MIX CHALLENGE - MC066 June 2020 - Winners announced

[jeffssoloband]

Hi gang,

Here's my submission: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o1vdwz7atuho8 ... d.wav?dl=0

Everything was mixed ITB (Logic Pro X), all tracks were used, and nothing added, as usual. I loaded up some early 90s Rush for reference (not that this is on the same plane as Rush, but I thought it matched the vibe more than the staff's suggested "hair band" genre). I pretty much just tried to carve out spaces with EQ to try to get all of the elements balanced and recognizable. Everything is soaked in reverb to get that 80s/90s sound. Those effected vox were painful to listen to for me, so I buried them in the mix, and threw on some delay just to fill the choruses out. That's about it. I never get to the next round in these contests, so I'm not going to write a novel about what I did. HMU with any questions. Thanks for listening.

Jeff
jeffssoloband

[Spinum]

Thank you for the fun song to mix! Below is the stereo mixdown:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C1E9ue ... sp=sharing

Approach

DAW: Studio One 4.6

Plugins: See screenshot for details - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1giql2C ... sp=sharing

Kick & Snare: A Scheps 1073 is at the beginning of the tracks. Using S1's splitter technology each track is divided into to routes upon which compression and EQ are applied then mixed together before passing through a clipper. There is a send on the snare to a parallel saturation channel, too. There is a send on the kick track to a dynamic EQ on the Bass that ducks the fundamental frequency of kick.

Toms, Cymbals, OH & Room: EQ, compression (if needed), saturation, transient shaping provided by iZotope Neutron 3

Bass: Several EQs are used along with a FET type compressor to level and shape the tone

Guitars: The guitars did not get a lot of processing. What EQ, comp & saturation applied was handled by Neutron 3. A dynamic EQ was used on the main guitar side-chained from the piano to duck the piano frequencies only when a chord was played.

Piano, Synth & String Synth: The Neutron 3 channel strip is on each channel. On the 2 synth tracks a Leslie plugin was used to provide movement.

Vocals: The vocals were separated into verse and chorus tracks with Nectar 3 channel strip used for corrective EQ, de-essing, compression leveling, tonal EQ and saturation. Effect sends were to an Aphex exciter, along with short ambient reverb and delay on the verse and a longer ducked reverb on the chorus. Doubling and echo effects were used in spots during the last chorus and outro.

Summing: Instrument busses are routed through a respective summing buss where safety limiters and enhancements are applied to taste.

Mix Buss: Only J37 tape emulator and Gullfoss are on the stereo buss.

Main: The main output channel contains various analysis tools and is bypassed during mixdown.

[alavault]

Hello everyone !

Here is the mixdown : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gECZ1N ... sp=sharing

And here's a screenshot : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZcKSP6 ... sp=sharing

A nice song to mix. This 80s vibe was oddly refreshing.

What has been done ?

Tracks bussed into summing groups where most of the processing happens.

Guitars : Separated into 2 groups - lead and clean. Overall 3k for definition and 10k shelf for brightness. Mix of delays and reverb on each but longer on the lead.

Bass : EQ, Comp, Limit. Done. Added a parallel distortion track to add some grit for choruses.

Keys : Piano EQd for attack, string/pad compressed for sustain (the piano providing the attack here). A bit of conflict between the "analogue" pad and the strings, quickly solved with an EQ.

Drums : Transient designing on kick and toms, several reverb sends for the snare (to find the right length). Rooms and OH (EQ comp). Automated parallel drum comp for choruses (on kick, snare, toms and room).

Vocals : Leveller plugin on each track + EQ + deessing. Not really sibilant tracks though. But nothing special with vox3 and vox4, since I thought it was okay this way....

Master Bus : Comp-EQ-Multiband-Tape Emulation + utility plugins.

It's my first submission : I hope I didn't forget any rules...

[PenguinJon]

Second month,

All mixed in the box in Logix Pro X, mix of plugin alliance, waves and logic plugins..

Mixdown Here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jduobnirilkx4 ... n.wav?dl=0

Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcpjiv79zeiaz ... n.pdf?dl=0


Drums,

Didn't do too much, tried a few compressors to see which gave the most punch, settled on a waves API for the drum bus, and a little slow Kramer PIe to match the Bass Drum to the Snare, added a bit of verb to the snare and bx_console_n for eq. Logic Limiter on the end of the group to catch any overs..

Bass Guitar, bx console again, for eq, tried to pull the nose forward, and a touch of kramar pie again to match it to the bass drum...

Vocals, looks like a lot going on, but really everything is just doing a tickle, bx console for eq, maag eq to pull out a but of low mid, vertigo to round off the peeks, r-vox to push it forward in the mix, and h delay to effect..

Master bus, the ssl comp is just there for the fade, and a bit of noise, limiter there is just to catch any overs I might have missed, and meter, to try my best to keep to the target db...

[copyc4t]

Hello all, here's my entry:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p2jiq3zsra9pc ... t.wav?dl=0

Screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q9gza89m47aa8 ... r.png?dl=0

The mix is done on Ardour, with plugins mostly from the LSP plugin suite by Vladimir Sadovnikov, the Calf Studio Gear suite, plus Luftikus EQ by lkjb, Dragonfly Reverb by Michael Willis and Rob vd Berg, Gate by Steve Harris, TAL Chorus LX by Togu Audio Line, ZamDynamicEq by Damien Zammit, DR-14 meter by Robin Gareus, LUFS Meter by Klangfreund.

I followed some of the provided suggestions, track and tonal balance are done my way, mostly with less shine and more low end.

As for the track processing:

- The snare is gated for bleed, reverberated, compressed, gated for the 80's, bumped around 8k for sizzle.

- The kick has bass enhancement and EQ bump for the beater, the toms are compressed, widened and reverberated to match the snare power and kind of sound, room 2 is widened.

- The other drum tracks just have basic EQ.

- The drum bus has parallel compression and hall reverb for a larger-than-life kind of sound.

- The bass has bass enhancement.

- The rhythm guitar and solo reverb are widened.

- The guitar solo bus has a further delay and an air boost.

- The piano has compression, exciter, saturation, and chorus for some lush; same chorus on the verse keys.

- The strings and key sound are both widened and boosted on their relevant frequency ranges.

- Vocals are preemptively de-essed with a dynamic EQ, especially to counter the subsequent vocal treatment, which sees parallel compression, exciter, and studio reverb; 3 and 4 are panned moderately to the sides.

- Vox 2 3 and 4 are also sent to a delay throw bus, automated more or less as suggested.

- Instead of getting creative with vox 3, I've been quite destructive, fading away two bits that in my mix are very unnecessary and can only do harm.


Overall, the tracks have EQ high-pass where and when needed.

Finally, the sum bus has metering and a light touch of air boost, done here rather than on every single track just for CPU's sake.

The peaks are at -1.0dB, the integrated LUFS is -16.4, the dynamic range stays between 12 and 13.

[Johnny11771]

Hello this John the song provider, Mr NonLinear, has the right idea if you are vocal tuning use chromatic as the chord sequence doesn't really stay in one key the chorus ends on a A flat which is found no where else in the song, and some of the chords are suspended chords so you might find a D major with an open E string ringing out.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 6 days left to submit your edit

[pabloAT]

Dear all,

The link to my mix can be found here -> [Dropbox's link to the mix].

DAW = Cubase 10.0.60
Integrated LUFS = -16.20
True Peak = -3.1 dB
48,000 kHz; 24 bits

Mix Preparation/Wrap-up
Preliminary raw balance: cleaning-up, setting levels, panning mono tracks, checking phase, timing adjustments (mainly on vocals), gentle tuning pitch/articulation on vocals.
High-pass filtering on all the tracks
Applied Cubase’s silence stripping tool
Lot of automation for almost all tracks during the latest stages of the mix.
Suitable track fade-out preparation.
Drums
Kick: Pultec-like EQ and vintage compressor (1176 character) for vibe
Snare: Pultec-like EQ, double compression for punch while keeping the transients, a touch of decapitation (soundtoys) and echoboy (soundtoys) for space
HH: a bit of saturation and a touch of plate reverb
Cymbals: gentle saturation, a resonant filter for the first part of the track
Toms: not much, LA2A-type compressor, some reverb and a lot of “fadering” until I was happy with the sound
Tambourine: a bit of compressor to shape the tone, echoboy (soundtoys) for space and some fun with panning
OH: SSL compressor and tape saturation for taste.
Room: not much, only heavy compression and a lot of fadering to dossify the desired amount of space.
Drum group: strip EQ and SSL-like compressor for glue.
Bass
Split into three separate frequency ranges: low, low/mid and high to give support and to emphasize the different parts and vibes of the track
Guitar
I really liked its sound. Added transformer saturation and microshift (soundtoys) to emphasize the tone. A bit of creative chopper and tremolo for the intro.
Solo Guitar
Transformer saturation and band shelf eq. to reinforce the guitar’s tone. Small mid-side adjustments. Medium compressor to the reverb track.
Piano
Very gentle EQ adjustments
Keys & Synth
Both instruments grouped. Tube compressor and saturation. FX to reinforce the background atmosphere.
Vocals
Pitch correction with Cubase’s VariAudio.
Verse: 1176 + LA-3A compression, deesing.
Chorus: wrapped vox 2, 3 & 4, 1176 + LA-3A compression, deesing, delay L/R
Main Mix Buss
Gentle SSL-G master compressor for gluing the mix together, subtle tape saturation.

Best wishes,
Pablo

[MiniTooth]

Hello everybody! This is my first submission, my main goal for the track was to give everything a bit more clarity and avoid the “muddy” sound at all costs., everything was mixed in the box.
I used Logic Pro X as DAW.

I doubled the guitar track and re-amped it using Positive Grid’s BIAS FX 2 for a more vintage and clear sound, kept the bass more or less the same as the original and side chained it with the kick, along with some Exciter to give more punch to the low frequencies.

I kept all the vocal takes, I think they give the song more depth, I just added some distortion in a low volume track and some chorus to make it all sound more “dreamy”

I used iZotope’s Neutron 2 and some stock Logic’s EQ to play with frequencies and compression.

Here’s the mix and some screenshots: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[Miłosz]

Hi everyone,

I really like the song.

Here is my mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dy9wnf1qvc8v9 ... z.wav?dl=0

About my mix:

Vocals:

Pitch correction, an analog type channel strip. A saturation plugin, FET compressor, stereo chorus. Automated stereo delay
and automated tail reverb.
Distortion, FPF and LPF at the end of the song.

Drums:
channel strip, reverb, tape saturation.
Automated volume of the kick and overheads.

Guitars:
channel strip, stereo enhancer

Keys:
channel strip

Bass:
Eq, stereo chorus

There is a SSL type compressor on my mix. Ratio 4:1, attack 10mc, auto relese, 4-5dB gain reduction.
I used some volume automation on my mix.