MIX CHALLENGE - MC075 April 2021 - Winners announced

[Dodgingrain]

mix: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrkLpai35 ... w?e=p3Kzg8

Alrighty, I went for the feeling of being at a live play or musical with actors on stage, etc. It was the vibe the song gave me. Most of the work was around volume automation. Many of the tracks were pretty close as is and they didn't need heavy treatment. I used softube British console emulation which limited some things like the frequencies I could high pass the tracks with, the compressor also seemed to give some thickness to the tracks without triggering actual compression which was nice.

Drums: Not to much here, some distortion on the kick/s via Omega TWK to give them a bit more impact. I did the usual where I treat the kicks separately from the rest of the drum tracks. The kicks get their own compression and are triggering a small amount ducking on the basses. The rest of the drums are parallel compressed via dbx160. There is some automation and eq added here and there in the drums as well.

Basses: Again, not a lot here, added some saturation to bass stem 03 and the juno bass to give them just a little more bite. The bass tracks are mono below about 140hz and have some widening above that.

Keys: Decent amount of reverb on most of these to contrast with the vocals. Besides the reverb, some eq, and chorus on the string stems there isn't to much here either. Was going for the feeling of supporting actors on stage. In a few spots there is some general volume automation for emotional impact.

Guitars: just a bit of eq, reverb, and some doubles with different eq settings to create a small amount of width on these. Most of the eq settings are to remove some of the low end or create a bit of width with phasing.

Vocals: Lead vocal tracks have de-essing done via melodyne but I didn't do any pitch correction. Also a fair amount of eq to brighten them up and a little bit of dynamic eq to pull out some of the lows down around 100-200hz in a few spots where it feels a bit to much. The vocals go to an add track for parallel compression, a bit of high end pop style boost, slap delay, 1/8 and 1/4 delays and a 1/2 delay right around 1:55. Other than that the background vocals have some eq and volume automation for impact, there also is some panning automation to help with the separation on the different parts.

[alavault]

Hi,
Mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GN1EZF ... sp=sharing
Acoustic guitars : Eq + LA3a into short verb + 1/4 delay, parallel GTR comp
Clean GTR : EQ + limiter + chorus, short verb, 1/8D delay + stereo delay, parallel GTR omp
Basses : Alignement + amp emulation, Multiband-EQ-Limiter, short verb + flanger, parallel comp 1
Vox : eq-1176-LA2a-limiter, short verb + plate, 1/4 & 1/2 delay, vocal parallel comp
Synth and keys : EQ + sprinkle of fx here and there.
Drums : EQ-comp, 20ms delay on room for "size".
The rest (applause etc...) : sent into long verb.
Master Bus : SSL comp-Pultec
Automation : yes

[RodA]

I think this is the most thorough documentation we had to date.

Also - quite interesting how you decided to treat the kick/snare/percussion section as one, and the rest of the Drum Kit as an individual section.

Also interesting how you "strip-silenced" the parts, and some parts look nudged (could be Logic's "project view" window with the strip-silenced clips).

And just out of pure interest... which Logic Bass Amp did you use? One of the Ampeg ones, or the Fender Bassman 300 type? (I really like this plugin suite in Logic - which is why I stocked up on my Amplitube 4 collection to get similar/the same amps).

In terms of the kick and percussion I wanted to keep the stomps separate just because I felt it was an important element and I didn't want it to impact anything I might put on a drum buss.(Ultimately I didn't have any drum buss anyway). I always tend to think of the kick and bass together because they take so much head room. If you get that low end right all the higher levels can flow from that.

The strip silence is just a visual aid for me on a large project where I'm so often zoomed out beyond the point of being able to see waveforms. Just looking at a big wall of regions makes it much harder to follow what's coming in and out.

I've nudged a couple of points in some doubled parts just to aligned a pluck or vocal 'T' or 'S' sibilance sound in the vocal (no arrangement changes). A lot of other cuts to regions are region gain adjustments.

This is the amp on the bass and settings
https://www.dropbox.com/s/blkih6i1qg52v ... m.png?dl=0

Cheers and thanks for all the work on these challenges,
RodA

[Mister Fox]

Interesting... thanks for the explanation, @RodA.

You did separate out some parts of the Abbey Road Drum Set and put it into the percussion category. Knowing how Logic works, I was just confused. Especially looking at the color coding/track arrangement.


Also... you used the SVT VR(-ish) Model from Logic Pro... nice.

A bit of an OT moment: As Windows user, Bass Amp Designer's "Modern" amp made me actually pick up Amplitube 4's "Fender Collection 1", because of the Bassmann 300 Bass Amp (plus the TBP-1 and actually the '59 Bassman LTD -- which to me, sounds close to a Blues Deville, which I had the fortune to use at my environment once - damn loud beast though). Even though the actual model that Apple based the "Modern Amp" on, is a Mesa/Boogie 400+. Which funny enough, is in Line6 Helix Native. But I've got both suites, and they greatly compliment each other.



Anyway - back to "Mix Round 1" - keep the entries coming, everyone

[studjo]

Hi,
Mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GN1EZF ... sp=sharing
Acoustic guitars : Eq + LA3a into short verb + 1/4 delay, parallel GTR comp
Clean GTR : EQ + limiter + chorus, short verb, 1/8D delay + stereo delay, parallel GTR omp
Basses : Alignement + amp emulation, Multiband-EQ-Limiter, short verb + flanger, parallel comp 1
Vox : eq-1176-LA2a-limiter, short verb + plate, 1/4 & 1/2 delay, vocal parallel comp
Synth and keys : EQ + sprinkle of fx here and there.
Drums : EQ-comp, 20ms delay on room for "size".
The rest (applause etc...) : sent into long verb.
Master Bus : SSL comp-Pultec
Automation : yes

Great mix - I really like the Bass sound and how the choir kicks in! I'd prefer the drums a bit dryer but that's a taste thing - I might go for a dry sound too much myself ...
I think I hear the SSL comp on the Master and really like it! There's a reason why everybody got one of those running on the 2bus. Great Mix Alavault!

[loger]

Hi everyone
This is my mix
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Htkq1V ... sp=sharing

I mainly use saturation and parallel processing.

The parallel work was the reverb, I used 5 reverb

compression for the guitars and vocals.

And finally parallel distortion for the drums.

Saturation for vocals and guitars and a bit of eq

ssl bus compressor on the master. I think that's all. If you have any critics don't hesitate, i'm young and i have a lot to learn.

Have a nice day.

[dadomachado]

Hi Everyone,

Follows my mix:

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

This was a very fun song to work on. Lot of tracks and awesome vibe. I've spent a lot of time with the static mix, just getting levels and panning right. Then we idi some work on the tracks as I've separated them in busses:

Drums
Went with brainworx SSL console on all of them with extra EQ moves using PuigTec EQ from Waves. Sent some elements to a Room Reverb (Verbsuite). Also, some compression on the room track (API-2500)

Percussuion
Also went with SSL Console with some EQ on the tracks. Also sent some of them into the room reverb.

Bass
Just some EQ moves with the SSL console. Added some paralel distortion on the mid high frequencies using Saturn 2 to the main bass track.

Eletric Guitar
Just som EQ on the SSL Console and sent a little to the room reverb.

Acoustic guitars
Went with the Lindell 80 channel strip to give them some air. Also sent the to the room reverb.

Keys
Just EQ on the SSL Console.

Lead Vox tracks
I have use them Scheps Omni channel on them to make them stand out. Just EQ and light copression. Sent the main vocal track to a SLAP delay, to a room delay (RVERB) and to two different delays (1/4 and 1/8). Sent the delays into the room reverb. Did some light tuning on the vocal tracks using melodyne.

BG Vox
Used the SSL console for some EQ moves and sent them to a Plate Reverb (Seveneth Heaven). Also did a little tunning using melodyne.

Busses
Added the consoles just for small eq moves and light compression

Master Bus
SSL Console of a little glue, SSLComp for a DB of GR. Added the bx_2098 EQ to take out some of the high end and make the low end mono (below 60Hz). Also added a the LinMB to add some movement.

I hope you all like it and look forward to some feedback on it.

Cheers,
dadomachado

[loger]

knock knock

[Hiwatter]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_zC7pg ... sp=sharing

Mixed in Waveform 11.5

Lead vocal had 2 opto compressors in series, with some slight scoop from a Maag EQ4. Reverb was a Bricasti IR. "Saturn" track was untouched and left low, but present. The biggest revelation for vocals being the effect of the reverb pre-delay, this is a great track for experimenting with that. I rode the vocal reverb mix during the song, but the only part it's obvious is during the bridge, which I thought turned out cool. I also ran the volume fader for the whole song as always. Background vocals had light compression and EQ on some tracks, a few untouched, chorus BGV through a bus with Acon Digital Mulitply 'vintage echo' preset with some tweaks.

Bass had a NI VC-160 comp and a IK multiband comp doing some work on the low end to bring out that wonderful top end, minor volume automation. Pianos ran through Vertigo VSM2 for some harmonics, light spread on the top end with IK quad image, light reverb, volume automation, EQ. Other tracks just had normal EQ, comp, and volume/pan automation moves.

Drums (kick and snare) were bussed to a track with STA Enhancer just adding some excitement. The snare track had a IK Black channel strip, with the gate which was mainly used to turn the kick bleed into a nice attack that went very well with the track and allowed me to boost the low end of the snare quite a bit then compress slightly, into a Boz +10db for more light flavor compression. Kick had Frontier D16-CM adding some sustain. Hi hats were left alone. In a surprise for me, both cymbal/overhead tracks were somewhat squashed (IK black 76 and Frontier D16). I normally never do that, but the way those tracks were recorded made it perfect, on the D16 one I rolled of some top end with a shelf. I love the cymbal sounds here, although the crash cymbal track was slightly pitched down.

Master bus has SPL Iron, IK master EQ-432, Softube Tape into about 2dB of the Velo2 limiter (that many of us probably now have), all doing light work alone, but as you know doing pretty heavy work on the mix when combined. A huge factor with this mix was riding the master fader into the master bus, really keeping the energy but also making the dynamic range sound more like a record to me. It's tough to try to summarize a mix. I'm pretty happy with it, but would love to hear your comments/criticisms/questions.

[Square]

Hi just listenned through @Dodgingrain . The bass has some good tone and the low mids sound nice. Also when the megalomania part comes in it sounds really strong and the frequency range is nice and full.

Your main VOX are too bright tho. Theres something sticking out in the nasaly range that is a bit piercing on the ears. Maybe a stronger Deesser or a bit less EQ on the top end?

But again it sounds like a frequency inbalance as your lower tones are nicer and there are also some cool effects in there.

Good luck!

Square