MIX CHALLENGE - MC090 February 2023 - Winners announced

[barleyguy]

Hi. I'm brand new here, as you can tell from the post count. But this looked like fun.

So, for your consideration...

This is mixed in Reaper with mostly stock plugins, summed on an SSL Sigma

Main stereo bus:
Rupert Neve 5043 compressor (hardware), touching the tips, 2:1 ratio, for “glue”
ReaXComp, zero threshold, (bands at 300, 3400, 9500) just for glue and shimmer
Fairly Childish compressor, barely touching the tips, at -3.5 output because my raw track was 3 dB too loud for the rules
limiter at -1.2 peak that never got hit

Reverb bus (parallel): T.C. Electronics M-One XL effects processor (hardware) on Preset 65 “Pop vocals”, input knob at about 10:00, effect val knob at around 11:00, 100% wet, output -8.1 dB

Kick drum: ReaComp compressor, ReaEQ boosting the “thump” and the “beater” and rolling off some highs, soft limiter to prevent clipping

Snare top: ReaEQ boosting the snap and bringing down the ring, ReaComp, soft limiter to prevent clipping

Toms: Major toms compressor

Drum bus (parallel): Couture dynamic transient processor set to 2x, sent to reverb bus

Acoustic guitar: JS Delay w/Stereo bounce, Fairly childish compressor, sent to guitar bus

Electric guitar solo: sent to guitar bus

Guitar bus (parallel): Classic Thirty cab simulator on a very clean setting, sent to reverb bus

Bass: ReaComp compressor, ReaEQ Boosting around 700 hz, cutting around 5.5K and then a high rolloff

Rhodes: JS Delay w/Stereo bounce

Vox back 1: JS Chorus, 2 voices, 15 ms

Vox back 3: JS Subtractive stereo enhancer, MDA Pseudo stereo, for widening

Vox lead: Fairly childish compressor

All Vox tracks sent to reverb bus
All FX tracks sent to reverb bus

Cheers,

Harley.

Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B0Ztel ... sp=sharing

[Christoph_K]

Thanks to @cristian_condrea to provide the track for the challenge! It was a pleasure mixing this very well recorded tracks.

Again I used the Brauerize approach and I will only document things besides from the complex routings. First of all I thought the provided mix was very good and the only thing I could do was to go in a different direction. So I decided to have a slightly more intimate version of the song.

The Drums were quite "in your face" in the original mix so I tried to come up with a more saturated version where the drums sit a little bit more behind the vocals while still being punchy. The drum tracks have a Studer 800 plugin before they go into the SSL4k Channelstrip for EQ-ing and the parallel busses. Ist used the Oxford Drum Gate just for the automatic leveling function on the kick drum to make it more consistent.

The Bass is divided into two channels: Neck and Body. The Neck has the waves RS124 on it and the Body part goes through the Avalon737 and Blackbox. Both have the SSL9J Channelstrip for EQ and parallel processings of the Brauer template (Federal and Boiler).

The Acoustic Guitar has a little bit of Fairchild 670 compression, Blackbox, SSL4k EQ, Chamber and Plate. I used a blend of both the DI and Amp tracks for the melody and used a SansAmp on the already distorted track.

For the Guitar Solo I used the DI track to pull up another marshal sim to make a blend of the two. Soothe and Q3 to tame some resonances in the higher mids.

The Rhodes has a brigade chorus and the bx_bassdude on a duplicated track for some saturation. The Piano has SSL9J EQ to brighten it and LA3A.

The Organ goes through a Leslie plugin and I played with the rotary speeds here and there to gain some movement. I added quite a bit saturation with the Culture Vulture and The Oven to give it more grit.

The Synth in the middle eight has a ADA flanger.

I duplicated some of the BGV tracks and used the Waves REEL ADT to make them fake stereo and leave room in the center for the leadvocals. All the vocal tracks have a SSL4k, a 1176 and a Weiss Deesser, the lead vocals go through a blend of the compressors in the Brauer Template, only a slapback and a little ambience in the first half. The last chorusses have more reverb. I used a delay throw in the chorus to extend the metric of the melody, which now connects the vocals with the repetition of the guitar melody. Maybe it’s too much, but I like it, it makes it rolling along so to say.

Mixbus: SSL comp, Shadow Hills in the Chorus, Hitville EQ, Studer 800

Good luck everyone!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rygz8ldiwggxm ... K.wav?dl=0

[mahzinho]

Started with gain stage making all aligned, eqed what I belief was needed to and the same for compression with different levels / styles of compression; DAW of choice: Mixbus v7 by Harrison Consoles. Passed the tracks to Mixbuses 1 to 8 with some saturation and the same for the master channel (about saturation); Finally I recorded through my Alesis 3630 and aligned to a good mixed level shaping to -1.83 dBtp and -16.5 LUFS (int) what to me is good for a mixing level.
My entry: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BCpqNr ... share_link

[Nonlinear]

This is a really nice tune that is well crafted and arranged and was an absolute pleasure to mix. I wish @cristian_condrea and the band great success with the commercial release and thank them for sharing their tracks here.


The first time I heard this song what immediately jumped out was the guitar solo. I would have loved to hear a bluesy vs. distorted guitar sound - and they gave us a DI so we could do it! So that was my first mix change. A little bit of drive with a "tweed" cabinet emulation for that "Fender" sound I love.

The lead vocal, being the main focus element, was my next stop. I wanted to keep the vocal bright but sibilance was jumping out everywhere. My deesser wasn't controlling it sufficiently so I went through the track and automated every "S" and "T" while leaving the deesser on the track just to clean up any peaks.

On the drum tracks I added some Pultec-style EQ to fatten up the toms and kick while high-passing the cymbals and hi-hats to make them crisp. I added gating and compression to the kick with light saturation on the snare and drums bus overall.

Applied EQ to most other tracks as required to place each element in the spectrum while sending varying amounts to reverb for front-to-back depth.

MC090__Cristian_Condrea__Big_Eyes__Nonlinear.wav

[VasDim]

Hi all,
this is my attempt to mix:

https://mega.nz/file/OvpAzK7K#mEgAOfwxl ... TnuyX7gLic

For all track are used:
- Waves Q10;
- Waves C4;
- Db ProComp.

AUX Effect;
- Waves TrueVerb;
- Waves SuperTap;

Good luck to all.
VasDim

[alavault]

Mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bScuY- ... share_link
***
Word of the month: Smash
The idea for this month was to saturate everything—a lot.
***
Drums: Saturation, EQ, comp, saturation. Everywhere.
Gated Noise for snare ambiance.
AcGTR: Saturation, compression, saturation, EQ, saturation, limiter.
Lead GTR: Saturation, compression, EQ, compression, saturation. Short and long delay for ambiance.
Bass: do I need to repeat myself? saturation, comp, Eq. Twice. Into parallel comp and flanger.
Vocals: guess what? Saturation, EQ, comp. Twice. Plate and delay for ambiance.
BGV: Same as leadvox. Pinned with a limiter. Heavy deessing on them to not fight with the Lead.
Keys and FX: Saturation, especially for the organ, which is borderline burnt.
Every FX has a compressor and saturator (fast attack, slow release, low ratio)
Master bus: Two SSL 10-.1 and 30-Auto. Into Tessla and limiter.
***
Editing: aligning the BGV with the lead, and with themselves. I might try vocalign next time.

[kombainera]

Hi there this is my first mix here the song was very pleasant to work with. Used mostly good old eq and compression. On a master buss got only little bit comression and -2-3 db nocht on 2-3 resonances thats all. Hope to enjoy -25-24 LUFS

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BuwK5K ... sp=sharing

[MartialFromentin]

Hello!

Here is my version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16hxmXa ... sp=sharing

A quick summary of my mix:
- drums bus: 1176, Eq (transient shaper on kick, snare and toms)
- bass: Distressor, Tonelib Bassdrive
- acoustic guitar: Haas delay for width, tube saturation, Fresh Air plugin to hear the pick sound
- acoustic solo: 100% left, reverb 75% right
- electric rythm: 100% right, reverb 75% left
- all guitars bus: Eq, vari-mu comp.
- keys: organ 100% right, piano 100% left. Saturation and Eq for all keys
- strings : Eq
- vocals : gain rider, Eq for warmth, soft tonal comp., Eq for presence, fast comp. for intention, de-esser, limiter, tube saturation, Fresh Air plugin. Background vocals panned 50%, "Ooooooh" panned 100%, vocals doubler on "back3" track.
- reverbs bus: M/S Eq (mid: high freq. attenuation, side: high freq. boost)
- mix bus: SSL bus comp., Pultec Eq, tape saturation

I found the vocals really hard to de-ess dynamically, so I did it manually during the vocals gain automation process.

I tried to get a wide mix with the guitars and keys panning, so I found interesting to tighten the mix during the bridge to emphasize the song's end.
Bridge automations:
- acoustic guitar: 30% Haas delay width instead of 100% (same change for its last chord)
- vocals: no reverb, non linear filter (filter + saturation) to get some kind of "radio sound"
- wahwah FX : autopan (80%) to create some movement

And at last, I tried analog summing this time (Neve style), every track/bus has got a console emulation plugin with a tolerance parameter.

Hoping my version is not too far from the song provider's tastes...

[GpByPass]

Hello

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WImQ6Z ... share_link

DRUMS :
Kick, snare and HH : bx console SSL9000
Toms : SSQ from Analogue Obsession
Overhaeds : bx console Amek 9099
Drum Bus : PuigTec MEQ5 and EQP1A, Lindell SBC
H reverb for snare and tom

Bass : Scheps Omnichannel with Waves GTRAmp

Acoustic and electric rhythm guitar (clean) : AmpRoom from Softube
Electric solo (clean) : bx rockrack V3

Organ : UAD Neve 1073
Piano : Elysia Niveau Filter
Rhodes : Pedal board (delay, vibrato tube drive) (from studio one), Unfiltered Audio NeedlePoint, UAD Studio D Chorus,Saturation Knob from Softube

Bck Vocals bus : SSL Vocalstrip, UAD Studio D Chorus,UAD Hitsville reverb
Vox Back 3 : SSL vocalstrip, Redlightdist
Lead vx : bx Console SSL 9000, Rvox, Replika XT and H reverb

Bus master : bx townhouse buss comp, just little for glue

[FromAtoZMix]

Hello everyone, here is my approach to the mix,

There is a lot going on on my template, I have made 2x ScreenShots(5K), please review them and any Q please do not hesitate and ask.
Drums on the sub-fader, glue them with API2500 and EQ to taste along with the Mix.

The rest of the mix Pan, EQ, Compression and FX done to the taste, to make it big, wide and vibe-e. It is worth to mention entire session is sent to Out 3-4, to my HW section, Manley Elop+ - Warm Audio Bus Comp and RND MBC with 30% Silk Red. Limiter Set on the unit -6dB just to catch those peaks(mostly comes from drums), that gives me -17 LUFS Approx.

Thank you and good luck to everyone.

link:https://drive.google.com/file/d/18N82_r ... share_link

Shot 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yVJJFE ... share_link

Shot 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DxheTG ... share_link