MIX CHALLENGE - MC084 February 2022 - Winners announced

[polycordstudio]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Awyu9G ... sp=sharing

Hi, first time here!

Here's my process:

Mixing completely in the box in Logic mostly with Waves, IK Multimedia and FabFilter pugins.

* Re-amped the bass guitar with AmpliTube, then passed it through a CLA Mixhub console emulation, then two consecutive (and different models) tape machine emulations. Tamed some resonances with Baby Audio's Smooth Operator and added the final touches with Pro-Q 3.

* Drums:

1) Kick drum: Gated with Pro-G, then obtained the basic sound with CLA Drums and then fed it into CLA Mixhub for additional EQ and compression.

2) Snare: used Pro-MB and Pro-Q 3 to tame some of the bleeding. CLA Drums give the basic snare sound, then additionally shaped with CLA Mixhub's EQ and compression. L2 limiter takes care of some peaks. A send is set up to provide some reverb/ambience.

3:The rest of the drums&percussions: nothing special, just some EQ and compression wherever necessary with the CLA Mixhub.

All drum tracks are summed in a drum bus with a SSL Compressor, then my combination of two specific tape machines and then Lurssen Mastering Console as a last plugin on the drum bus for additional saturation and compression.

* Acoustic guitars - a single CLA Mixhub on each guitar track for EQ and compression, then on a summing bus: again a combination of CLA Guitars and CLA Mixhub for some EQ and compression. CLA Epic for some ambient reverb and finally the two tape machines.

* Electric Guitars: A combination of CLA Guitars and CLA Mixhub for EQ, compression and some reverb/delay. All three guitars go to a summing bus with two tape machines. Some timing edit was needed at the beginning of the instrumental after the first chorus. I have split the LEAD GUITAR part into two separate parts. One is accompaniment when the lead vocal is present, and the other is Solo Guitar when there's no vocal. The solo is panned at the center, while the other part is panned half-left. The Rhythm guitar is panned half-right, so the two balance each other in the stereo image and don't interfere with the vocal in the center.

* Hammond and Synth: A CLA Mixhub for some EQ.

* Vocals: Some pitch correction had to be applied. On the lead vocal, I start with a TR5 Mic Room plugin for microphone emulation. Next is Waves Vocal Rider, then CLA Vocals and CLA Mixhub for sound shaping with EQ and compression. Some peaks are then tamed with L2 compressor and resonances taken care of with the help of Smooth Operator. Backing vocals only have CLA Vocals for some EQ and compression. All vocals then go to a summing bus with CLA Mixhub for additional EQ and compression, then CLA Epic provides reverb/delay and the two tape machine combo puts the finishing touch on the vocal sound.

* Master bus: A tape machine emulation plugin for additional warmth and glue effect.

[GamaGama]

Hello,
after listening to the song I thought I would have liked it to have more characterization.

I therefore kept in the first part of the intro the only lead guitar appropriately made aggressive and "bad". This immediately gives the piece a characteristic impact that after the entry of bass (made this rough and also aggressive) and drums, opens on the first verse that leads to the chorus where I wanted to give the choir a "Beach Boys" air. The piece ends after the long solo (always characterized by an exaggeratedly aggressive guitar) with the last chorus with a more "soft" atmosphere.

The whole piece has high presence of high frequencies (shaker that fits with tambourines, cowbell, hi-hat, ride and various cymbals) that I have not felt like resizing: it is a nice feature and the designs of these "hi-freq" are very pleasant, even if they could tire the ear a little in the long run.

I took care of the voice and chorus, which have some intonation problems, with the old trick: slightly with an autotune to be kept in the foreground, alongside the original voice with a small delay to keep in the background. The result is an impact voice with pleasant choruses (also because they are always intelligently placed side by side in the arrangement by hammond and synth in the background).

Finally, I want to thank The Buddy Blake Band for making the interesting song available and Mister Fox for his work and his enthusiasm.

The mix is ​​here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CZ48sR ... sp=sharing

Until next time!

Gama Gama

[Luiz De Caro]

Olá pessoal ...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cYQk6Q ... sp=sharing

Usei o Pre 1973 e o SSL EV2 em praticamente todas as tracks

Kick e Snare - Ev2 , ClaDrums ,Jst Clip, Drawmer S73

Toms - Ev2 , Drumforge , Drawmer S73

Bass Psp Saturador , Scheeps 73, Drawmer S73

Gtr - Ev2 , Delay no solo

Voz - 1973 , DeEsser , Q3 , Ev2 , Cla76, Cla2A , Rvox

Efeitos - Repeater , H Delay , Tverb, Lx 480 , BlackHole

MixBuss - SSl Comp , Virtual Tape Machine

[jules666]

Hi

Here is my attempt at this months track.

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

Started from top down on this one

Master:
Lindell 50 bus into EQ rolling everything below 38hz away, and a SSL sytle bus compressor which I kept at around 2db of reduction max on a 2:1 ratio, then into a Waves J37 to give a warmer overall vibe to the sound before a Waves Puigtec doing a small boost & cut at 60, wide bandwidth and a slightly larger boost at 8k.

Rear bus technique also used, but only brought it up a little during the chorus to help thicken it.

Tried also a "Low End Crush" parallel track blended in, which had kick and bass going to it and I mangled the sound using the McDSP 6060 as I wanted to try it (turns out I am not fan of this channel strip).

"Stem" busses for Drums/Guitar/Bass/Vox/Keys
All had EQ/Clipper on.
Drum Stem: Also had compression but only about 30% wet.
Bass Stem: This also had Blackbox for some subtle saturation/warmth and the waves C4 to empshisize the lows and mid (around 800) area a little more.

Intro: Just a little EQ and delay to make it sound a little different.

Vocals: Split the Verses and Chorus out into their own tracks.
Then used a combination of Scheps Omni for some saturation/compression,De-esser & EQ, followed by another 2 compressors (1176 into LA2), Waves J37 for some tape warmth then into a limiter for any stray peaks, and another de-esser.

Backing Vox: EQ/saturation

Vox Sends: Various amounts from the verse/chorus sent to - Slap Delay/Small Reverb/Large reverb/saturation and a delay for some throws.

Guitars:

Acoustic: Bussed where they all had EQ/subtle compression and a limiter to tame peaks.
Lead guitar went straight to Master: EQ and some reverb/delay
Electric: Split this apart to better process and pan them with automation. Simple EQ,saturation and some reverb on the bus they go to.

Using also a delay/flanger and doubler effect as sends with various amounts going to them


BASS:
Channel strip which had saturation, EQ, compressor and limiter engaged
Also created a distorted send which was EQ'd for just between 1k and 16k, this was blended in, automated up/down here and there (e.g chorus).

DRUMS
Duplicated Kick, and processed seperately as low/high
Used Oxford drumgate to reduce bleed, and then saturation/EQ/compression/clipper on both tracks

Snare: Oxford drum gate to reduce bleed, then added some saturation/EQ/Comp before a limiter

Toms: both tracks sent to bus and EQ applied.

All Shells above then sent to another bus with some further EQ and parallel compression on, before being clipped.

Rest of the kit was some subtle saturation/EQ/compression.
Over Heads had a roll off everything below 1k - used for just cymbals
Did also create a "room" track from duplicating the over heads as well, this had some saturation/EQ/Compression and a room verb (Denise perfect room) - blended in.

Couple of sends from the drums for a reverb, dirt/trash (Chorus only)
Keys
Just basic EQ and compression, also used a Trash 2 (Izotope) in certain sections on the Hammond just to try and give it a little movement.

Plenty of automation going on to try and give a feeling of movement between sections.

Hope you enjoy!

[Bauba]

Hello, first timer here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s_pj9j ... sp=sharing

MAIN VOCAL - refused to use Autotune like they did in a demo. Used melodyne instead to fix few notes. Fabfilter Q3 dynamic eq, C2 compressor. Some stereo delay. At about 3:06 "yea yea, oh oh", did some distortion and delay.

BASS - I usually do rap/ hiphop, so really wanted some nice, big bass. Used few compressors, saturation, eq, some room reverb, to get some stereo.
COWBELL - was very difficult to work with, it sounds so woody. Finally some compression, hard eq'ing and a little bit of reverb did something.

LEAD GUITAR - on solos made it louder, added some stereo delay, made some panning to make it sound live.


Others - some eq, some different compressors, nothing too special. Tried not to overdo.

I think that sneezing at the end was left intentionally, so I left it, but a little closer to the end of song.

[alanvaldez]

Hi! Here is my mix!

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

Used MautoAlign on drums then created a group for the L and R OH

Kick: MDynamics using this as a gate, Neutron 3 5dB+ on the hi freq 1dB on the lows -3 on the mids. then inside neutron a transient designer later a multiband compressor to control all the frequencies then MsaturatorMB to enhace the kick.

Snare: all this inside Neutron 3: Transient designer multiband to enhace transients on some frequencies more that others, EQ hipass 100, 5dB+ on the hi freq, eliminate some resonances, sculptor only on the mid frequencies, multiband compressor, later another compressor just to eliminate some peaks and the multiband exiter using the warm on the low mid low freq and the tube on the hi.

The snare goes to a stereo group, this contains Waves Mv2 and the Newflangled audio Saturate kind of an agressive move there to make it sound more bright and aggressive on the transients. and sent that to an fx channel with the Izotope Neoverb with a mix of plate, early reflections and hall.

Hihat: Neutron 3 eq a super hi pass filter, eliminated some resonances, and no boost, compressor to control some peaks, sculptor and small amount of tape exiter to enhance,

Rack Toms: Neutron 3 sculptor, EQ, only a boost on 150hz, transient shaper to ad some attack and sustain.
Floor toms: Neutron 3 sculptor, EQ, using the Dynamic eq on the low and eliminating mid and hi frequencies at the same time, and a compressor not so aggressive.

OH: Neutron 3 transient shaper, multiband exiter, multiband compressor, and small amount of sculptor.

Drum bus: Melda Production MWaveShaperMB, a clone that I created based on the P42 Climax, it has a 46% blend , using this as a multiband compressor and exiter.

Bass: Difix, Neutron 3 it has a boost on the low mid freq 6.4dB, hi freq 5dB the soft saturation button activated, sculptor, compressor, multiband exiter just a small blend on certain frequencies, and a multiband transient designer on the hi frequencies.

Acoustic guitars: all of them were grouped, and used the MautoAlign on all of them, then Neutron 3, sculptor, EQ eliminating low and mid frequencies, and boosting the hi, 6.8 dB. transient designer to create some attack, it has an exiter blended between tube and tape, just a small percentage, compressor with only one dB of GR, and a second compressor to eliminate small peaks, barely moving the GR meter. that grouped to Neoverb.

Background vocals were grouped and sent them paned 45% L and R then used Mdynamics as a compressor with the sides with 0 link that means that they have the same compressor but behaves different on each channel depends on the input, then Neutron 3, sculptor only on mid frequencies, multiband compressor, eq boosting 7dB on hi frequencies, exiter on the warm setting. all that was sent to the Neoverb for the BG vocals.

Cowbell: EQ, killing some resonances, a compressor almost not working at all just a small amount, exciter, and Kilohearts transient shaper with a lot of attack and added sustain.sent that to the drum Neoverb.

Hammond: FrontDAW with 88% on mojo and a Hi pass. Neutron Sculptor, eq mostly on the hi freq, transient shapper +5 on the attack, exciter, and a compressor with 5dB of GR

Intro sample: it has the Waves King then sent that to a stereo group with kilohearts Tape Stop it can be noticed at the beginning if you pay some attention, then Kilohearts Convolver, on the old church preset.

Lead Guitar, Neutron 3 sculptor, EQ only eliminating hi and low frequencies like a LOW PASS HI PASS at the same time and a compressor.

Rhythm Guitar: neutron 3 eq eliminating some resonances, and boosting the hi freq, compressor with only one dB of GR, and an exciter on warm.

Both guitars were sent to an stereo group and using the MDynamics as a compressor + gate + expander with the sides unlinked then used the MDoubleTracker by Melda Production this helps to make it sound like if they are more guitars.

both guitars were sent to a Neoverb fx channel.

Shakers were grouped and only used the MAutoDynamicEQ on the tilt mode, MDynamics as a compressor, and Kilohearts Haas to make it sound more stereo.

Synth: Neutron 3 EQ, multiband compressor and multiband exiter. that sent to MDelayMB tweeaked to sound like if it was a tape delay.

tambo 1 and 2 MAutoDynamicEQ on both using the tilt module and Mdynamics as a vintage compressor.

Vocals: MautoVolume to drive the levels, Kilohearts 3 band eq, Front DAW, Mdynamics as a gate and compressor, neutron 3 sculptor, eq doing a hi pass at 180 then boosting some hi freq, compressor and exiter.

Vocals were sent to one fx channel with Izotope DDLY the old dynamic delay simulating a dirty delay and Neoverb a small amount of hall and plate.

the master bus has again Neutron 3 compressor Newfangled audio Saturate a super small amount almost not there, Ozone 9 Vintage Tape, and Melda Production MAutoEqualizerLP just to correct it has small movements.

[EmZU]

Mix: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn8fsdhf4h9xb ... U.wav?dl=0

I mainly used dynamic equalizer and compression (fast attack and fast release) ...
for the master I used a slight saturation ...
And my wish was to make the mix as clean as possible..
Good luck

[maxovrdrive]

Big thanks to Buddy Blake Band (@tmort1277) for this track. I don't think I've ever encountered a classic rock track here, and I'm totally liking it.

As always, many thanks to @Mister Fox for keeping it all together

Here's my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15PyN24 ... sp=sharing

I use busses and will process at the bus level but will not hesitate to process at the track level too if required.

DRUMS
The drums needed some work to get it to where I liked it. Using the toms as the starting point, I wanted the snare to get closer to the toms while the kick needed some definition and control. EQ, compression, and parallel tracks for kick and snare, while the toms had EQ and compression. The toms also had a touch of lo-fi. The cymbals and hats had some eq and compression too. The percs only had some eq.

PERCS
Have no individual processing; only an eq on the bus to high pass and control the highs.

BASS
EQ, compression and saturation.
I also paid homage to Andy Wallace and did the "symphonic" technique on the bus and liked the outcome.

GTRS
Some finishing eq on the bus...
RHYGTR
There was a gate, eq, and some saturation. I also setup a DDL track to help spread this GTR. I had to control the hi-mids on this track because it was just too piercing for me.
LEADGTR
Same hi-mids control on this track for the same reason. EQ, and compression is what I did.
Adjusted the timing in some downbeats (mostly after breaks) to sync with everyone else.

ACOUSTIC GTRS
On the bus, eq to control the mids and a little brightness.
On the individual tracks, just eq for 2 & 3, while #1 had a compressor after EQ.
All ACGTRS had a spring reverb send...

KEYS
The bus had an EQ to high pass and bring up the highs...
INTRO
An eq and a DDL to 'copy' the DDL of the rough.
SYNTH and HAMMOND
No processing.

VOCALS
Had an EQ at the bus
LEAD
EQ and compression
BGV
EQ, compression, and a harmonizer to thicken them up.

I used a modified version of Michael Brauer's multi-bus technique to add character. I had setup 4 busses with different compressors for their character, hardly compressing.

The 2bus had saturation and a limiter.

[onecake2]

Link to the file https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgzJUlYVc9qtgYwx8Pz ... w?e=T2ihxk (click on "download" on top menu)

Thank you for this opportunity. I made a quick ITB mix.

Drums:
kick: eq out some of the 500 area and boost 5k for punch. Then basic compression with pro-c
snare: reverb chamber, 1176 ik, a bit of limiting

Vocals: Reverb, 1176 ik, la2a ik, tamed a bit of mids. Yep vocals needed pitch correction but I didn't do it.

Bass: sansamp emu plugin and proq2 a bit of boost around 1k

Instruments:
all grouped together with a room reverb and hi-passed.

Nice track guys!

[Christoph_K]

Alright, happy to join in! Here's my take:

-Orifice Studios

@Orifice Studios
Great mix!