what makes the uuh’s stop suddenly.
- also they are a little boomy
- overall i like the dryness of this mix. it fits very good, but the backing vocals have problems with it

JonasLasse (submission after deadline)
- Very very quiet overheads
- but kick-snare balance is pretty nice, overall very natural sound
- I like the dry leadvocals also, they fit very well
- thats a very natural and relaxed mix, maybe its so relaxed, cause you dont here cymbals
- overall a little muddy
- backing vocals a little bit too loud and muddy, especially the shouts. And very dry


These are the 10 participants to take part in the 2nd round:
- Dodgingrain
- HerbFelho
- Mork
- Arthur Labus
- kevin gobin
- VasDim
- davemcisaac
- jhkennedy5
- erictracks
- OctopusOnFire


But still I also want to thank Photonic, MedII, Tbase2000, FixInTheMix, Rendyarr, Wizzo, SRMix, Beeble, kc23 and JonasLasse for taking part and sending in inspiring mixes.