MIX CHALLENGE - MC084 February 2022 - Winners announced

[MrFlat]

Here is my mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5psbymq901xq ... t.wav?dl=0

I started with some vocal tuning with Melodyne
I tried to tighten the feel of the song with some transient alignment

Drums were processed with SSL Drumstrip, SSL Channel strip, and ProQ3
The bass was mixed using Slate VMR with the FG-A and FG-401 modules

The guitars were processed through SSL Native channel strip, and Waves EQP1A, some chorus ,delay, reverb, and automation

The vocals were processed with FF Pro-MB, EQP1A, and SSL Channel Strip
They were parallel processed with Slate FG-Stress and Waves CLA-76

On the mixbus: Slate Virtual Mixbus, Slate Virtual Tape Machine, Slate VBC-Red, Gullfoss, and Pro L-2

[againstpower]

Hi, I'm a new entry and this is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZ2VEc ... sp=sharing

Started by gain staging, volume balance and panning the tracks.
I have used different busses for different parallel compression type.
All tracks got cleaned up with EQ. Then added some spring/plate reverb and delay.
Kick, snare got some gating and compression for punch and snap. K/Sn/HH and toms compressed in a drum bus for the glue. There's also a short gate reverb on the snare.
OH L/R got in a overhead bus. Drum and overhead got to a total drum bus.
Bass was send to an amp and was also compressed. Then bass d.i. and amp got to a bass bus. A short reverb was added to bass d.i. track.
Lead Gtr and Rhytm Gtr panned 50L and 50R and got to in a stereo bus. Parallel compression, saturation, reverb, delay and automated pan and volume was added.
Acoustic guitar got a buss with a lowcut, highcut, amp Ignite. Parallel compression, saturation, reverb.
Vox splitted in verse and chorus. Tuned, Eq, parallel compression reverb and delay.
All buss go to a mixbus with a API2500 for the glue (without makeup gain).

[Piranha]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rx2ukafu82vob ... a.wav?dl=0

On this mix i used the Michael Brauer 4 busses method.
I used varius approaches to isolates drums trucks and make them sound good and don't become lifeless. MTurboCompressor on all shells and Neutron for alla equalization duties and sometimes saturation.
Bass was de-essed and reamped via Helix Native.
Neutron and MTurboCompressor on all acoustic guitars, electric guitars where equalized by Helix Mesa five bands graphic equalizer.
Various delays and reverbs where used on guitars parts.
On keys parts Neutron was used as equalizer and saturator.
On vocals I used Neutron as equaliser and some stacked comps via MTurboCompressor.

[Vongluck]

Hello,

You could find my version, at the first time it seems easy, but it was not, I'm not completly satisfy, but I want to share and participate.

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

I used :
Waves : Scheps73, CLA-2A, CLA-76, SSL E-Channel, Sibilance
Relab Developpement : LX480
SoundToys : Radiator, Decapitator, Little Plate, PanMan
Pulse Tec : EQs
Valhalla : Vintage Verb, Space Modulator

[SuC76]

Hi,

Here's my mix:

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



Drums: Kick and Snare subbed, parallel gate for kick and snare, CLA76 , Stock Eq
Bass: 3 tracks, Lo, Mid, Chor.
Acc Gtr: Eq, CLA3A, to one track
Lead Gtr: some slap , stock eq, CLA3A
Rhythm Gtr: Comp, eq, Saturation.
Keys: stock EQ, some stock comp.
Vox: stock eq, cla 76 blue, some slap and reverb
BGV: cla3a, stock eq,

Master Bus: Slate grey, some track emulation



Ableton 10


Bye.

[leventenagy960115]

Hi everybody,

You can check my mix using the link below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SOGcVT ... sp=sharing

Very briefly:
Drums: compression, reverb, and sample-based reverb on the snare and kick,
Bass: Eq, RBass, and Cypress amp simulation.
Gtr: Compression, Echo, Valhalla reverb and automation tricks.
Vocals: A lot of compression, eq. a bit of tune; a bit of delay.

With a lot of thanks.
Best Regards.
Levente

[Mister Fox]

It is the 22nd February 2022, 00:20 UTC+1/CET - the first Mix Round has officially ended

Another very warm welcome to all new participants, from which there are surprisingly plenty. As usual, a huge thank you to everyone that is spreading the word about the Mix Challenge. Please help get the Songwriting Competition as popular (less than 3 days left).


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 76 submissions this month (76 prior to the deadline, 00 after the deadline)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline (as of 22-FEB-2022 0:00 UTC+1/CET)
• We have 0 submission that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and is therefore disqualified (warning for @Al B. -- WeTransfer only stores for 7 days)
• We have 0 submissions not submitted in public, but via PM (see Rule Book, post #6, Upload and Submission Guidelines)
• We have 0 submissions that have been withdrawn (but counts as entry within the deadline)
• Overview of Submissions - is your entry within given parameters? (PDF - updated: 28-FEB-2022, full sheet)
• Overview of Submissions (disqualifications only) (PDF - updated: 28-FEB-2022)

INFORMATION:
Statistic Sheets have been updated (on 28-FEB-2020 06:40 UTC+1/CET)
Statistic Sheets are not available yet, please wait for the official announcement post -- sheets will arrive by mid 25-FEB-2022 latest
.


INFORMATION:

Please take note again of the adjustments to the allowed tolerances for mix submissions. This will be reflected on the Statistic Sheet and will influence the Wild Card Mechanic.

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	Important Update: As of MC081, the Song Providers can now decide from the start, or once the Statistics Sheet has been provided, which route to go in terms of providing feedback. You can read more about this in the Mix Challenge - changes to main game (October 2021) thread. Our Song Provider for this month, @tmort1277, hinted at going the "(Feedback for) Top 15" route. We will keep you updated.

.


I now open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however.


Please watch this spot for the statistics sheet, client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.

Good luck to all participants.





The Songwriting Competition 54 (SWC54) is still in full swing.
The deadline is 24th February 2022, 23:59 UTC+1/CET. The genre is "free to select" ("Voyage"). So far we have 3 entries, and sadly no further interaction.

Please spread the word!

[Al B.]

@Mister Fox How long must the download link work?

[Mister Fox]

@Mister Fox How long must the download link work?

As per the Rules and Guidelines (post #6).

Upload and Submission Guidelines

• ...
• entries must be available for at least the length of the Challenge, including Mix Round 2 and an eventual Mix Round 3 (please do not use services like WeTransfer or Hightail, which only allow accessibility up to 7 days)
• ...

Reason being is for comparison purposes throughout the game. However - unless you use the Pro or Premium WeTransfer plan, your entry will only be available for 7 days - hence me clearly stating in the Rule Book "don't do it".

I definitely do have your entry on my HDD for the Statistic Sheet, I can't speak about the Song Provider(s).

Since your entry is currently still downloadable, I'm being generous and give a free pass (as in: for MC084). But as of MC085, and in fairness to every participant, whoever submits an entry through any known temporary file storage service, will be instantly "tagged OUT".




I'll post the Statistic Sheet and properly start the evaluation process by the end of the weekend.
Apologies for the waiting time.

[Mister Fox]

The "Overview of Submissions" PDFs have been uploaded.
You can check them through the upper post (post #97).



The data sheet is used to give an overview of all entries, and whether or not they are within given parameters (loudness, sampling rate, bitrate). This is adding to the overall learning process of the "Mix(ing) Challenge". Please take note that creating this sheet is not a fully automated process. I am using Wavelab 10's "Batch Analysis" tool (EBU R-128 specs / equivalent to ITU-R BS.1770-4), but the overall layout and highlighting issues/mishaps, is time consuming. If you do not find yourself on this list, please let me know.

Please keep in mind, your mix being "tagged disqualified", does not automatically mean "you're out of the game" (exceptions do apply). For more information on the Statistic Sheet and the "Wild Card" Mechanic, please consult the following addendum thread:

Mix Challenge - Addendum: Statistic Sheet and Wild Card Mechanic



We have a disqualification rate of 22,37% for February 2022 (76 entries, 17 disqualifications, 0 "Out of Competition" submissions).

In comparison to previous months (detailed in spoiler tags):

► Show Spoiler

• December 2021 (15,71%, 70 entries, 11 disqualifications)
• November 2021 (27,14%, 70 entries, 19 disqualifications)
• October 2021 (15,90%, 44 entries, 7 disqualifications)
• September 2021 (24,00%, 75 entries, 18 disqualifications)
• August 2021 (20,45%, 44 entries, 9 disqualifications)
• July 2021 (20,34%, 59 entries, 12 disqualifications)
• June 2021 (26,08%, 46 entries, 12 disqualifications)
• May 2021 (22,73%, 66 entries, 15 disqualifications)
• April 2021 (24,59%, 61 entries, 14 disqualifications)
• March 2021 (25,64%, 39 entries, 10 disqualifications)
• February 2021 (35,05%, 77 entries, 27 disqualifications)
• December 2020 (22,67%, 75 entries, 17 disqualifications)
• November 2020 (31,15%, 61 entries, 19 disqualifications)
• October 2020 (33,70%, 92 entries, 31 disqualifications)
• September 2020 (32,60%, 46 entries, 15 disqualifications)
• August 2020 (28,57%, 35 entries, 10 disqualifications)
• July 2020 (40,37%, 109 entries, 44 disqualifications)

On average (18 months), we currently have a disqualification rate of 26,23% (compared to last month's 26,28% avg), the rate is on a decline.




A commentary on this month's entries:

Once more welcome to all new participants that joined this February. Plenty of new faces. I hope you enjoy your stay and you will learn something from this experience. And of course a very warm "welcome back" to our long-time users that haven't participated in a while.

Aside from two entries that did not even remotely use the filename template @hendrixiano and @miguelabella), there are also a lot of the usual "slight mishaps" this month. Some of them even careless mistakes yet again from longtime users (@canese -- you should maybe check your export settings). By and large, these slight mistakes are mostly related to the loudness specs exceeding -16LUFS ILk and/or -1,00 dBTP, including allowed tolerances, and of course the infamous sampling rate mismatch (the sampling rate can change from game to game, paying attention to detail is important). I sadly also had to pull out a mix due to it being a re-submission (@Zed999). However, by the time I was informed of this, I did not have access to the original file anymore (I must have accidentally overwritten it).

I am not giving much leeway regarding the topic "documentation" anymore I'm afraid. Please add to the community, talk about what you enjoyed on the mix, how you created one particular sound, etc. We really want to read this stuff, gather inspiration and possible ideas for a different approach in future mixes. Please don't just post your mix/edit and then move on.

Overall, I am happy with the participation this month. And I'm curious what the future will bring.
.


Important to point out (for all new participants): :

Unless your file couldn't be downloaded, has been re-uploaded/re-posted during the course of the main submission round, or can not be associated with your user account, having your entry being tagged as "disqualified" does not mean that you're completely out of the game (yet). Should you be selected for Mix Round 2 by this month's "client" (Song Provider), you have the option to advance through the use of the Wild Card Mechanic.

Please don't be frustrated but rather learn from the experience, find out what went wrong, and use your possible chance to fix this in a follow-up round. This is why the concept of the "Statistics Sheet" and "Wild Card mechanic" exists. It offers you an additional learning factor. Something you usually do not have the chance to outside of this community's monthly competition.
.




I now (re-)open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however. Though please note - criticism on the rule set and angry posts will be deleted without further notice.


Please watch this spot for the client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.