MIX CHALLENGE - MC075 April 2021 - Winners announced

[GmfSongs]

Hello all!

I have so much gratitude to all the participants for their involvement through every round. I do know how much effort is involved in this challenge….

And I want you to know this was a very hard choice. I bet the most creative production move I could make would be to edit together sections of 3 or 4 of these mixes to create one wicked monster!! Haha

You all did an excellent job making revisions. I hope you feel like you significantly improved your mixes, because I definitely think you did.

For your reference - I monitored the mixes on Focal Shape 65 nearfields, Focal Listen headphones, Fiil T1 Pro earbuds, and an iPhone speaker. Your sonics and transients translated wonderfully.

Again, so much thanks and respect for embracing my song. This has been a fantastic learning experience for me and I hope it has been for all of you!

Also, If you have a few minutes - I’d love to hear your reflections of mixing this tune.
What was hard or easy about it? What new skills did you learn doing this, and what advice would you give me….or each other for future projects?

I’m about to head into our beautiful British Columbia mountains for a bit of time - but I’ll be in touch in soon.

Be well!!!

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Mix Challenge Round 3:


#167 Christoph_K

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6hec43lp0ve4a ... 3.wav?dl=0

Intro vocal is a little thick. But warm. The opposite of RodA. Needs a slight 200-400hz bell cut and a ~12-14k maag style shelf boost.
The automation is great.

Each section builds well.

Each section has a ‘feel’

Great vocal harmony blending.
Not breathing much as AndyM

Best use of FX!!!! Just enough ear candy and surprises.

Excellent 70’s drum sound.

There’s a bit of a buildup of reverb in the low mids that’s obscuring the punch. But that’s a mastering issue.

Rich silky chorus vocals. Loud but not harsh.

Very musical mix. Best bridge.
Soundstage not as deep as AndyM

Final fade out is too abrupt.

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#171 RodA

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uhjesbxmgr0dj ... 3.wav?dl=0

Vocal maybe has too much Saturn.
It’s very distinct, in the way it occupies high mid space. Especially in the intro.
Nothing much at the 300-500hz chest weight though. It might have been more effective to ride the Saturn track to suit the surroundings.
Sits much better later on though.

Love this huge deep bass. Awesome powerful entrance.
Very very creative use of DDL. It adds motion and momentum.

Noise on acoustic tracks in flutter section.

Chorus vocals could be wider.
Little less midrangey. Less squashed.
The openness of the verses disappears The tonal emphasis drops a register.

Sonically seems the Eq is overdone in places.
Sections aren’t unified as much as other mixes.

Not quite as polished but damn still very very good. Doesn’t gel quite as well as some others regarding subtle carving of eq space.

70’s drums sound awesome. Chorus drums need more crack & oomph.

Excellent use of effects too. Most creative mix!
4th place.

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#173 AndyM

https://signalflowau-my.sharepoint.com/ ... Q?e=1PvOe8

A darker intro
Verse Vocal is sound sits between Christoph and Rod. Very smooth....

Excellent verse. Big bass. Instruments sit great together.
Beautiful vocal space in harmony with its surroundings.

Very wide chorus. Huge sounding soundstage.
Fantastic vocal blend.

This mix feels like it breathing. Moving. This is a good thing. The dynamics suck you in, as does the use of mix depth. The sounds have great separation due to that use of relative depth.

Chorus drums smash and crack good! Best chorus drums.

70’s Kick a little thin in places. Needs some 60hz sub thump.

Final vocal effect a bit loud.

Best choruses!!! Best outro. Most dynamic mix.

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#175 Frequency Painter

https://www.dropbox.com/s/asro5i9wfh2fp ... 3.wav?dl=0

Heavy piano swamps the voice. Still a bit larger sounding than the jazz bass.

Nice vocal sound. Lack a bit of excitement. Maybe needs a bit more of the Saturn saturation. The ambience feels like a neutral dead room.

Opens up in the chorus though!

Mix doesn’t have the same depth front to back as some other submissions. Bottom heavy.

Crackling @3:00

Nice bass sound. 70’s kit sounds nice but missing some crack. Modulation DDL very cool.

Excellent mix all around but lacking ‘electricity’

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#176 kirurg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j78xy1tx511ya ... 3.wav?dl=0

Very smooth lead vocal sound. Intimate. Sweet eq. Space builds very nicely.
Silky jazz bass hugs the low end, and the effected electric piano sits very well
on top of it. Excellent FX. What processor did you use on it?
Mix sounds unified and has excellent clarity!!

Chorus Vox. Creative panning.
Chorus drums should just bash you upside the head more though.
Chorus synth bass could be deeper/richer & more of a melodic anchor.

Bridge - every element meshing well. Very very musical.

Only thing I’m missing is ear candy. And the chorus drums smash cracking.

Sounds like a pro mix. Very polished. Very well done!!!

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#179 White Punk OD

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

Hiss off top..

Lead vocal just a little boxy around the plosive consonant range. It’s subtle. Remove Mids ~400hz-1k to make it more hi-fi, less smeared, more silky.

Chorus. Loud but open and also well mixed.
Fantastic blend between hi synths and chorus vocals! Very cool.

Kick and bass could feel more locked frequency wise.
Snare needs crack. Sounds
All small things.

Outro piano could drive the rhythm more. It’s a little choked.

I prefer the chorus eq to the verse eq.

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Ok…

1. AndyM
2. Christoph_K
3. kirurg

[Mister Fox]

First and foremost, congratulations to the winners!
Apologies for the late response.

The Winners Podium is
1) @AndyM
2) @Christoph_K
3) @kirurg


We perform with the usual - please select one license out of the pool (in order of the winners podium) and mention it in this thread, then (important) get in touch with me via PM with your full name, email address and your plugin selection. If one company has been selected, it's not available for the rest of the podium anymore.

I'll update the "winners podium" thread shortly.

Thanks again for your participation. You can leave the thread alive if you want to exchange tips/tricks, edits, etc.



Please don't forget the Songwriting Competition - which needs as much love as the Mix(ing) Challenge.

See you on the flipside.

[AndyM]

Thanks for the opportunity for mixing your song.

It certainly gave me a lesson on dynamic mixing to create a mix giving justice to all the buildups. Read quite a few articles from Top mixers on how to Automate to build up the song.

Mixing your song definitely has pushed me out of the realm of Static Mixes.

Thanks for voting me 1.

Enjoy the Mountains!!

THE PLUG I'VE CHOSEN "Acondigitals Restoration Suite"

[White Punk OD]

Big congrats to the winners!

>>What was hard or easy about it? What new skills did you learn doing this, and what advice would you give me….or each other for future projects?

It was very interesting, and the gang vocals sounded great, so I found it just a question of how far you wanted to go, so I invoked one technique after the other, until sufficient. I was not happy with the sound of the acoustic piano, so I took responsibility to change it, and paint something slightly different with the available tracks and snippets.
The drums were a little bit difficult, because I am not that experienced other than with the classic "real" recordings with very many mics to combine.
I didn't do the bass/kick sidechain thing, but I should try, if it glues bass and kick together.

I decided a number of tracks to be my sound anchor tracks, this means I did not EQ them at all until the final tweaks, this kept the sound bright and open. I agree that the verse vocals need another tweak and are a bit boxy, but also I wanted to create a little proximity effect for "intimacy". Dosage was not yet ok, I must get more sensitive in this.

Your remarks were helpful, thanks for that. The information was clear and I could do something about it.

Basically I think the comrades did EQ a bit much. It can sound a bit hollow here.

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Actually I found the mix by AndyM the most interesting, great and balanced overall sound, and very exciting and well conceived effects.
But also I thought, it is a bit on the EDM and "club" side, while I thought it should be a bit more radio and car stereo ready, so I aimed for that direction, which is more straightforward and less playful. That thought is based on the type of content.
With Andy's mix, I thought, the lead vocals sometimes seemed a bit drowned in the very detailed orchestral/keyboard sounds, and the chorus might lift off a bit more aggressively, and the guitars are a bit soft, which is all the same thing between radio and club again. Very high quality with instrumental sounds can perhaps compete the vocal strength too much.
I know a bit about old-style synths, so I am happy to hear that you liked my approach on the chorus.

So, the clear winner is fully accepted and deserved, my remarks are more about myself wondering if you took a more musical decision deliberately, than rather a strategic decision.
Thanks, it was fun and a fair and instructive challenge!

[kirurg]

Hi,
Congratulations @AndyM and @Christoph_K !

@GmfSongs
The tracks were good and the song began to sound almost ready immediately.
Maybe the hardest thing was to accomplish different vibe or mood for different
parts. The FX you asked about for the electric piano was phaser (D16 Fazortan vst)
and a tiny amount of vibrato (Cubase stock plugin).
Thank you for huge job you have made when listening and reviewing.

[Christoph_K]

Thanks @GmfSongs for your efforts and extensive feedbacks! Big congrats to Congrats to @AndyM and @kirurg!

This time I choose MH HaloVerb as a plugin!

Cheers
- Chris