MIX CHALLENGE - MC075 April 2021 - Winners announced

[Square]

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

There is some really good stuff in here, the vocal tone is really quite nice. The choir samples come through beautifully. The Stereo mixing on the bass is an interesting take, you can really here it at the edges of the mix. There is a nice build up towards the end, with some nice reverb effects there. And your rhodes sounds nice and stylish.

The bass does kind of dominate the mix in a way that adds a bit too much roominess tho, verb, gain, or possibly the stereo effect needs brought back to the middle to calm it down. And its a shame becuase i can hear the good tones for the higher frequency instruments behind the bass, but it just swallows the cutting through of the rest (1:03 is an example that sticks out). It seems that at certain times it may be hitting your 2buss so hard that it is compressing everything down too far. Also the reverbs, tho many are VERY nice, there are times for example, 1:55-2:05 kind of cover the vocals and push them to the back where its a bit hard to hear them, although the space created is quite nice, it does take away from the clarity.

I think this is relatively easy to fix tho, and that the mix is really quite nice, especially if the blanket was lifted off.

Hope that helps,

Good luck,

Square

[Square]

Hi, Tried to listen to the mix, but its not accessible.

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.

[loger]

Hmmm i don't see the problem, i try with an other device with a different google account and without account it work for me.
anyone else have this problem with my link?

[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

There is some really good stuff in here, the vocal tone is really quite nice. The choir samples come through beautifully. The Stereo mixing on the bass is an interesting take, you can really here it at the edges of the mix. There is a nice build up towards the end, with some nice reverb effects there. And your rhodes sounds nice and stylish.

The bass does kind of dominate the mix in a way that adds a bit too much roominess tho, verb, gain, or possibly the stereo effect needs brought back to the middle to calm it down. And its a shame becuase i can hear the good tones for the higher frequency instruments behind the bass, but it just swallows the cutting through of the rest (1:03 is an example that sticks out). It seems that at certain times it may be hitting your 2buss so hard that it is compressing everything down too far. Also the reverbs, tho many are VERY nice, there are times for example, 1:55-2:05 kind of cover the vocals and push them to the back where its a bit hard to hear them, although the space created is quite nice, it does take away from the clarity.

I think this is relatively easy to fix tho, and that the mix is really quite nice, especially if the blanket was lifted off.

Hope that helps,

Good luck,

Square

Hello @square !

Thanks for taking the time to write a review on my mix !

For the bass you are right. But still, bass players need love (and stereo) too xD.
Oddly enough, reducing the flanger on the bass was a feedback I've already received (during MC071).

For the rhodes :

• The verse rhodes has shelves at 300 and 5k, and bell at 3k into a limiter
• The chorus rhodes has a shelf at 1.5k with +15dB into SSL channel strip limiter with slow attack, fast release.

The effects are the short room and a 125ms slapback (~15ips slap). I wanted to give some kind of close room sound.

For the 1:55-2:05 interval, the reason is again "simple" : I have a VCA group of the reverbs & FX. And it rises through the songs. At this moment, the reverb are pushed too loud, pushing the vox back. In other words, I f*ed up my automation.

As a side note, the reverb pre-delay I used are the one you can found in the PCM60 manual. Except for the plate which has 135ms of predelay. If might give ideas for some people. Maybe .

Thank you again and good luck !

alavault

[Frequency Painter]

Hi Endicott, everyone,

This is my 'painting'. If understood it correctly, this song is a journey into sound, with little pockets of surprising contrasts. I did my best to add some ear candy to support the lyrics. I realise there is a fine line between making things more interesting and overkill. It depends on taste. Please let me know if something is not to your liking. I found the 70's approach a challenge but at the same time very fulfilling. All the creative effects I used are the ones only available then: chorus, flanger, plate reverbs, saturation/distortion, EQ, tape delays, creative use of tape machines. I kept the backbone of the original mix and added my "sauce". As instructed, the lead vocal is the main element, a story telling "instrument". Therefore, the flavours go from eerlily dry and upfront, to heavily EQed and very 60-70ies wet. This mix works best on speakers, front to back elements are heard better.

The mix:

- I started with rendering all tracks with a tape and preamp simulations. I did this to save CPU, otherwise computer says no :-)

- Drums are basically just balanced with some additional (rather heavy) "tube" saturation and a little EQ (cutting the low mids a bit) on the drum buss. FX = chamber. At the end I added a filtered delay to match and continue the groove of the synth delay.

- The stomps/claps. I copied the tracks several times and I mixed in some extra "boots/shoes/feet" with a heavy EQ boost @ 500 Hz, short delays and a dark room reverb. I bounced these tracks and then randomly shifted the timing to make every stomp a bit different. I also added a transient designer to add some impact. The claps are as given with some EQ and a long automated reverb. I side-chained the "boots" to the mid channel of the choir buss compressor (about 3 dB of ducking) to give them more impact/space in the mix when the chorus hits. I also added a clipper to the stomp/clap buss to increase impact.

- For the bass I wanted something reminiscent of the era: a round and full sound. I used an ampsim for that. In some parts I added a chorus. There is no compression, I automated the levels where needed. Additional EQ came from a Neve 1073 based emulation with a small boost @ 350 Hz.
- The acoustic guitars got some low level compression, and some corrective EQ in the low mids (resonances).

- The electric guitar stayed the same (=sound of the tape and preamp)

- E. Piano and the other synths basically the same as electric guitar. Here and there I used some corrective EQ, mostly in the low mids. Fx = a chamber and plate reverb. To the "Solina" string like pad I added an old 70ies plate and I automated this reverb to swell with the flow of the music.

- Acoustic piano: I phase corrected the L&R channel giving it a bit more width and transparency. It got an "old tube" flavour and some corrective EQ (low mids scoop and cut resonances @ 155, 2000, 2500). I also added a multi-band compressor to soften the mechanical nature of the performance and to give it a bit more liveliness. In the "I listen to my own voice" part, I added some tape wobble and EQ to create an interesting and completely different ambience.

- The lead vocal was pretty straight forward with just some Sooth to soften it and an EQ boost @ 15k. Some extra saturation and compression. FX (automated) BBD delay, tape echo, chorus, a long reverb and a flanger. The heavily EQed part was done with a microphone sim using a vintage mic.

- The voice FX tracks were just automated to give them more flow. Sometimes I added a plate reverb to increase the dramatic effect/depth.

- The Choir (chorus) : some dolby tape encoding FX, a plate reverb and a micro pitch shifter. I also filtered out your some nasty resonances.

Mix buss: correctiveEQ, a Channel Strip with a high (20K) and low (60) boost, a cut @ 2500 and a tiny cut @ 300 Hz, tapesim. Because of the dynamic nature of the arrangement, I decided to only use some parallel compression.

This is basically it, except for the automation, there's a lot under the hood which is difficult to explain here but self-explanatory when you listen. If something is not clear, please let me know.

Thanks for listening and I hope there is enough megalomania in this mix ;-). Good luck to all!

My best,
FP

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mld0vng2o9t31 ... r.wav?dl=0

[javiramallo]

Hi friends.

Thanks to Endicott and Mr. Fox for doing this possible.

Here is my Mix >>> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d-KIqF ... sp=sharing

My feeling is that I couldn't get a really good sound, but it's the best I could, so that's it.

I spent a lot of time organizing this large number of tracks in order to mentally understand the evolution of all the elements.

In this case, as a test, I have inserted a BRITSON by sonimus in all the channels looking for that little creamy nuance that analog equipment is supposed to be.
Hard to say if this has given a beneficial result or not, honestly.

In the voices, the work has been, above all, leveling. getting them to flow with nature has not been easy, but I have tried.

In terms of process, nothing special. Some EQ, COMP and REVERB, all without excesses trying to maintain a feeling of naturalness.
I am a REAPER user.
I mostly use eq TDR NOVA for almost everything.
Regarding compression: I usually use the Reaper Stock or "Vertigo VSC"
As for the reverb. I use REAPER's stock convolution plugin and some IRs that I usually use.

As for the DRUM. Hard to get a strong and full drum sound for me. I tried it by pushing the BRISTON to the limit to saturation on the snare and kick channels.
I also used the OOHH and ROOM channels a lot to try to get some consistency.

In terms of process, also something normal, eq, comp some reverb and some simple transient processes like SPL's ATTACKER.

I did little work on percussion since it seemed to me that in most cases the sounds that appear sound good as they are.
I just used some eq and reverb, nothing else.

On the bass, I used the "Ampeg B15N by PA" AMP.

In acoustic guitars, for me the most important thing was to place them correctly in the stereo image to get an open feeling.
Process wise, nothing spatial, just some EQ and comp. nothing else.

About the jungle of keys I can only say that the biggest job for me has been trying to understand how the different arrangements were flowing.

The process of this section has been reduced to leveling above all, and some eq and comp to sculpt timbrically how these elements will fit into the mix.

I have to say that whenever I have needed some extra HIghEND on a track I have used the "MAAG EQ4" plugin.

As for the control of some wheezing I have used "Sibalance by TB".


Finally, in the master:
A linear phase high pass filter at 45Hz
Some soft multiband compression.
Both processes carried out using REAPER's Stock PLugis.
and, at the end of that string, "Masterdesk by BX" does almost nothing.


I hope you like in anyway.

Cheers to everyone.

Javiramallo.

[bluesation]

As in many previous challenges too much tracks. I deal with only max. 50 recorded tracks in a mixing session. So I combined the back vox and the stomp tracks. In their own session basic treatments were done, like a HPF, panning, soft Equing, where needed, and a compressor at the master track.

This song reminded me to some popular Queen songs. I like Queen a lot. A more modern late 70ies, early 80ies Queen sound was my goal. This means it is not much work needed. All in all I did some basic Eqing, like cut lows to remove rumple, eliminate some unwanted frequencies from some instruments.

The drums went in 2 reverbs, one Chamber, all parts except the snare. The snare went through a plate reverb. The kick has no reverb, except from room and OH recording tracks. The snare got some more bottom end and a snare buzz via pinknoise and gate. The Reaper gate is one oft the best gates I know, and I tried a lot. This has the pinknoise generator inside, you just need to pull up the level to taste.

All instrument tracks where carefully panned and went through a room reverb. Some like the pianos got some short 8th delay with a short feedback. All delays went through a separate reverb for the delays, for not being that upfront.

The voice has its own reverb, a combination of plate and room. I used both the normal and saturated vox recording tracks. The saturated track is about 6 db less than the normal track.

Here is my result: WAV File

[loger]

As in many previous challenges too much tracks. I deal with only max. 50 recorded tracks in a mixing session. So I combined the back vox and the stomp tracks. In their own session basic treatments were done, like a HPF, panning, soft Equing, where needed, and a compressor at the master track.

This song reminded me to some popular Queen songs. I like Queen a lot. A more modern late 70ies, early 80ies Queen sound was my goal. This means it is not much work needed. All in all I did some basic Eqing, like cut lows to remove rumple, eliminate some unwanted frequencies from some instruments.

The drums went in 2 reverbs, one Chamber, all parts except the snare. The snare went through a plate reverb. The kick has no reverb, except from room and OH recording tracks. The snare got some more bottom end and a snare buzz via pinknoise and gate. The Reaper gate is one oft the best gates I know, and I tried a lot. This has the pinknoise generator inside, you just need to pull up the level to taste.

All instrument tracks where carefully panned and went through a room reverb. Some like the pianos got some short 8th delay with a short feedback. All delays went through a separate reverb for the delays, for not being that upfront.

The voice has its own reverb, a combination of plate and room. I used both the normal and saturated vox recording tracks. The saturated track is about 6 db less than the normal track.

Here is my result: WAV File

Hi, your keys sound unsynchronized and your background vocal sound like you put a ton of phaser or flanger on them. I don't know if this is your goal, but for me that's weird.

[elroms]

Hey everyone!

So thanks a lot to the provider, I think it was the most complex song I had to mix, so it was overall very interesting (especially to get all these voices right)
I wonder how much time it took to produce it, looks like a lot of work! Well done anyways, it is a super creative track in my opinion

Here is my entry:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hi-v0H ... sp=sharing

What I did as usual with the huge number of stems was spend time (around 2 hours) to organize everything by groups and sub groups: all the percussive elements(including 808, all the claps, gongs fingers etc) to one group, the bass and mug bass to another group, and then all the rest of the instrumental elements to a melody group. These 3 big groups (further divided in sub groups) forming the instrumental group, I then managed to regroup all the voice stems, which took time especially for all the different ones singing "Megalomania" and then the other ones responding to that

For the drums, I added a subfilter and compression to make the kick more punchy, and among other stuff a bunch of filters, compressors and limiters on most of the tracks to get more control

Then overall I had to prioritize the elements of the instrumental that made more sense to me. Lots of gain staging, and did my best to level that piano while keeping the natural feeling of it

I did not use the track LV Saturn parallel for the lea voice, but actually used my own parallel saturation with a vintage exciter (gave me more control about the saturation itself) and also added some "large space" reverb on another send bus

Then getting the "megalomania" voices right was tricky, I used almost the same EQ and compressor on every one of the groups singing that part, it was then mainly about getting the right parameters and gain level for each one

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your mix.



@loger
I checked your file - I could access it without problem.