MIX CHALLENGE - MC076 May 2021 - Winners announced

[Blang]

Thanks @Christoph_K once again for the detailed feedback! Do I understand correctly that you want the Ad Lib vocal to serve as a lead when she sings "here we go again"? The "Hey yeah" ad libs are going on while the actual lead vocal is going, so I think I will keep those slightly to the side and not as much lows and highs as a lead. Does that seem like a good way to approach it?

[Frequency Painter]

Hi again Christoph

I adjusted everything to my best abilities. I must say this mix was a bit of a head scratcher for me. Just as a reference, I ran the mix through 2 AI EQs and both called for a boost at about 400-600 Hz (see screenshot). Anyhow, I cleaned up the bass and the guitar at these frequencies. I gave all synths a bit more warmth, maybe they're a bit too loud, maybe not, it's a choice IMHO. Cfr the bass drum, I honestly think that, for this kind of "danceable" mix approach, another sample would be best. But this is not allowed. This only leaves me with thanking you for your enormous effort, much appreciated.

Cheers
FP

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7a7lukk2dfx6a ... 0.wav?dl=0

Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hvzgcigfb8ftf ... 3.png?dl=0

[Christoph_K]

Thanks @Christoph_K once again for the detailed feedback! Do I understand correctly that you want the Ad Lib vocal to serve as a lead when she sings "here we go again"? The "Hey yeah" ad libs are going on while the actual lead vocal is going, so I think I will keep those slightly to the side and not as much lows and highs as a lead. Does that seem like a good way to approach it?

@Blang
The "Hey yeah" can be a little behind the lead vocals due to the overlap. But the "Here we go again" should be the star for 2 seconds

[Christoph_K]

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[Christoph_K]

@Christoph_K grateful for the feedback and the wildcard! I would never give up on this contest! Please forgive me. Unfortunately I thought I was disqualified with the 23bit mix and for that reason I didn't enter the site for all this time. I was very happy to know that it was in its TOP 15 in front of so many professionals. I love working with music and your music is wonderful. I made changes as asked and I hope you like it. Basically I used Console 1 to mix, Ultrachannel, Cla, Iron, SSL, 480 Lexicon...
unpretentiously,
Diego Nery.

https://mega.nz/file/u4AWVZYY#H2CnC60bl ... 2A2oder14E

@diegonerysts
So sad man. I listened to the new version, it's really cool, it definitely would have been a pick for round 3. The BGVs are spot on! Keep on going!

[dnlptn]

Thank you @Christoph_K for the detailed feedback! I've learnt a lot this challenge.

Here is my Rnd 3 entry.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GFC0Do ... sp=sharing

Vocals
- pulled back on the de-essing
-attenuated 2k
- simplified the reverbs, short plate reverb

BGV
- changed levels in the suggested areas. I'm sure this would need to be fine tuned further.

Kick
-transient designer to shorten tighten it up
Snare
-transient designer to very slightly shorten the decay
Bass
-attenuation in the 120-130hz area

Cowbell
- increased level, added more compression

[Blang]

Here is my submission for Round 3:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CnJfIi ... sp=sharing

Below are the adjustments I made:
The ab libs are now taking the spotlight whenever they’re able!
The harshness you mentioned in the verse/pre vocals was primarily on the “ee” vowels at 3.75k. Once you turned me on to that, I got a few other bands and automated some subtle cuts on specific syllables to completely pimp out the vocal. Your self proclaimed OCD seems to be contagious
One immediate thing that struck me when listening to 24K Magic was the focus on just vocals and drums. Less dense, but more groove and punch. Listening to ‘Same’ after that, it seemed a bit busy. I could still hear everything, but well there’s a lot going on, so no wonder it sounds a bit busy. That’s why I tucked the harmonic instruments in slightly. The details of the arrangement are still there, but there’s more groove and clarity now I feel.
To make it even more club worthy, I played the song at full volume and tightened up the low end a bit.

I hope you find the mix that makes you want to release it!

[Marv]

@Marv
Very good! Now for some nerdy OCD details: the lower mids of the congas poke out too much at around 200hz. I can hear that it’s the same as in the round 1 mix, I just didn’t hear that for whatever reason. There is a little bit too much going on at 750hz, when I scoop out this range a few db it sounds much better. What I also hear in the chorus: there’s a strange distortion (?) in the reverb of the lead vocals, best heard on the phrase „See the same sky“ at the end of the chorus. The piano/rhodes combo could have a little bit more bite. Also the bass has maybe a little bit too much muddyness at 140Hz. Consider to scoop out a little bit 2k in the lead vocals. The drum loop seems to occupy this space, you probably could improve the track separation there.

Here is my 3rd mix of this round: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tja2uktwnz8dg ... 3.wav?dl=0

Thanks for letting me into Round 3!

I tried to fix all the issues you have listed above mostly with EQing and focused on the area of 750hz and and 150-200hz to get rid of some muddyness, especially in the chorus. Also I used some distortion and a decent reverb on the HH to make it appear more 'acoustic'/'analog'

Hopefully, you like improvements I made. Excited to hear from you!

[Dodgingrain]

Thanks so much for including me in round3 and thanks for all the effort going through the mixes, it sure is a lot of work!

here's my revision: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrkNZkynH ... Q?e=ZMTZ5H

the changes are as follows:
I pulled the rhodes down in the pre-chorus by around 3-4db, it should fit better now. I added a small bit of compression to the lead vocals and reduced their level overall by about 3db. I changed the automation on the kick a little bit and reduced to saturation some, then added a small peak at 4.7khz and a couple db reduction around 300hz. I also added a bus compressor over my drum bus doing around 0-3db of reduction to glue things a little better. With the change in the vocal levels and the added drum bus compression I had to reduce the level on some of the higher freq drum parts by 1.5db. The hear we go again ad lib in the second pre-chorus was reduced in level by 4db and the here we go again at the very end I dropped 1 db to keep them relatively aligned in volume levels. I also tried doing a side chain on the bass keyed from the kick but it just didn't seem to work that well so I left that out.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your edit for Mix Round 3.