MIX CHALLENGE - MC088 October 2022 - Winners announced

[Avneesh]

Hi !
Hope you enjoy the mix

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing


First of all Routing
-Both Kicks in a Kick Aux, Snare and Snare noise to Snare Aux, Both Hats in Hats Aux and all of this including Snap finger in Percussion Aux
-Both Synth Basses to Bass Aux
-I make another Aux track where my Percussion Aux and Bass Aux are routed called PercNBass Aux
-Rest all Synths, Flutes and E-Piano etc. are routed to Music Aux
-Now both PercNBass Aux and Music Aux are routed to Mix Aux

Mix Approach
- Mostly I've used a top down mix approach starting from Mix Aux then going to individual Auxes and then to individual tracks(if need be)
- My approach has been to use multi-stage compression(sometimes even Limiting on specific Auxes like Kick Aux and Percussion Aux)

Plugin-Overview
- My Mix Aux is PA Shadow Hills Comp, PA Vertigo VSC-2, waves SSL comp, These all are set on different attacks and releases and on different ratios
- I've mostly used these three compressors only throughout the mix process as they worked nicely on the track
- There is also a tape emulation Waves Kramer Tape and ableton stock EQ on Mix Aux
- I've also used multiple instances of TDR Nova throughout the mix
- All EQ instances are Ableton Stock EQ8
- Sometimes I use EQs to boost specific frequencies before compression like in Kicks I've boosted around 5k(the click of the kick) before compressing then cut later
- I've also used a lot of clippers and saturators throughout the mix process like elysia Phil's cascade, Vertigo VSM-3, Kramer Tape Saturation etc.
- Reverbs and delay are some Ableton Stock and TSAR-1, bx_rooMS and H-delay mainly most of which are on return Auxes.

Thankyou
Avneesh

[studio equator]

ciao!

I worked in reaper using the stocks plugins and the Melda stuff, doublechecking the mono translation.

hope the following link works!


https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qbxsh670z8h3 ... r.wav?dl=0

[jules666]

Hi

Was not sure what to do with this one as not a style of music I normally listen to.
So, I found some parts I liked the most - the two bass tracks in this case, and decided to bring them forward a little more and I felt a darker overall tone would be nice, so thats what I tried to aim for

Here is the link to my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NuXGun ... 1McGL/view

Used all the dry tracks that were provided.

Kicks: Inverted phase on second kick. EQ/Compression/Tape Saturation/transient shaper to bring out some low and even a reverb (though quite low in mix).
Snare Noise - Split into low/mid/high and proceesed with EQ/transient shaper/compression/distortion and a room verb mixed low to defuse the noise a little.
Snare: Just EQ/Comp/similar room verb.

High-Hat Noise - panned right some EQ/Comp and chorus
High-Hat - Panned left: EQ/Comp/and a little verb

Clicks: EQ rolling everything below 2k off and some light compression.

Bass: Both tracks got some Decapitaor/Compression/EQ and clipped.
These tracks were summed into a bus that had some compression, little EQ to push around 100Hz and 5k, then into LittleAlterboy which dropped the formant a little, with the mix knob rolled back to around 50%


Synths: Just EQ, some subtle saturation and clipping in places with some of the tracks also getting a chorus effect.
01e & o1f - these were sent to a bus with Stutter edit on to give the performance a little movement.


Sends:
Created a pitched shifted send(little alterboy)/stutter edit/drum verb/1/4 delay/plate reverb
Various tracks were sent to these with a little automation in
(would of liked to have done more automation here)

Using the Rear Bus technique, before going into mixbus which has:
SSL Compressor
EQ - Pultek style to push around 60hz
Tape saturation
and then another compressor - fairchild 670, just doing no more than 1db or reduction, and adding some warmth/darkness to the overall tone.

Interesting track to play with, thanks

[pabloAT]

Hello,
For this mixing, I’ve spent most of the time doing cleaning, filtering and EQing for frequencies’ separation between tracks. I’ve reinforced the rhythmic part with parallel compression. Tracks were sent to 3 stems (drums & percussions, synths, bass) where I basically applied instances of tape machines with different colors. In the mixbuss I “monoed” frequencies < 30 Hz, added an instance of Blyss with a bit of saturation, compression and EQing, and finishing with an instance of 2 channels’ tape machine.
Best wishes,
Pablo

[Dropbox's link to MC088]

[VasDim]

Hi all,
this is my attempt to mix:

https://mega.nz/file/qyARGCBA#lS0RXEKDT ... ND7Zvbj9ck
For all track are used:
- Waves Q10;
- Waves C4;
- Db ProComp.

AUX Effect;
- Waves TrueVerb;
- Waves SuperTap;

Good luck to all.
VasDim

[LCM!]

Hi everyone Thanks to Mister Fox and EatMe for this month challenge: nice opportunity to deal with this genre.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q5_tXI ... sp=sharing

Some words of the provider and our host that guided my work along the process:

- “This production is an answer to a song I remember from my childhood”. I deduced we were meant to give an important role to the melody. In order to do so I doubled the lead track to create some variation and added a reverse effect just before its first appearance to create some impact.
- “Made to both relax and dance on”. In order to do so I decided to go for a warm feeling with, for example, less attack for both kicks or an additional sub bass.
- “To keep it dynamic without making it a full-blown maximum volume appearance” and “has a lot going on regarding sound layers”. There are tons of automation, never louder parts after quieter, but the other way around. The mix starts quiet and ends ethereal with various climax throughout the song.

Other things worth of mention:

Kick bus occasionally SC with the snare to vary the pattern of the rhythm.
Bass SC with kicks. Track doubled and dynamic eq to add variation in some sections.
Synth1 and Lead doubled as well, with the same purpose.
Bass, kick and snare are mainly mono.

Greetings to everybody and good luck

PS: There are some works here that I like pretty much and, honestly, many of them has little to do with mine (Avneesh, yours is my favourite so far; plenty of energy, I love it).

[Andreas_Ko]

Hi everyone,

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dnQTB9 ... sp=sharing

mixed ITB

Track_05b_Snare: h-comp, ssl eq, room verb

Track_05a_Snare_noise: ssl ch comp, room verb

Track_02a_Synth1_bass1_alt-dry: lo-fi

Track_01e_piano-fortissimo: mcdsp 6030 (moo tube), black box, ssl eq

Track_01f_harp&flute: lo-fi, mcdsp 6030 (moo tube)

Track_01d_Synth1_alt-dry: soundtoys panman, lo-fi, ssl ch comp, space verb

Track_01a_Superwave_p8_synth_alt-dry: phoenix (luster), h-comp, ssl eq, chamber verb

Track_01b_SY77_8ba_piano_alt-dry: h-comp, fix phaser, ssl eq, chamber verb, harmonizer

Track_03_MauSynth1_lead_alt-dry: ssl saturator, fix phaser, red 3 comp, ssl eq, chamber verb, harmonizer, 1/4 dly

all other tracks stayed unprocessed

the eq was used very slightly, mostly for subtraction

[andreybenassi]

My mix was based on EQ fitting, cleaning up some regions and EQing some instruments to switch regions of the spectrum.

The layers were all grouped by rhythm and EQed together, I felt it sounded better that way.

The music as it is quite static and I added some effects as new ''instruments'' to add texture and interest between the parts, causing a differentiation.

Drums: Fabfilter Pro Q3, H-Comp on kicks and snares.
Snap: bx_stereomaker to fit in the panorama.
Bass: sidechain compression by the kick, add eq and brauermotion on the synth_bass 2.
The Synth_bass 1 has some parallel distortion.

Lead: Some eq to demuddy, CLA76, rdesser to compress the harsh peaks and pultec eq to give some shine and remove some mids.

Layer 1: Superwave, SY77 and Piano
Pro Q3 and compression with rcompressor.

Layer 2:Harp Flute, Piano fortissimo, and synth1
Pro q3 and rcompressor.

My mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aUF_IT ... sp=sharing

[dstra]

Hi everyone,

Here is my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wmciD1 ... sp=sharing

My guiding principle with this song was to provide variety. So I used a lot of automation.

Processing

Tracks

• Chord tracks 01a - 01f: eq, reverb
• Synth lead: eq, exciter, chorus, delay
• Bass 1 & 2: eq, compressor, sidechain compressor (controlled by kick drum), reverb
• Kick 1 & 2: eq, saturator, reverb
• Snare_noise: transient designer, eq (a few inharmonic frequencies have been boosted to make it sound a litte metallic), reverb
• Snare, open/closed hi-hat, finger snap: transient designer, eq, reverb

Buses

• Chord bus (tracks 01a - 01f): 2 compressors, sidechain compressor (controlled by kick drum)
• Drums bus (all percussion tracks except kick drum): compressor, sidechain compressor (controlled by kick drum)
• Main bus: compressor

Tools

• DAW: Ardour (Linux)
• Plugins bundles: Calf, LSP and others

[dewho]

Hi everyone! Fun to try this on, this is my contribution to the challenge.

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

Kick(s): Used Kick 1 as bottom kick, and kick 2 as topkick. Lowcut at 250Hz. Mostly EQ, slightly compressed (-1,5dB) Kick 1
and some saturation on both.

Snare: EQ, small de-essing, ambience reverb, slightly compressed. Snare noise, EQ,and the same ambience. Small slap-delay.

HiHat(s): EQ

Snap: EQ, and a hall reverb. The reverb is also EQ´d.

Bass: Used both Bass 1, and the dry alt. Bass 1 in mono, and dry alt as stereo. Lowcut at 250. Some saturation.
EQ, compressed (-2dB), small amount of sub freq added. Sidechained to the kick.
Bass 2, I also cut at 250, tape saturation, compressed the peaks. And some reverb.

Synths: Mostly EQ on all. But Superwave is sidechained to the kick, ambience reverb.
Sy77 Piano I used SSL channel´s "fast" gate mode to make it stutter more. And some phasing.
Piano Fortissimo, slightly compressed, with amb and hall reverb, and some chorus.
Mausynth I added some top with EQ.

Made alot of volume automations, some to the reverb and delay. Also made som reverse hihat and synth sweeps, but
kept it minimal.

Plugins used: Fabfilter Q-3, R-desser, CLA-76, CLA-2A, Kramer PIE, Brainworx Subsynth, Trackspacer, Waves J37, Doubler, SSL Channel,
Waves Enigma, Waves RS56, H-delay, Waves IR-L, Fabfilter Saturn 2, Brainworx Delay 2500.

Have a nice day!