MIX CHALLENGE - MC088 October 2022 - Winners announced

[studio equator]

Ciao @EatMe and grazie for taking your time to listen and give us feedbacks

I think I understand what you referring to in your feedback post and I’ll hopefully figure it out a way to unmask the high mids
I’ll take the time to write a little bit more about the mix too!

ciaociao and seeU soon!

[andreybenassi]

Thanks @EatMe for the feedback!

It's actually strange, I dont hear any click plop/click here, I'm wondering what could be happened
Since you didn't ask for a recall request, I just exported the song again and listened to the end to see if I hear any clicks or pops.

i hope i fixed it

My Mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kgepou ... sp=sharing

[EatMe]

i hope i fixed it

Yes sir, you did fix the plops/clicks.

Thank you very much. You have done a (redacted for the excitement, more details later) mix.

I'm not revealing more details until Round 2 is over..

"I'll be back!"

[PistolPete]

@EatMe , Thank you for choosing me to go to round 2. I really was excited that I was picked because I rushed my round 1 entry and didn't have time to perfect it and finish cleaning up automation and such so this gave me much more time to finish the mix, clean things up and with your added feedback allowed me to address certain perspectives of the mix. So thank you for the 2nd round opportunity to tune things and I hope you like it!

This actually is my 1st EDM type mix I've ever done so really hope my Round 2 entry is good enough This is also my 1st time making it to Round 2 so pretty stoked!

Heres what you wrote:

MC088__EatMe__Shift_PistolPete
The track seems to have been limited, not too much, to good use.
The kick drum is missing at the part from 161 seconds off where it's really long without the kick drum.
The lower bass synth could have a little more pronouciation in the mid.
Speaker listening: good
Headphone listening: good, but I'm missing a little impact on the snare drum on headphones,
the snare drum does not have an initial plop or louder strike moment on headphones.

• I removed the limiter on the main stereo bus as I wasn't clipping or peaking so it really wasn't needed and this opened up the mix quite a bit more.
  
  The Kick Drum I really spend a lot of time on, since I grew up in Chicagoland, and know how the kick really is what drives a lot of the energy, I wanted to really get the Kick to pump through the mix. I added a few side chain compressors on the channels which had frequencies in the low-mids and used them to duck the kick to help the kick pump more. I also added MBass which is a bass harmonics enhancer to the kick channels to help boost the low-mids and help push that energy out without adding too much more low end. I also created a AUX FX send for each kick track and send them to Blackbox distortion to help add extra grit and then used Waves S1 to drive the energy almost mono on the AUX bus.
  
  The entire mix I cleaned up my automation. On R1 entry I was rushed so some of the volume automation was very choppy and at times was abrupt right during certain notes and sections so I cleaned up the automation a lot. All non-percussion tracks have automation (volume and panning) to help create the build ups to the transitions, as well as help "battle" rival instrument tracks so instead of playing at the same time and volume they rival each other and "pump" to clear up the battle for like frequecies.
  
  ]The Lower bass synth I really slightly changed the sound a bit to fit better in the mix by boosting a lot of the low-mids and slightly cutting some of the low sub bass to help it sit better in the mix.
  
  I also used a new "pink noise" technique which I was trying out on this mix to balance the overall track volumes prior to bouncing/mixing down to a stereo track to help make sure that all of the frequencies were at "similar" perceived volume. Its actually a really cool trick I just read about and seems to help a lot for me, since I am working out of junky headphones and 20 year old cheap monitors in an unbalanced/treated room.

As always, thanks to @MisterFox for putting on this contest and thank you @EatMe for supplying the music for this contest.

**Also, I corrected the missing "_" in my track title

I hope you all like my mix feedback is always welcome from forum members too

Title;Statistics - "MC088__EatMe__Shift__PistolPete__R2"
Date;Sunday, October 30, 2022
Loudness_Value;-18.59 LUFS
Loudness_Range;3.25 LU
Max_True_Peak_Level;-2.09 dBTP
Max_Momentary_Loudness;-16.34 LUFS
Max_Short_Term_Loudness;-17.24 LUFS
Sample Rate;48.000 kHz
Average RMS (AES-17) Left;-18.03 dB
Average RMS (AES-17) Right;-18.04 dB
Max. RMS Left;-15.72 dB
Max. RMS Right;-15.77 dB
Max. RMS;-15.72 dB
True Peak Left;-2.09 dB
True Peak Right;-2.68 dB
DC Offset Left;-oo dB
DC Offset Right;-oo dB
Bit Depth Left;24 bit
Bit Depth Right;24 bit

Here is my R2 Mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1opXmwY ... sp=sharing

[rvalle]

Thank you @EatMe for choosing my mix to round 2 and for your feedback!

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

I fixed the ducking on accents on the timbres related.
I also correct the tremolo effect. It was caused by Lo Fi Af, on a random behavior.
I took the opportunity to correct the low end, in wich I have had used some compression that caused a lack of definition.
Track was not limited. The oxide tape emulator also compress the signal when it is overload. I also improved that in round 2 version.

I hope the mix is better. Thanks for the opportunity. Good luck you all.

[alavault]

Hello!
Wasn't expecting to get into round 2. Thanks!
Anyway, back to the drawing board with automation and finding if the problems come from the tracks or the parallel processors.
Less FX (-2dB or so)
Intro Kick has its distortion disabled, for the intro. Creeps back in after the first sub enter (0:30 or so)
Rework the transitions at 1:00 and 4:00

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cHWB4Q ... share_link

[doobop]

Hi @EatMe thanks for the feedback and for choosing my mix for round 2.

I’ve brought up the level of the open hihat, for sure its sounds better now to me with fresher ears this time, worked on the snare to be present all the time and put some reverb on it.
About the latest kick drum I’ve brought down the level of the last hit not the last section, I hope I understood you correct.

Now for the closed hihat that sounds replaced lo-fi, I haven’t replaced or sampled anything (I never do that, I’m against that), maybe it sounds like that because I’ve used wrong EQ.

Now with fresh ears I’ve discovered that there was a frequency battle between some elements so I decide to play a little with the low end of some instruments. Now I think the bass, kicks, hi hats, snare and the “solo” synth are tighter and the whole mix sounds better. Hope you like it!

Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zg2curt3ndpsl ... 2.wav?dl=0

Cheers,
Doobop

[studio equator]

here is my revision!

So, your production (@EatMe) was already in a super good spot in regard to dynamic range:
-> the use of compression was very limited and mostly with shaping/glueing purpose in mind (notable examples: subgroup for the two snares sounds and another for when the 2 kicks hit together).
-> No I did'nt use any limiter anywhere, didn't feel the mixing need any limiting or clipping at this stage. But you were right, all the synths (but not the lead) and keys were sidechained by the Lead synth itself and also some automation were used to bring the lead in front; and viceversa give back space and room to the others instruments when the lead's theme finishes. So that's the cause of that "limiter effect" I guess.

Most of the work was done with eqs, instruments placement in the stereo field and automation, since there were a lot of conflicting and fighting sounds.

For this revision I revisited the Kick and Snare eqs, as well as cleaned a little bit more all keys and synths frequencies to unmask them a little bit more.
Also I reduced by a touch the sidechain from the lead S.
Again I was also considering the mono translation while making changes.

The sbus is using some subtractive eq and parallel compression to make the track pump a little bit.

again, hope the link works
ciaciao

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yd1005jv81oou ... 2.wav?dl=0

[maxovrdrive]

Here is my revision 2 mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZDeuF5 ... share_link

MC088__EatMe__Shift__maxovrdrive
Very good work on creatively effecting the tracks just a little.
The balance of all the synth tracks in the mix is splendid.
The swing kept at around 360 seconds in the synth tracks is great.
Speaker listening: good
Headphone listening: The ?distorted flanger? on the bass in the intro sounds a bit overdone.
The kick drum is a bit loud on headphones and peaks above the average level.

I hope I addressed the issues mentioned.
I automated a low-pass filter on that "distorted flanger" so it doesn't become intrusive in the beginning. I used the automation to further build the transition into some sections.

Regarding the kick... I lowered it but added punch. I also tightened the low-end a bit more.

Thank you @EatMe for providing the opportunity to further our craft and of course @Mister Fox for keeping this all together.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your edit for Mix Round 2.

So far, we have 8 out of 15 entries.