MIX CHALLENGE - MC088 October 2022 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your mix.


As of this moment, we have about 31 mixes. Can we exceed 50 entries? If you've been sitting on your mix, now is the time to get everything sorted out, and post both your link and documentation. Do not forget the deadline

[Franz]

Hello everyone,

The mixing was done ITB with Samplitude Pro which has some specific plugins (Vandal for example which
is a guitar/bass amp simulation).

Initially I used all the "dry" tracks, therefore without effects and with certain monophonic reductions for
the use of certain specific plugins.

General idea : clearly characterize the different parts of the title while keeping a homogeneous side without any obvious break.

- bass 1: equalization - bass 2 "Gdoubler" for stereo widening
- superwave synth: "micropitch" by Eventide
- superwawe: doubling of the tracks = equalization on the first track then smooth passage on the second track
(at 2'30 median) with a "flanger" effect from Eventide
- dry piano: equalization
- pianofortissimo: stereo displacement with "RP PAN"
- harp&flute: dubbing of the tracks = first track with "REEL ADTZ" from Waves + "Guitar Rig" specific to Samplitude
(guitar amps option -clean cave-) then on the second track (around 3'30) with "Vandal" effect = distortion +
"Lifeline Expanse" for a "with and space" effect

Apart from bass 1 and bass 2, all these tracks are found on a specific bus with ""C4" which is a multiband limiter from Waves

- piano lead mono: "supertape 6" + "equa «Q10" from Waves
- mono lead: "vocal rider" from Waves to stabilize level differences + "Q10" EQ + "supertap 8" + "micropitch" from Eventide
+ compressor/limiter "Impressor" from PSP
- kick 1: as is
- kick 2: equalization.
The two kicks are found on a bus with "AR TG" from Waves for general equalization and "MJUR" from Klanghelm for compression/limiter.
- snare noise: as is
- snare: eqalistion for the presence
- hi-hat: equalization around 10 Khz and hi-hat close with steep cut below 150 Hz
- snap finger: doubling (Gdoubler) and equalization of + 2 dB at 5 Khz

Cheers

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Zp5Wl ... sp=sharing

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,
Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gt5dd7 ... sp=sharing

In general it was challange to get this mix right.
All instruments: Balance. I didn't change too much sound. Only kick drum.
I end up with a bit another balance then was on rough tract, but i think it sounds more full and smooth.

Cheers!

[PistolPete]

Title;Statistics - "MC088__EatMe__Shift_PistolPete"
Date;Friday, October 21, 2022
Loudness_Value;-19.09 LUFS
Loudness_Range;2.05 LU
Max_True_Peak_Level;-5.75 dBTP
Max_Momentary_Loudness;-16.85 LUFS
Max_Short_Term_Loudness;-17.99 LUFS
Sample Rate;48.000 kHz
Average RMS (AES-17) Left;-18.04 dB
Average RMS (AES-17) Right;-17.90 dB
Max. RMS Left;-16.53 dB
Max. RMS Right;-16.42 dB
Max. RMS;-16.42 dB
Min. Sample Value Left;-5.95 dB
Min. Sample Value Right;-5.92 dB
Max. Sample Value Left;-5.87 dB
Max. Sample Value Right;-5.84 dB
Peak Amplitude Left;-5.87 dB
Peak Amplitude Right;-5.84 dB
True Peak Left;-5.84 dB
True Peak Right;-5.75 dB
DC Offset Left;-oo dB
DC Offset Right;-oo dB
Bit Depth Left;24 bit
Bit Depth Right;24 bit
Estimated Pitch Left;2219.7Hz/C#6
Estimated Pitch Right;2232.0Hz/C#6

I hope I'm not too late.

I didn't nearly spend the time on this that I wish I would have, matter of fact I spent about 2 hours on it a few days ago and realized today was the deadline, so rushing before work, I bounced the track down to a wav, uploaded it to gdrive and hopefully I'm not too late.

This one was tough for me because I havent' listened to EDM in probably 15 years so I'm very unfamiliar with how it sounds now and this is probably the 1st EDM song I've ever mixed so it was tough knowing what to focus on and where to take it.

I was reading about a new technique using Pink noise to balance out each track for volume and so on this mix I tried it and it is quite a handy technique to quickly reach a good "blend" of volume to start with. Obviously after using automation and other things it deviates from the original "set" volumes for each track but it seemed pretty handy.

Anyhow I didn't do any EQ or Compression to any of the tracks individually. The only direct effects I added was to some of the synths and percussion sounds to give modulation, movement and some delay.

Other than that every track was routed to FX sends in which I had 2 reverbs, 1 compressor, 1 tape emulator, and 1 saturation and various send levels per track were used to create the blend I wanted.

I wish I would have had a LOT more time to do volume/panning automation and really set the movement of the synths in motion, but I took "alike" synthes that shared similar frequency ranges and staggared them with volume automation to battle every other measure to give motion to the mix.

Well I have to get to work. Wish I had more time but it is what it is... Heres my mix

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17116ux ... sp=sharing

[FromAtoZMix]

Hello everyone,

A few word from me how and ...how? First of all gain staging, balance next, little panning, then EQ/Compression to the taste, very light compression just to catch some peaks at the same time rise some bottoms of the file. EQ/Compression based mainly on UAD API Channel strip, I like coherency within mix so one plugin on all channels is what I have been looking for.
SnR - extra from Waves Kramer DR, then a little flavour from Eventide Ultrachannel, Some tracks has been sent to Reverb Aux for more coherence - I used Seventh Heaven Plugin (plate - rich plate,) The main lead sent to Eventide H910 Dual Harmonizer ( organ Spread)
Another track with an extra is claps, used UAD LA2A plus sent to Plate Rverb from Arturia, that is all about tracks.
Master bus, Bx-digital, little filtering M/S , spread 110%, Gullfoss for restore some sound cancelation - 20%, then Ozone 10 - I'm still testing this bundle, so I used an occasion, then just a touch of Apogee Soft limiter before I sent all to my HW Unit Manley ELOP+, used ELOP+ Compression option 3:1, with needle balancing around 3, should no more than 1-2 db of compression. Final stage is RND MBC, I have pushed about 5db gain on device having still 8-12db dynamic range. Also used 30% Silk Red jus to bring that midrange up a bit. That is it.
Some Statistics:
Integrated - 12.7, Short Term - 12.5, Momentary - !2.5, RMS -12/-9 True Peak -1.5,

and the file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14b3LqB ... sp=sharing

Thanks for all efforts and opportunities here. You guys doing an awesome work here. Cheers.

[Locrais]

Drums:
-Kick 1 cleaned with Soothe and ProQ. SplitEQ to decrease tonal content in low freqs and transients in hi freqs
-Kick 2 phase reversed and ProQ to remove low resonances
-Kicks automated in the 3rd part to sit together
-The rest of the kit has been filtered and eqed with ProQ
-Drum Buss: Gainstation for saturation, Tan for compression and FireTheClip for clipping (all by Acustica Audio)

Bass
-Track 02a only Gainstation for saturation and small eq
-Track 02b ProQ for filtering
-Bass Buss: SpaceControl (AA) for monoing the low freqs and Soothe side-chained with kicks to avoid masking. Light automations

Synths
-Gentle eqing on most of them and automations
-Synth buss: Soothe side-chained with kicks to avoid masking, FireTheBuss compression.

FX
Room reverb (Silver by AA) added to all but low frequency instruments, followed by soothe and ProQ to create space for dry.

Master Buss
Tulip for compression and eq> Gainstation for saturation> CelestialME for saturation and hi freqs compression > Spacecontrol for stereo manipulation


Hope you like it
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gQWoGr ... sp=sharing

[Coiled_Ear]

Here I go - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1btEfBW ... sp=sharing
So mainly I was attempting to make this track more "faster" in terms of feeling. So I've added some short delay to hihats, and transient shaper as well. A lot of tamed midrange again to increase perceived vibe of speed. Also I used Ableton's Autopan in tremolo mode (phase 360) at many tracks to make them shorter and punchier. I've also mixed effected tracks with dry version to make them work like layering technique in electronic music. Also I've changed the sound of kicks a lot, a lot more punch and clarity.
Cheers and goodluck to everyone!

[AskAndy]

Tried to be sure the kick and the snare and the low end were the primary emphasis of the mix. I have nothing on my master bus except an L1 limiter just to take down the peaks. Main interest in this was to use Neutron 4 and have the AI decide. All the drum tracks are sent to a drum bus, the tracks themselves just have a Neutron eq, the drum bus has Neutron 4 and I let the AI make all the decisions. As far as the synths, they each have their own version of neutron 4 and again I let the AI make all the decisions. I have three auxiliary effects tracks. The synths are bussed to a synth bus. Also, All but 1 synth go to either one ax track or another aux track each has a version of kilo hearts trance gate one set for 1/16th beat one set for a version of 1/8 beat. The remaining synth is sent to another effects auxx that has an Eventide Phaser and an aural exciter, and is also sent to the 116th aux track. Automation throughout gave it my best shot to make it interesting. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Al0k-deoMtpH4xOLWKa ... c?e=zY9hmd

[againstpower]

Hi everyone,

here my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PKzzPG ... sp=sharing
I would like to receive comments beyond the challenge itself....... to do better next times

I mixed completely ITB. I not used dry tracks and i started with gain staging for all tracks, pan in the stereo field and balance the rough mix. All tracks were low-passed some also high-passed, a light compression to catch peak, then EQ to remove some resonances and tone adjustment.

Routing:
- All piano tracks in a sub-bus called PIANO
- All synth tracks in a sub-bus (SYNTH) except for synth bass which is routed to bus BASS
- PIANO, SYNTH and Flute track in a bus (ARMONIA&MELODIA)
- Kick tracks in a sub bus (KICK) - Snare tracks in a sub bus (SNARE) - Hit Hat track in a sub bus (HH) - All this sub-busses are routed in a DRUM bus
- DRUM and BASS busses and Fingers track are routed to a bus called RITMICA. A bus called SUB-FREQUENCIES is also created by kick and bass bus send, on this bus a HPF and LPF is applied. Parallel compression is done (kick and snare send to a kick/snare parallel bus)
- RITMICA, ARMONIA&MELODIA, SUB-FREQUENCIES are routed to MIXBUS.

In detail:
Harp&Flute: distortion post fader
Piano fortissimo 01e: just some distortion. For other piano track just comp and eq, as I said
PIANO BUS: SSLcomp for glue and Steinberg soft clipper plugin in post fader
Synth1: distortion and saturation post fader
Superwave synth and MauSynth1LEAD:tube compression post fader
SYNTH BUS: sslcomp fro glue, scheps eq plugin pre fader, and saturation post fader
ARMONIA&MELODIA BUS: Multiband compressor with kick bus in side chain and automated saturation
BASS1: comp kick2 side chain
BASS2: comp kick1 side chain and automated light saturation
BASSO BUS: ssl eq and sslcomp for glue. I also used a filter with automations
KICK BUS: ssl eq and sslcomp for glue
SUBFREQUENCIES BUS: PLUGIN subfilter to punch low-end,waves maxxbass with automations ad a mid/side filter to eliminate side low frequencies
SNARE BUS: ssl eq and sslcomp for glue. Also a little bit of saturation.
HIHAT BUS: ssl eq and sslcomp for glue and saturation
DRUM BUS: ssl eq and sslcomp for glue.
Parallel BUS: comp waves cla76
SnapFinger: just comp ed eg as I said
RITMICA BUS: sslcomp for glue pre fader, subfilter plugin post fader.
MIXBUS: sslcomp for glue and puigtec eq for some frequencies adjustment

Effect:
Reverb for piano bus (room work ) and snare bus (h-reverb). Delay and some reverb for bass bus. Flanger or chorus for synth bus with automations.
Stereo delay (left sync 1/2, right sync 1/4) followed by reverb for snap finger track.

Volume and lfo pan automation for movements

TP: -1.3db - LUFS: -16.6

That's all folks! Cheers

[scottfitz]

Hi all,
Great track to work on, thanks to EatMe and Mister Fox.

I used all the dry tracks. Working in Protools and mainly on headphones.

Bass
Bass1 - no separate process
Bass2 - HPF 50Hz, LPF 3kHz

I sent the two basses to a sub aux where I used a 40 Hz LPF then saturation then an 80Hz HPF to create the higher harmonics that the sub bass contains to give the impression of sub bass without the actual fundamentals of that. This was a trick I learnt from Dan Worrall's YouTube channel.

Then the two bass synths plus this sub all get sent to the bass aux which has EQ:

-3dB @260Hz,
a side only EQ HPF @350Hz to make below that (mostly) mono
+2dB @3kHz

then to the RCompressor (23.1ms attack/38.5ms release 3:1 ratio) then to the sidechain from ShaperBox2 at 70% wet from around 200Hz down

Drums
Kick1
+3dB wide bell @90Hz
-5dB cut 220Hz
-3dB cut 700Hz

Kick2
+6dB wide bell @ 65Hz
-5dB cut 200Hz
-2dB cut 470Hz
+3 dB 3kHz boost


used the transient shaper to cut a bit from that snare noise track. Sent the 2 snares to lo-fi plugin and separately to room reverb. The drum bus goes to Softube FET compressor and the parallel drum bus goes to Mike-E CompSat, but that's only kick and snare.

Synths
For the higher synths I grouped first into the ones that play in 3s, the ones that play in 4s and the lead

Synth 3s
1kHz dip
4kHz boost

The 4s
got dips and both 700Hz and 1kHz
big boost at 4kHz

Then split the song into sections giving each section a separate synth3s and synth 4s bus then used automation to jump into each new section. The sections contain a different flavour by using modulation effects from Valhalla UberMod, MetaFilter, Brauer Motion, NI Flair.

Lead Synth
roll off from @4kHz up
used soothe2 to tame some of the intensity
Valhalla UberMod
ValhallaDelay vocal reverb preset
has one of the other synths put through to the same reverb by muting copy of track, using prefader send, gating and sending through upward expander which is triggered by the lead synth.

I created an 'explosion' for 2 key transitions, it was tricky and I wasn't 100% happy with the result, but enjoyed the experiment. It was done by sending a number of tracks to 3 transition busses with an automation shape to create building tension then release and a crazy filter via FabFilter Volcano3.

everything is sent to an ambience reverb at a very low level to try to glue the mix.

The mixbus:
Softube Tape Saturation
SSL compressor doing 2dB GR, 4:1 ratio, 10ms attack, auto release
puigtec +0.5dB 30Hz +0.5dB 10kHz
soft clipping

here's the link for the mix
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rmeM6M ... sp=sharing
Thanks all