MIX CHALLENGE - MC067 July 2020 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Mix Challenge 67 - July 2020


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (source files, submission information, sponsors), start of the evaluation process and the first post for re-submissions for Mix Round 2.



This month we have the chance to work on an Indie Pop production by the band "Paint Me In Colour". The song is called "Me Without You", and depending on the outcome of MC067, you might even have the chance to get your edit/mix on the upcoming EP (extended play) release.

The the two biggest challenge this month, are finding a good vocal balance (especially with the effect ones), but also handling the over-dubbed tom drums, which some of it are for for added effect.

Please read about the details and special requirements for handling this mix further down below.




Please take note of the following

• Please consult the official "Rules and Guidelines" for the Mix Challenge regarding principles of the game, recommendations and upload/submission guidelines
• IMPORTANT: please only provide WAV files, files need to be accessible/downloadable, try to work within suitable work levels (the focus of this game is "mixing", not mixing and finalizing), document your edits (ideally also with screenshots), name the files properly to distinguish your edit from all others.
• please use the following naming convention (Contestant Name = Forum Username):
  • MC000_ArtistName_TrackName_ContestantName.wav
  • MC000_ArtistName_TrackName_ContestantName_R2.wav for those that go into Mix Round 2
  • Example: MC067__Paint_Me_In_Colour__Me_Without_You__forum_username.wav
• please only upload to cloud storage spaces (DropBox, GoogleDrive, etc), not SoundCloud.
• It is highly encouraged to give feedback to each other, to share tips and tricks. Ideally, this should happen after Mix Round 1 has ended, to not influence each other during the main competition round

Also please take note of the following

• Our Song Pool has dried up! We're looking for new source material for future competitions. Please follow our official campaign. Your only investment is time in turn for a free mix by our very talented participants. No new tracks mean no more challenges! Please reach out!

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information, Source Files, Sponsors
Mix Round 1 Statistics/Data Sheet: Overview of Submissions - is your entry within given parameters? (post with additional background info)
Mix Round 2: Global Feedback and Round 2 Participant Announcement
Results of the Mix Challenge: Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Wednesday, 01st July 2020 to Tuesday, 21st July 2020 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 21-07-2020, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST (Germany) - until further notice.

Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please consult the following options:
The Global Countdown on it's dedicated page or the countdown on the home page. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



Song Provider: Paint Me in Colour
Song Name and Length: Me Without You, 3:14 min
Song Information: 118 BPM / Signature: 4/4
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: Indie Pop


Preview of the Song:

phpBB [media]

(Demo is unprocessed!)




A word from the song provider:

Hey everyone,

Thanks in advance for taking an interest in this months mix challenge, which happens to be our band's Paint Me In Colour song 'Me Without You'.

A bit of a back story to us and this song. Basically we have our own studio setup inside of our rehearsal space and we use this to produce, record and mix all our own material including our first two singles 'Feel It.' and '1968' (which you can find on Spotify, etc). And a few months back we decided to start working on our debut EP.

So we went about recording our top eight songs and then once everything was tracked and statics were made we then picked our top five to be mixed and put onto the EP. 'Me Without You' was one of the eight which didn't quite make the cut so it's sort of a B-side with no use for now.

BUT. If one of you talented lot can change our opinions with an interesting and unique take on the track you never know, we may decide to release it

As a band who has such a close relationship with our music and see it progress through every creative process we find that sometimes we fall out of love with songs that original might have been a favorite, so we're not necessarily looking for the "perfect" most radio ready mix but more a mix that takes the song in a new direction, so this challenge really is for all abilities as it's more about being creative rather than being correct.

For reference tracks, please also take a listen to:
Anteros - Full Moon
The 1975 - Talk!



(more technical details in the Mix Pack bundled TXTs)

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

This month, we're having a straight forward Indie Pop production, with some interesting vocal tracks to work with. Some of which I'd use known "pop vocals" mix tricks to make them even more larger than life. I think among the most difficult part will be to fit the "low pitched voice" into the whole production.

The guitar sound is "committed". That means, we don't have access to DI tracks. You have to work with what has been given to you.

The drums also feature overdubs for additional tom tracks. In certain places of the song, this is for added effect. That is a new challenge we haven't encountered so far.

Else... the provided demo mix is as bare-bone as it can get. It is up to you and your creativity what you make out of it.

Have fun!

Please also consult the TXT files that are bundled in the source files package below. There you can find more information about the individual files and changes to the time signature.

Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:

• try to create a mix that complements this production (in your own style)
• Clean / Alternative versions can be used if you need more flexibility over a certain sound (if present for this production)
• make the best out of the provided audio material (EQ, compression, transient tools, etc), no "drum sample triggering / replacement"!
• summing bus processing is allowed, as long as the dynamic range (average signal strength to maximum signal strength) doesn't suffer - artistic use only!
• the focus of this game is "mixing" - NO MASTERING
• provide the edited material in the same sampling rate and bitrate as originally provided
• ADD-ON RULES - PRODUCTION RELATED:
  • no special add-on rules

Please consult the official Rules and Guidelines for a more detailed set of rules. Failing to adhere to the rules will result in instant disqualification


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Source Files:

Main Mix Package - Mirror on the Mix Challenge Homepage (554,26 MB, LZMA compressed, zip)
IMPORTANT NOTE: file unavailable after 21-JUL-2020


The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 1431,80 MB, packed 554,26 MB (ZIP, LZMA)
In order to extract the files, we can recommend these programs:

Macintosh:
The Unarchiver - get it here
Keka (open source) - get it here

Windows:
7zip - Installation / Portable


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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Mix Challenge - Gossip and Discussion

If you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months:
Please consider supporting us

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for Mix Challenge participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



Acon Digital is kind enough give away a single plugin of winner's choice
License will turn into NFR
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.com



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of T-RackS ONE to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.com



Metric Halo is kind enough to give away a single plugin of winner's choice
License will turn into NFR
More info about Metric Halo: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/



NOS Audio is kind enough give away one license of NOS Roomer to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on NOS Audio: http://www.nosaudio.com/



Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of Ultraspace to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



THANKS FOR THE LICENSE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on mix plugins, bundles and the likes), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account or Facebook Page

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

[cartersandersmusic]

Hi sorry, where do we post the Google Drive Link?

[Dodgingrain]

Great song! There's a lot to work with here.

[Franz]

Hi all,

Excellent title this month. The ideal conditions to achieve a mix with tracks without
problems and especially an original mix of the title which was not -for once- MASTERIZED.

There is therefore all the potential for a personal expression since this avoids the conscious or
unconscious temptation to generally imitate the master proposed by the songprovider.

The principle of the work is always the same: group the tracks by section, make the sub-groups
and joyfully mix everything.

Mixed with Samplitude Pro X5 and all of the usual plugins.

The main interest is to know what sound color to give to the mix,which musical orientation
to choose and to respect the general idea that the group wanted to give - or wants to give - for this title.

Thank you Sam Pierpoint and Mister Fox for this great challenge!

And good luck to everyone.

Cheers

Franz

the mix is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ax57ut3wuq2e9 ... z.wav?dl=0

[filipandrei]

Hello all,

Thanks for the multitracks, great song to mix and listen to

What i did:
Drums:
Processed Kick / Snare / Toms and the rest on separate mix buses, with Snare bus having a send reverb and a bit of parallel distortion, and also using parallel compression for each bus. I've also automated the snare distortion on choruses, just to lift a bit the overall dynamics
For EQ I've used SSL E-Channel and Scheps 73 from Waves Suite

Bass:
A bit of LA-2A compression and EQ using Pulltech EQ

Guitars:
No individual EQ-ing made, just bus them altogether and process them all with a bit of EQ using MaaG-EQ4 and bit of compression

Synths and Keys:
Same as on guitars, but without the bus processing, just using an overall parallel compression just to fit in the mix

Vocals:
I'm always using parallel compression for an overall mix, and adding sends to some Little Plate reverb and EchoBoy delays.
Main Lead Vocal has a LA-2A compression for evening the parts

BVs
The processing is the same as vocals tracks, but with different amount of verb and delays

MC067_Paint_Me_In_Colour_Me_Without_You_filipandrei

[Mister Fox]

Hi sorry, where do we post the Google Drive Link?

Please take note all previous Mix(ing) Challenges, and also how some participants have posted their entries so far.

You basically link your edit in this thread, with given basic documentation. Then wait for what happens at the end of Mix Round 1.


Please also check in again with the official Rules and Guidelines.

[alavault]

Hello everybody,

Thanks for this song, really a fun piece of music.

The mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/144MMu1 ... sp=sharing

The processing so far :

Drums:
All tracks seperated into busses : Kick, Snare, Toms, Cymbals and Room

• Kick : 60 + 5k to get some thumpy low end and high end snap. Slight compression for punch. Gated.
• Snare : Heavy gating and processing : lots of 200 and 8k. Smashed into a compressor with mix@50%
• Toms : Reduction of 400 to 1k. 5k for snap
• OH : reduction of 3-4k highpass at 500
• Room : Highpass the kick (@150), dip at 500, lowpass at 8k. Upward compression sidechained to the snare (for "unburying" the said snare)
• Parallel Compression : smashed. Added 60 and 8k afterwards
• Reverbs : Short room on kick,snare, and toms. Medium on room and snare (sometimes).

Bass:

• Parallel distortion (Sansamp style) into BassProfessor
• Slight chorus.

Guitars:

• Highpassing at 100 on low guitars, up to 400 on the funky riff and clean delayed GTR
• Parallel EQ (low and high, no mids) to bring the package forward
• Further distortion on distorted guitars for "bite"

Synths and Keys:

• Lots of 10k and above.
• Violent highpassing (400-ish) everywhere. Infected mushroom Wider to get them out of the way stereo-wise.

Vocals:

• AW Channel7 (for colour) into 1176 into multiband compressor (for "flatness").
• On the bus, added a lot of 20k (luftikus) and a reduced 2.5k. Wider for...widening.
• Parallel compression : 1176 all-buttons in style.
• Delay : Ducking delay, synced on 1/4 notes
• Reverb : 480L plate reverb IR

BVs
Same as the main vocals, without the parallel compression. Sent into a dual-mono long delay for ambiance.

Misc :

• Too much automation
• Reverb are all IRs, not algorithmic reverb
• Cassette players noises because I can

[E.C.Miraldo]

Hello everyone!

It was my first time participating on your challenge! I had a lot of fun!
Said that I hope i got everything about the rules right!

mix link:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c87Vwq ... sp=sharing

Before i go into a little bit more detail on what I did, I'd like to say I am not a big fan of compression or eighter those "vintage" plug-ins. I like when the sound has the dynamic and I mostly look to picture where i want to go in a mix and then make it happen.

So... I've only used 3 compressors, ReaXcomp(reaper's native compressor) on the drum bus, on the main vocals and on the vocals bus.

My process was a little bit uncommon.
I started processing the toms and the tom dubs as I wanted them to hit, to grab the listener's attention. Only after that I started working on the other drum channels.
Then I switched a lot between the guittars, the synths and the vocals just eq'ing that which I thought the mix was lacking.

Drums:
Compressor on the drum bus.
Loud and attention grabbing toms.
Reversed the polarity on one of the snare channels.

Bass:
Blended it with the kick so it feels like the kick is part of the bass's attack.

Guittars:
Individual EQ on every track, gave a lot of importance to the crunch 1/2 tracks as they provide most of the body of the song, while trying to maintain some of the tone of their distortion.

Synths:
Individual EQ on every track, pretty straight forward. Nothing crazy here, just maintaining their ambience and general emotion.
Automated the lead keys volume to make it more blended with the song on all of their parts.

Vocals:
lead vocal: EQ, compressor, de-esser with a large low-pass Q factor to take that sibilance out, also used a dynamic EQ for the same reason.
Blended low LV and crunch with main one to make it larger and fuller, but without compromissing the beautiful voice the singer has.

Lastly:
Added a reverb channel that receives from Drum toms, snare and lead vocal track exclusively.
Then i automated the overal volume of the lead vocal throughout the track as well as the send volume to the reverb.


Hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoyed working on it!


EDIT: Re-uploading link

[paglia]

Hi everyone

The mantra of this challenge is "distort everything".
I did this following the inspiration given by the distorted voice track found in the project. So I used distortion or clipper on almost all stems.

Kick: Bx ssl e
Snare: Bx ssl e
Hi Hat: eq
OH: Uad Neve 88Rs
Crunch: uad 1176+eq
Stereo Room: eq
Drum Bus: Uad Studer+Venn Audio Clipper+Uad Manley Massive Passive
Bass: Uad 1176+SansAmp+Waves R Bass
Vox: Decapitator+Uad 1176+Uad Manley Vox Box
Nothing special on guitars and keyboards
Pan, reverb and delay of course.


Wav:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4pc3hrnv25sk ... o.wav?dl=0

Mp3:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6anbg2vm79jj ... o.mp3?dl=0