MIX CHALLENGE - MC085 April 2022 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

This topic is a long and very decisive one. I'm only making an observation for this month -- I can't speak for the song providers, and what they will like in the end.

[dima510]

and vice versa: i can not and will not try to decide, if a mix was made according to the rules. tom and i will listen to all mixes that pass the technical check by the admin and we will both pick 15 for round 2 in a 100% blind test - loudness-matched.

[andreybenassi]

Hello guys!
It's my first participation here but I'd like to comment on something that might be cool to talk about.

Is talking about the final format of the mixes possible within the community rules? I would love to be able to suggest some ideas on delivery methods for the mixes.

[MadMav]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first time submitting to a mix challenge. I loved the dynamic flow that this song has. I tried to maintain that by using parallel compression on a lot of the elements. The transients give the song a great feel. I also really enjoyed the tone and timbre of the natural vocals, beautiful voice. The harmonies were fun to blend with too.

Download link: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/09aD ... ne__MadMav

Thank you for the opportunity for this challenge. I look forward to improving my skills, and learning from every one here.

Seth

[Mister Fox]

Hello guys!
It's my first participation here but I'd like to comment on something that might be cool to talk about.

Is talking about the final format of the mixes possible within the community rules? I would love to be able to suggest some ideas on delivery methods for the mixes.

The final delivery format is always WAV in the same sampling rate and bitrate as the source (if the source was in 16bit, then always in 24bit).

If this is about anything else, let's talk about this either via PM, email or Discord, and I'll respond ASAP.

[Green-Dog]

Hi guys,

Thanks to the song provider and Mister Fox. Cool song! It was fun to mix it.

All instruments were somehow equalised and compressed.

I put a clipper on the drum bus to form the sound I need from the kick and snare.

To the bass, I added the SansAmp in parallel. I also added some sidechain to the bass in the choruses. It seemed to me that the one that was already not enough.

On the master bus, I added a bit of compression using API 2500 and Studer A800.

Mix

Let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck to everyone!

[JamesMusic]

Hi all,

Another great track! Thanks for sharing with the community.

Here is a link to my interpreation of the mix - https://drive.google.com/file/d/15kdNA3 ... sp=sharing

Interesting things to mention about the mix:

HH-Claps-Snare - I wanted the snare and clap sound centrally panned, but also wanted the hi-hat panned left. So I used Meldra MSpectralPan to just hard pan from 5k upwards.

Synth-Perc-Rhythm - This I wanted panned the other side of the Hihat from the above. But it sounded too upper mid rangey and so I high passed it quite high and then used AIR Frequency Shifter, to move the sound higher in frequency until it felt like it balanced sonically with the hi-hat.

Rototoms - I wanted each individual tom to be placed at different spots across the stereo field and so used panning automation to achieve this

Bass - I duplicated the track, and high passed the duplicate to leave only the top end and then used some stereo effects for some width using Valhalla Space Modulator. I then blended the two to taste.

Vocals - Melodyne, including some hard tuned elements for an effect right at the end.
Processing: LA3A, MV2, Inflator, Weiss Deess, SonEQ
BVs - Same as above, with some duplicates made which have some pitch shifting on to give more thickness.
Vocal effects: Plate reverb in Valhalla Room and an Avid Multi Delay

Guitar Acoustic - Soothe used to tame resonances in low mids and highs.

Guitar Funky - Slow Stereo Chorus using Air Chorus, and a load of saturation using Kelvin and GSatPlus

I added some modulation effects to certain parts during drops and changes to add some interest.

There is some binaural processing on the drums in and leading into the second verse to give the impression that they are coming from behind you. Works best in headphones I would think, I think it's a cool effect. For this I used DearVR Micro

Cheers,
JamesMusic

[fcamp]

Hi,

Great song, very fun to mix.
Here is my proposal: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z5Ikz6 ... sp=sharing

Notes:
The idea was to make it sound wide, with punch in the center and get some motion. But the starting point was already great, just with a volume balance it was sounding like a finished record. Removed some lows from the synths to make space for the kick and bass. I am quite happy with the result.

kick: Lindell 500 adding some saturation, 6db at 100Hz , -6db at 240 Hz, 2db at 3kHz and a self of-2db at 20kHz. dbx 165 compressor in auto mode doing very little.

snare: PSP E27 with -1db at 300Hz, 2b at 2,5 kHz and a self of 2db at 8,2 kHz, drive at 4 and HP filter at 70Hz. In parallel, to add some punch,this chain: ReaGate with attack at 1ms, hold at 75ms and release at 259ms, Melda AutodynamicEQ with a HP filter at 56 Hz, Lp filter at 1800Hz, 16db at 66 Hz with 6Q, 3db at 244,5 Hz with 1,13Q. Added some plate reverb with EA Nimbus.

HH: PSP E27 with HP at 50Hz, 2db at 120Hz, 2db at 4,6kHz, -2db at 28kHz self.

DRUMS 2nd: I went for a huge sound in stereo here. Kush TWK for saturation, +3db at 100Hz self with Bx console N, Kush AR-1 with Smack Daddy preset as a starting point, bx digital v3 with 129% stereo width.

SynthPERC: some drive with fuse audio VQA-154, -5db self at 40Hz, -2db at 560Hz, 3db at 7,2k, 3db at 10kHz.

BassSUB: LTL Chop Shop to darken a bit, HP filter at 40Hz, LP filter at 10kHz aprox. Echoboy JR with 1/64 delay for little slap and saturation in memory mode

Bass1: kush Omega N for some colour.

BassGrowl: Melda AutodynamicEQ, por a resonante HP filter at 62Hz with 3,3Q and -3db at 285Hz with 0,7Q.

Ac. guitar: Fuse audio vpre376 for colour, bx console N filtering between 180Hz and 10kHz, -2db at3,6kHz, 2db at 8kHz.Softube Chandler germanium ratio 2, germ soft, mix wet at 2, attack at 6, release at 1, drive at 4 feedback at 6.UA sandman pro with 1/4th delay for width.

Funky guitar: Kush omega A for colour, bx console N filtering between 90 and 11 kHz, and Melda Mphaser synced at 1 with the tempo.

PIANOs: HP filter at 100Hz, 1,7db at 4 kHz, 4db at 7kHz self in the side and 131% of stereo width.

PAD: bx digital v3 with 150% sterero width, -2db at 240Hz in the Mid, 1.5dn at 10kHz self in the side. for width.

PIZZ: Fuse VQP258 pultec with 12 boost in high freq at 5kHz.

SYNTH: Overloud sculptube adding harmonics to define the sound.

SYNTH001: bx console N to filter between 80Hz and 12kHz, adding 2db at 120Hz self, -2db at 1,4kHz. Melda Autopan for some motion synced with the tempo, phase at 90º.

SYNTH002: Overloud sculptube adding harmonics to define the sound. bx console N to filter between 60Hz and 17kHz, -3db at 220Hz. Melda Autopan for some motion synced with the tempo, phase at 180º.

SYNTHlead: One of the stars of the song. Overloud sculptube adding harmonics to define the sound. bx console N to filter between 90Hz and 17kHz. Alex Hilton Stereo control adding 150% stereo width.bx digital v3 eq to add more width, 1.5db shelf at 6kHz, dip at 4kHz, 1db at 2kHz for presence, HP filter at 70Hz. Automated the volume and pan of a delay at 1/8 to get some motion in UA Sandman Pro.

Lead vocal: It was difficult to find a texture similar to the proposed mix, I have tried to imitate it. Bx crispytuner for tuning, shifted the formant 1.3 st to imitate the tone of the porposed mix. LSR audio deesser at 4k, fuse audio vpre376 for colour, trident a-range with 75 hz Hp filter, and removing some low mids. Ik white 2A to level, saturation and for added character, and audiority Space Station for doubling, mixed like 15%. In the verse vocals I dipped 5db at 200Hz, 360Hz and 694 Hz for clarity.

Backing vocals: SOme HP filtering with bx digitalv3, crispytuner with the same formant for BG01 and with 0.5 shift for the other two. Added deessing.

All vocals went to a mix of tap delay, plate reverb for depth, and analogish delay for texture, widening always the return to make space in the middle and with some eq with bx console N.

Groups: all synths and pianos went to BlackBox Hg-2 for more width and harmonics. Backing vocal through kush AR-1 for glue, Maag Eq4 boosting 3db at 10kHz, removing sub. Added Audiority Space Station and Ozone Imager to add some width. Lead vocal with Valhalla SpaceModulator for the automated flange effect. I created some space using Seventh Heaven reverb in Studio B far configuration and sending there a bit of everything.

Mix bus: Compression with Cytomic The Glue ratio 2, attack 1, release 0,1, range -30, sidechain HP filte at 330 Hz and mix at 80%. Gave the mix some nice punch. Bx digital v3 to remove some low mids, Kush hammer adding 1 db at 50Hz and 10kHz for colour and Maag Eq4 since the beggining adding 0,5db in the sub and 4 db at 40kHz for air.

Kind regards,
fcamp

[LCM!]

Hello. Nice to join the Challenge once again and great to mix this cool song. Thanks to the people who make this possible, the Admin and the song provider.
And bearing in mind the latter's words encouraging the mixers to get a different vibe, this is my approach:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1McJPSE ... sp=sharing

These are the main features, besides eqs and comps.

The instrument bus has an stereo pluggin. The transitions are stressed, muting and/or fading items.
Drums. Parallel comp with distortion. Kick sent to a sub-bass track and sidechain to the bass 1.
Bass. Parallel comp and basses splitted in high and low feqs tracks. And distortion.
Guitars. Parallel comp. Flanger for the accoustic and distortion for the funky.
Pads, synth and piano. Further stereo effects.
Voices. Parallel comp. I picked the brighter formant option. I finally didn't use any effect but it is something I would like to try in further rounds, if possible ()
Master bus. Its own parallel comp, substractive eq and glueing comp. Mid/side additive comp and comp (just mid, in this case). A tad of distortion.

Reaper stock pluggins.
Peak -2.0
LUFS-I -16.9

Many thanks and greetings.

[killakiengondakeyz]

Morning Scott
Thank you for the feedback its awesome you took the time all these tracks (instruments) were bussed to the same effects but on these tracks i can control how much is bussed also i always use the session reverb and delay cause they are both temp synced (very important thing) makes a engineer job very easy and takes out the guess work ... now there are time that i will separate reverb and such but was not needed ...but dont think lazy is the correct word if you know about bussing ... oh and the vocals are on thier own bus and i neve rdeal with sibilance cause I use a SC compressor and a tube preamp

Thanks for the feedback again