MIX CHALLENGE - MC088 October 2022 - Winners announced

[zajus]

Hello,

I am honoured to have made it to Round 2! Thanks @EatMe for such a clear and useful feedback, I am sure incorporating it has made my mix significantly better. Let me address the individual points:

The superwave p8 synth has lost a bit of its staccato groove: I have reintroduced it with a subtle 16th note tremolo effect
The synth tracks do not have as much momentum as the original.: At first the synth tracks (mainly the MauSynth) seemed too dynamic, so I may have compressed them to tame the fluctuations. I have dialled that back a bit now.
The intro (gainstaging) is beautiful: Thank you
The snare drum is too snappy in its attack time and needs a longer initial attack peak: Agreed, I have overdone it with the transient shaper. It sounds much better without it.
The snare drum almost sounds replaced with a 808 snare, losing the original snare drum noise color and length: Absolutely correct, I have somehow lost the original snare during the mixing process. Now they should be much better balanced.
The snaps have been mixed in at a too low volume to really hear them (on speakers).: Should be better now.

Here is my revised mix: MC088__EatMe__Shift__Zajus_R2.wav

Good luck everyone to the second round!

Stepan

[FromAtoZMix]

Hello Round Two! For the first time!

First of all there is no big change in EQ, FX or compression, I focused on arrangement and something extra I could squeezed from tracks. I had to fix some bits and pieces. volume first, now should -16 LUFS, plus minus 0.5. That diff comes from HW Units. I have tried some many settings and I was given either -17 LUFS or -14.5 LUFS. After bounce x10 finally I got that middle point. Dynamic Range around 14dB.
I wanted mix to be more dense, more "glue". I used some filters on in few sections, made bass more punchy and with the clock. I reduced sustain a bit and added some transients. Both kicks and snares put in phase, made both synths more in rhythm with the rest. Split them left/right. Also cleaned with EQ some tracks so they could match to each other. Less fight for the same freq. Finally some Mid/Side EQ, just to make more space for Low End and Kick.
That would be all, Best.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10aG8p4 ... share_link

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,
I am very happy to be in second round.
I changed a bit of sounds. Make it to have same emotion as tracks that you like, with balance that i had before.
Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ieepRW ... sp=sharing

Cheers!

[EatMe]

Hello Round Two! For the first time!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10aG8p4 ... share_link

Your file has been set to private. Please enable "For anyone with the link".

[EatMe]

I am collecting all the mixes as we go..

I will have a monitor speaker and headphone listening session on Saturday,
then I will have a big sound listening at a friend of mine on Sunday.

I hope to declare who is best with details about the mixes on Monday.

Thank you very much, so far, and everybody.

[Davias]

Hello,

Thank you for selecting my mix for the round 2 and for the review !

So I did remove a bit of mids on the instruments, I made the snare and the clap more presents, I backed down the global saturation and removed it from some tracks. I did a slight rebalance and EQ on some tracks, added a bit of tape emu on the beat and bass, I ducked the fast paced synth with the piano to add a bit more motion, I backed down compression on the 2nd buss (I guess that's why the mix seemed "limited" ?), I tamed the mausynth to soften it a bit while keeping lower freq motion and to glue it a bit more in the mix, finally I isolated a bit better the flute like sound that is hidden in the "harp" synth, I would have like to make it a bit more in rhythm n staccato but no time left, but it gives some eerie feeling

I did listen to many mixes of the others and some were very impressive and inspiring, but I decided to keep going in my own mix style, let's hope I did well

Here's the mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xUrryZ ... share_link

Good luck everyone !

[ggibson1988]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hG74Cq ... sp=sharing

Thank you @EatMe for the vote into the 2nd round!

Per feedback:

Spread out and lowered gain increase on all tracks to remedy quick step, easing more into mild “crescendo” ending. Added reverb to final kick to enhance ending.

Added tape saturation and 1176 compressor to kick 2 and added additional EQ and inverted phase (automated when both kicks are in) to Kick 1 to bring out click and punch to both.

Also inverted phase on both snare and snare noise as this was canceling out every other kick.

Added additional dynamic eq to Bass Buss, side chained to both kicks, ducking at 68 Hz, -16.1 dB threshold, and 140 Hz with threshold set at -12.6 dB.

And added slight delay to MauSyth (Slightly modulated slap)



In addition to feedback:
Cleaned up eq on masked tracks using multi band compressor and FabFilter to isolate low(0-200 Hz), mid(200-4.5kHz) and Highs(4.5-20kHz). And added slight delay to MauSyth (Slightly modulated slap).

Hope you enjoy! I had a great time with this project!

[EatMe]

@alanvaldez and @dewho you have 20 minutes to turn in your mix..
@FromAtoZMix you have 20 minutes to set your download link to "For anybody with the link".. (google login required)

A big thank you to
@Alex Van mixland
@alavault
@andreybenassi
@Davias
@doobop
@ggibson1988
@maxovrdrive
@MFTWC
@PistolPete
@rvalle
@studio equator
@zajus
for sending in your mixes.

I am overwhelmed by the quality of your mixes.

I will have a listening session on Saturday on monitor speakers and headphones,
and on Sunday I will listen on big sound at a friend.

Monday I will be back with the details about each mich and which ones I find the best.

Special thanks to Mister Fox for organizing this quality competition and supplying the winners with prizes each month.

[EatMe]

Some interesting statistics.. moved to later post.

[alanvaldez]

@alanvaldez

Hi!!! I´ve made all tha changes needed, thank you for all the kind words on my mix and for the opportunity to be here!


Enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z1Nt9f ... share_link