MIX CHALLENGE - MC048 October 2018 - Winners announced

[fese]

Acoustic Guitars:
I want to give extra credit to whoever tracked the acoustic guitar - It's a very nice sounding instrument without having to do much to it. It's difficult to track acoustic well, so you have my admiration. A touch of eq and comp with an SSL comp on the bus for glue.

thanks, that was me yes, acoustic guitar is a pita to record, especially when you record yourself and every movement of the guitar can change the sound. the result are sometimes hit and miss. It is a good guitar, though, my trusty Lakewood M32CP

[GGermaine]

Acoustic Guitars:
I want to give extra credit to whoever tracked the acoustic guitar - It's a very nice sounding instrument without having to do much to it. It's difficult to track acoustic well, so you have my admiration. A touch of eq and comp with an SSL comp on the bus for glue.

thanks, that was me yes, acoustic guitar is a pita to record, especially when you record yourself and every movement of the guitar can change the sound. the result are sometimes hit and miss. It is a good guitar, though, my trusty Lakewood M32CP

Nicely played and recorded. That's a great guitar. I could tell it was special from the sound of it.

[fese]

Just a heads up: as some of the files so far where 48khz: I will load all of them in one project for comparison. Any 48Khz file i will send ruthlessly through Cubase's SR converter. I doubt that that will noticeably degrade the audio quality (even more that I'd be able to hear it), even though Cubases' converter hasn't the best reputation afaik. So if you care about stuff like that, please just provide me with a 44.1 file

[GGermaine]

Just a heads up: as some of the files so far where 48khz: I will load all of them in one project for comparison. Any 48Khz file i will send ruthlessly through Cubase's SR converter. I doubt that that will noticeably degrade the audio quality (even more that I'd be able to hear it), even though Cubases' converter hasn't the best reputation afaik. So if you care about stuff like that, please just provide me with a 44.1 file

I reloaded a new mix at 44.1. Wasn't sure whether I rendered to 48 or not, so just did another just in case.
Thanks.

[delicate]

I've also added a 44.1 version to my post.
Thanks.

[stu b]

Changed mine too, sorry about that fese.

[Franz]

to fese

hello,
I propose a new link to the 44.1 version of my original mix in 48 Khz. You're right, converters in many software programs have
questionable results. This is important for me, especially since the mixing was done on my analog recorder OTARI MTR12 and when
I send the reading of the magnetic tapein my computer (WaweLab) that it is in 48 Khz or in 44.1 Khz, the difference is quite small
but audible. By cons if I convert inside my DAW (RME card) of 48 Khz in 44.1 Khz, the difference is well audible knowing also that
it is quite imperative to stay in 24 bit all the time. To be convinced and to convince those who doubt, do this: take your original mix
in 48 Khz 24 bit and burn an audio CD after conversion to 44.1 Khz and 16 bit: there, you hear a difference, right?

new link : https://www.dropbox.com/s/2in225cj23ggp ... 1.wav?dl=0

cheers

Franz

[stilespod]

Mix Challenge 48

Greetings to all, beautiful song and thanks to formfisch for the opportunity to mix this one.

No Drum replacement used, and no samples


WAV

MP3


Drums—Waves and UAD plugins, 1176 on snare, Ocean Way Studios on Room Mics, used Neve 33609 on Parallel Drum Bus,
Waves Trueverb on Drum Verb

Bass—UAD Ampeg B15 amp modelLA2A style comp/limiter, basic EQ

Guitars Electric—Waves J37, basic EQ

Guitars Acoustic— Waves J37. UAD LA2A 1176 on Acoustic Leads

Tambourine—LA2A style Comp, Basic EQ

Music box—Waves J37, LA2A, Basic EQ

Accordion—Waves J37, LA2A, Basic EQ

Zebra Bell Piano—LA2A leveler, EQ

Vocals— UAD 1176, UAD LA2A, UAD Pure Plate Backup/Duet Vocals —LA2A, 1176, EQ



Master Bus— UAD SSL G Bus Comp

[kevin gobin]

Hello Fese, hi everybody!


Beautiful song, and very nice production. Really captivating.

I tried to keep the intimacy of your song with the purest approach of your recording tones, and the less processes on them.

I have just edited a few timing problems on vocals.

Then I enhanced the soundstage and depth, or tried at least.

I hope it will suit your vision of the song, you tell me.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/a4nk6cyeteuf8 ... n.wav?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dto43y5f1f3k ... n.mp3?dl=0


Here is my process (in the box):

Kick: more sustain
Snare: eq and reverb 1
HHats: enhance the highs
Overheads: saturation
Room: compression
Tambourine: eq for more lows, transient processor for more sustain and less attack
All going to DRUMBUS: SSL compressor

BASS: LA3A and LA2A

ACC Guitar: eq
LEAD ACC Guitar: eq and reverb 2

E Guitars: eq, delay and more sides

Zebra: eq
Music Box: eq and saturation

Accordion and Accordion synth: eq and reverb 2

Vocals: eq, delay, compression, MB Compression, reverb 3 (large and automated)

Susan: eq, compression, reverb 3 and reverb 4 (ambiance)

Susan Harms: eq, deesser and reverb 4

All going to 2BUS: gentle eq with mostly less 600hz


Good luck everybody, and welcome to all new members!

[javipedrocca]

Hi all!
This is my first Mix Challenge, I am very excited and I listen to great mixes here! I hope to learn a lot!
About the song that concerns us, Last Dance, it's a beautiful song, I really enjoy working on it.
In my opinion there are two fundamental aspects, the timbre and the dynamics. In the first stage, the use of eq and compression are essential to ensure that all instruments and voices have their space, emphasizing mainly the acoustic timbre of the instruments.
Then, work with the dynamics to ensure that the song grows slowly and has movement.
That's what I've tried to do, I hope you like it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o8btwuktdifiv ... a.wav?dl=0

screenshots:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sw88oz3bgme5v ... n.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2wezxqm454n8d ... e.png?dl=0

The color code of the channels is:
light blue - Drums
brown - bass
green - guitars
pink -keyboards and accordeon
red - lead vocals
orange - vocal harmonies
dark blue -aux tracks
dark brown - VCA tracks (vocals only)

The routing is the one that gave me more flexibility. There are three main Aux: All Drums, All Music, All Vocals. They all go to the Mix bus.
There is very little process on these buses. Some compression on the Drums bus, and Eq on the All Music bus. Then, in the Mix Bus, Tape Emulation, to L1 (Just for dither from 32 bit float to 24 bits) from there to a converter Rosetta 200 - Avalon 747 (some compression and eq) and then back to pro tools. You can see the full routing in the screenshots

I have attached screenshots so you can see the processes. I'm not using transient designers. For that purpose, you can see the tape emulator inserted in almost all the channels. The effects are for each group of channels. there is a reverb for the drums, a reverb and a delay for the music, and two reverbs and a delay for the vocals.
It is almost always the same reverb (Eventide 2016 St Room / UAD EMT140) and the same delay (UAD Ep-34 Tape Echo). What varies are the parameters in the plugins. The idea is to have the same "color" of effect but working in different ways.

You can see the order of the plugins that I used in each channel.
It is very long to detail each process but highlight the main thing.
Bass: a C6 compressor in the bass, which only compresses 80 hz down, in sidechain with the drum. fast attack and release. Only to ensure that the bass of the kick does not disappear when the bass is played.

There is a mono aux for the acoustic guitar, panned in the opposite direction, with a delay of approximately 15 ms. Enough to give a stereo feel to that guitar and have no phase problems. then both tracks go to an acoustic guitar aux, which is where the eq is, compression and automation.

In the electric guitar there is a Leslie emulator and a chorus, which place the guitar in the mix without much effort in the parts that are more congested.

Then there is stereo processing in the harmony vocals(Waves Ps22 Spread and Soundtoys Microshift) that help to widen the stereo image of the voices during the chorus.

There is some editing:
time align in the voices and give audio in two small phrases of the solo guitar.

I will appreciate comments and criticisms.

Cheers

Javier