MIX CHALLENGE - MC085 April 2022 - Winners announced

[Franz]

Hi,

Interesting title with a song and backing vocals in French. Many instrumental tracks available. So what to do.

The most important aspect is to determine the general atmosphere of the title, keeping in mind that it is a question
of creating a mix and not a pre-mastering or a mastering (!).

I used a minimum of corrections globally insofar as certain tracks were almost perfect : this is the case of the synths.

Here are the main actions:

- at the level of the rhythmic instruments, they are all routed (except the kick) to the Tverb plugin to obtain a certain homogenization.
- for the bass I added a sub-filter and added the Babelson BBCMP plugin to get a nice base in the low end.
- the guitars have been slightly equalized, no need to do more, they already have their own sound and character
- the piano went through the BBCMP plugin to have more body
- concerning the song(s) I used vocal rider from Waves to level out the differences in level as well as possible and the Q10
equalizer from Waves to eliminate certain resonances and give a specific timbre very close to reality. I used Auburn Sound for spacialization.
For the last two phrases I used the phaser/flanger built into Samplitude 5.

Here is the general table. I return to the fact that this type of mix must be relatively homogeneous so that we can master it without problem.

Good listening and musical greetings from France

Franz

- 16.3 Lufs / - 4.95 dB peak / 24 bit-48 Khz

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

[Vongluck]

Hello,

This is my new participation to the challenges :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1809OkT ... sp=sharing

This song is funny, and I'm French Guy and It's unusual to have a French Singer to mix. It wasn't difficult, just to ajust the voices with the music.

I used this plugins list :
Waves : EQP1A, CLA-2A, Scheps 73, CLA-76, Sibilance, H Delay
SSL : X-Saturator, Channel Strip 2, X-Comp
Valhalla : VintageVerb
SoundToys : Decapitator, Little Plate, Radiator, EchoBoy, FilterFreak
Relab Development : LX480
Blue Cat's : Chorus, Flanger

I thank you very much for all your challenges, It's very great for me.

[jetwolf]

Here is my entry for the Mix Challenge:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E8RVEi ... sp=sharing

Thank you for sharing the song!

Working with all VSTs is always an interesting challenge and provides different sorts of mix hurdles vs live tracks.

Here are my notes:

All tracks used SSL G Channel

VOX:
I elected to use the 5 dry tracks and used Melodyne to clean up some tuning.
ProQ 3, 1176, and Summit Grand Channel for treatment

Pizzicato:
ProQ 3 for cuts to clean up
Used OX Inflator

Rototoms:
BlackBox for some saturation

Snare:
UBK1 for some movement
Softube Harmonics (I have been digging this lately.....really versatile plugin)

Synths:
ProQ3 to enhance synth frequencies I like
Some delays to spread out
harmonics added on a a couple of tracks

Bass:
Sidechained to kick

Kick:
Overstayer
Tubetech Channel Strip
ProQ 3 for cuts
L1

Pianos:
A bit of saturation added and EQ to try to enhance woodiness (is that a word?!)

I came up with a few atmospheric effects for mix in the end section.

Automation:
Breaks, I panned the drums in spots to make space.
Also, I added some filter automation on the drums on breaks to slightly morph the feel on the first couple measures, and then remove to focus the beat to focus the beat on the measure just prior to the end break.
Some vocal automation (could use more)

Mix Bus:
Used an SSL style Bus Comp and added a limiter pushed minimally.
I enjoyed mixing the song; hope you enjoy the mix.

Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks for sharing!

Jetwolf

[zuboski91]

Hi,

Here's my entry: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DymHCh ... sp=sharing

This was very fun to work with. For the drums I used some eq and compression on most tracks. Then for the kick and snare I used some rbass and clipping. I duplicated the hi hat snare track so that I could separate the hi hat and snare and mix accordingly.
For the Bass I used bx subsynth and maxxbass along with some eq and compression.
The vocals were one place where I felt I should've spent some more time. The chorus vocals sound good but the verse could have been processed to sound a little less harsh that what it is now. I used quite a bit of eq and compression and also some saturation on it. I used autotune on all the vocal tracks albeit not as heavily as in the reference track.
The synths sounded good so i just tweaked them very little. I sidechained them to the kick. The bass was also sidechained to the kick.
For my return tracks i used a few delays and reverbs nothing really fancy. I did use a shimmer verb and sent some of the synths to it. I also had aphex loaded and sent a few things to it.
On the mix bus I use the glue and Lindell TE-100 (I was experimenting with it)
Thanks a lot for the opportunity!

[jeffssoloband]

Dear @dima510 and the Mix Challenge Community:

Please find my submission for MC085 here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tla50401dxuzn ... d.wav?dl=0

In mix mix process, I created a mix that revolved around the first line of the refrain... the desire for a dance. There is a lot of swirling of the synth & percussion parts, chasing each other... trying to meet up for the dance. The bass is side-chained to duck out of the bass's way, which gives the pumping feel. (If you heard the bass alone, you'd be horrified, but it works here imo.)

I only used the "dry" vocal tracks. I tuned everything in an attempt to still sound natural. The lead vocals are straight up the middle for presence, and the background tracks are panned around it. I hope I do not regret the formant automation on the VOX-Dry-BG-001 track. I am not sure if this violates the "no additional harmonies" aspect of the game, but I found it appropriate for the last lyrics of the Coda (or "Outro" as it is referred to.)

Please let me know if there are any questions, comments, or concerns.

Thank you for listening, and for your consideration.

Merci,
Jeff (@jeffssoloband)

[Piranha]

My entry

Once again I used the Brauer busses aproach, this time with better gain staging.This gave instant fatness and control. On Brauer busses all compressors were IK Multimedia and Brainworx, on single tracks all compressors where Melda TurboComp and ToneBoosters for eq.
Most of the work on drums was compression as sounds were balanced.
Bass needed control on bass frequencies via Smooth Operator after heavy distorsion.
Acoustic guitar was brightned a bit and the funk one needed a bit of focus on the mids.
Most key, syths and pads where balanced eq and dynamics-wise. Pizzicato strings where a bit heavy on lows so I cleaned them a bit via TB eq.
Multiple stages of compression on all vocal tracks via MTurboComp and some eq to remove boxyness and brighten them a bit.
Delay and reverb as needed, mainly on vocals and some drums elements

[Mister Fox]

It is the 22nd April 2022, 01:05 UTC+1/CET - the first Mix Round has officially ended

Another very warm welcome to all new participants, from which there even more than last February (welcome!). 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 59 submissions this month (59 prior to the deadline, 00 after the deadline)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline (as of 22-APR-2022 0:00 UTC+2/CEST)
• We have 1 submission that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and is therefore disqualified
• 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: 25-APR-2022 03:30 UTC+2/CEST, full sheet)
• Overview of Submissions (disqualifications only) (PDF - updated: 25-APR-2022 03:30 UTC+2/CEST)

INFORMATION:
Statistic Sheets have been updated (on 25-APR-2022 03:30 UTC+2/CEST)
Statistic Sheets are not available yet, please wait for the official announcement post -- sheets will arrive by mid 25-APR-2022 latest
.

⚠	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 Providers for this month, @dima510 and @tombesancon, decided to go 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 56 (SWC56) is still in full swing.
The deadline is 24th April 2022, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST. The genre is "free to select" ("Gateway to another world"/Picture Theme). So far we have 4 entries, with plenty of interaction.

Please spread the word!

[scottfitz]

Hi all,
I've loved listening to all your mixes. Very many of them have a lot better vocal sound than I got and perhaps even more importantly got a generally brighter sounding track than I did. I've found that very often my tracks are coming out lacking in brightness and I'd like to ask the other engineers here, is this something that you have worked on? For me, I always found modern music to be a little artificially bright - sounding like nothing from real life. I felt that if we can stop chasing that distracting brightness and focus on a more balanced mix perhaps it is more beautiful that way? However I'm now starting to come around to the idea that especially in an era when people increasingly use small speakers, that a mix lacking in brightness is not adequate.
Thanks for any feedback on this issue.
Scott

[fcamp]

Duplicated.

[fcamp]

Hi Scott,

To understand better your point of view, I have listened to your mix. Bear in mind that I am not a pro, but I would like to share my opinion in case it helps. There is a lot of competition in the low mids range between vocals and instruments. I find that the vocals take too much space in the mix, sounds fat, and are too in my face.

So, for the first, I would remove some lows/low mids to make space for other instruments that compete in that frequency range. I would do that also with other tracks, the acoustic guitar, for example, some synths...One consequence of all of that is that the mix will end sounding brighter, without having boosted that frequency range. When I started mixing I was surprised by how much I had to remove or add to some sounds to find a place in the mix and make the whole sound like a record. It is still surprising to me. I play guitar so after a hard search for the perfect combination of guitar, pedals and amp, it was hard to accept that to fit the electric guitar in a mix I had to sacrifice things.

For the second, the fact that the vocals are too in front, I would use for example some plate reverb in mono to make them sound a bit more far. Removing also the lows in the reverb. In that way, maybe your vocal will sound more inserted in the mix.

Hope it helps.

Hi all,
I've loved listening to all your mixes. Very many of them have a lot better vocal sound than I got and perhaps even more importantly got a generally brighter sounding track than I did. I've found that very often my tracks are coming out lacking in brightness and I'd like to ask the other engineers here, is this something that you have worked on? For me, I always found modern music to be a little artificially bright - sounding like nothing from real life. I felt that if we can stop chasing that distracting brightness and focus on a more balanced mix perhaps it is more beautiful that way? However I'm now starting to come around to the idea that especially in an era when people increasingly use small speakers, that a mix lacking in brightness is not adequate.
Thanks for any feedback on this issue.
Scott