MIX CHALLENGE - MC090 February 2023 - Winners announced

[cmopro]

A very nice song to mix...

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxbz41n0btdf4 ... e.wav?dl=0

[Locrais]

Hi everyone, here's my mix

After a static mix, I started playing with reverb to find the right space for the song. I set with AA Silver vol M, room 2. The rev receive nearly all the tracks at different levels but the drum (only the OH has a send). It is than EQd and controlled by Soothe2.

After the general vibe was set, I proceeded to create space and feel for the individual tracks.

The Lead Vox has been shaped with steps of eqs compressor and limiters and than I used Sonnox Doubler to give it a bit of extra space.

Than I turned to the Kick and Bass interaction, shaped individually with eq, comp, different saturators and than used Trackspacer on the bass to let the kick coming out a tad more. The rest of the drums has been EQd to taste and the snare compressed.

The rest of the tracks have just some EQ.

BVox 3 at last, has been crushed with Devil-Loc deluxe, EQd and widened with Sonnox Doubler.

The StereoBuss host AA Tulip Pre that gives a little extra vibe, AA Tiger for compressing duty shaving 2 db, AA Gainstation2 for a little extra thickness and Gullfoss Master barley moving for some openness.


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

[Mister Fox]

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


So many new users, welcome!

As of this moment, we have about 70 mixes. Maybe we can reach over 100 again?
Let's see what the "final rush" will be about

If you've been sitting on your mix, now is the time to get everything sorted out, post both your link and documentation. Do not forget the deadline. And please triple check that everything is in order (file format, signal strength, accessibility -- your entry is final!).

[Andreas_Ko]

Hi everyone,

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k6ytSf ... sp=sharing

mixed ITB

kick: SSL CS
snare: waves dbx160, IK EQ81, SSL CS
tambourine: mcdsp 6030 comp, SSL CS
toms: phoenix, IK pultec, mcdsp 6030 comp, SSL CS
ride: mcdsp E606
room: focusrite red 3, SSL CS
bass: phoenix, SSL x-sat, PA mc 77, IK EQ81, SSL CS
GTR - electric rhythm: phoenix, SSL x-sat, 1176, IK EQ PB, SSL CS
GTR - acoustic solo: phoenix, SSL x-sat, PA mc 77, SSL CS
acoustic: SSL x-sat, BF-3A, IK EQ81, IK sat x, SSL CS
solo: phoenix, SSL x-sat, SSL CS
all synths: nothing special, slightly EQing and minimal compression
lead vox: phoenix, SSL x-sat, CL1B, IK de-esser, SSL CS
low bgvs: phoenix , avid 304c, mcdsp de-esser, SSL CS
hi bgvs: SSL x-sat , mcdsp mc2000, IK de-esser, SSL CS
FXs are basic and standard ones: Lex hall, chamber, Lex chorus, H3000 harmonizer, 1/4 ddl, slap ddl

[ggibson1988]

What a fun song to mix. Thank you for the opportunity. Hope you enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BcjK6x ... share_link

1st: Gain Staged every track to -18db.
2nd: Added UAD Neve 1073 to all tracks using Preamp only, set at -10 to -15 db, then committed all tracks.

Aligned all drum tracks to top snare to eliminate phase issues.

Did rough balance on drums.

Duplicated Bass: high pass on one, low pass on the other. Added Sans Amp to high-passed track. Used Arousor (Distressor) plug in on both tracks, and EQ. Both summed to Sub Bus with 1176 plug in for final compression.

Next rough balance. Starting with Drums, followed by bass, then vocals, guitars, then keys.

Light compression and EQ on LV, with heavy parallel compression tucked up underneath.

Fairchild plug in on LV Sub Bus.

Re-Amped all clean guitars, split all stereo guitars to mono (added delay to one channel and additional saturation to the other to create separation,), and panned all guitars hard left and right. EQ and Fairchild and/or Arousor on all guitar tracks and sub busses.

Added LCR reverb to guitars and vocals (automation on vocals +/- 5db).

Added slap delay long throw delays on vocals.

Volume automation added to all sub busses (guitar, bass, drum, vocals, keys).

Master Bus: UAD API 2500 Comp just tickling the needle on Mix Glue Preset. Pultec EQP-1A with boost / attenuation at 60hz. Boost at 10k. SSL Stereo Image, Mid - Side EQ, and tape saturation.

[1ktone]

Hi everyone,

First time poster. Haven't even had the time to be a long time lurker. Went for a stroll on the net and found this site.
Thank you for the great track to mix. Nice to hear clean tracks to play with.

I listened to the track once and thought this might be bit of fun. It became an interesting experience.

My interpretation of the song:

https://mega.nz/file/fjYCjJAC#OuSmwHoNy ... Lq_7V5q-0s

I discovered that the track really worked for me when I found the place for the snare. This track seemed to be really about the drums, bass, acoustic guitar and vocals. I like Cristian's voice. It's very listenable and he has a good heart.

The mix was completed in Logic Pro. I used a lot of instances of Space D. I can't ghet enough of that reverb for things.

Another plugin I really like using is the TB Audio GSat+. That gets used a lot with 2X Oversample. It sounds great on kicks.

I bussed the TOMs on their own buss directly to the stereo out I used the TR5 Comprexxor on them as a group and panned each individual drum left and right - so 2 left 2 right. I like the sound of the comprexxor on toms. I think I'm a fan of the way it can just make them. nice and solid.

The snare has a chorus and a tape delay on it to give it some shape, tone and space. It sends to Sapce D reverb instance.That became my favourite sound and really brought the mix together for me.

My main EQ was the Logic channel EQ and mostly the Logic compressor for general duties.

The majority of channels were run through a Lindell 80 channel strip. Mostly just for the tone with a small tweak here and there for eq and compression.

That plugin really does sound nice on a lot of material.

The Mix buss has a Lindell 80 bus strip, a bx-townhouse compressor and A Newfangled Audio Elevate for peak catching.

It still feels like a work in progress and I could easily keep carving away. Time is what it is.

It has been a lot of fun to do and I'm looking forward to doing more.

Cheers.
VJ

[Vanilla Puff]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kvPau6 ... sp=sharing
44.1 kHz, 24 Bit, -18.2 LUFS, -2.2 dBTP
Wanted to maintain original sonics of the recordings and add some movement and little moments in the track.
Drums don't have much on it, they all go to a bus, where they get compressed and expanded, the pre eq of compressor is automated.
There is disperser on a kick to make it go a bit deeper.
Lead vocal has some compression, de-esser, some saturation to bring it way forward. Vocal group has dynamic eq with sidechain from bottom bass part to remove some of the mud.
Decided to make a duplicate track of a bass part and treat them separately. Top end part has some widening and saturation, transient gainer. Bottom part has disperser, saturation and sidechain compressor that ducks from kick slightly.
Keys are panned and saturated.
Mainly relied on automation to push the track a bit forward, opening and closing some compression and FX, gain adjustments.

[edwarkmonk]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kx9puyja992mg ... k.wav?dl=0

At first you will hear filtered drums, this done by using low pass filter automation on master buss.
Then you can hear punchy drums in intro bridge. This brought by heavily processed DRUM ROOM tracks, soothe, saturator, compressor.
And also acoustic solo, with a bit altered sound. This cause by using Bluecat Audio Re-guitar, a nice tool to alternate guitar vibes.
You can also hear fake double track guitars time to time. This is TDR Proximity with ADT preset.
Vocals processing is quite straight forward, I used Nomad 80s space reverb in aux busses.
I made claps to work together with that snare. So we can hear kind of "daft punk" effect from Random access memory, kind of.
Acoustic - it plays one track in verses and fake double tracked in choruses to make them more wide.
Solo guitar has quite interesting processing. Some Microshift automation in the end of the part, subtle yet effective. And Echoboy in the last mode, got that "endless" but short delay.
In the end Vocal has some Hall reverb automation.
Bass has two tracks, one processed to default eq, sidechain comp and compressor than. And another passed through the AMPEG svt collection.
Master buss - nothing fancy, bus compressor (0.5 gr), limiter (some peak reduction) and slight eq to shape overall tone.

[cpsmusic]

Hi Everyone,

Here's my entry for Mix Challenge 090.

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

First off I'd like to say that this is one of the best produced and arranged tracks that I've come across in the various Mix Challenges, so well-done to the song provider and thanks for giving us some high-quality material to work with.

Also thanks to the challenge organisers.

In terms of style, I tried to go for a "bright pop" vibe with a touch more low end - sort of like "Careless Whisper meets 2020s pop" lol!

The majority of the mix was done on headphones (Sennheiser HD650s) using DearVR Monitor (room simulation) and TB Morphit (EQ correction) although I checked the mix at various stages using a range of different playback devices including Apple ear buds, Beyer DT770 Pros, and Yamaha NS625 monitors. The DAW used was Studio One Pro.

As with my previous mixes, I tried to keep the plug-ins to a minimum (not sure if I succeeded!) so the majority of the processing was done using TDR's SlickEQ GE, Fuse's VCL-4 (slow levelling), and BRA VLA-FET (fast compression). As mentioned above, I was going for a "bright pop" sound and one of the ways I tried to get there was by using Audiothing's Type-B which replicates the infamous Aphex Aural Exciter. These things are very addictive (lol!) so if I've gone too far with it and the mix cuts your head off I apologise in advance!

For the guitar solo I was aiming for a Santana-esque tone which I created using a combination of Fuse's Big-Sur and El-Germano plug-ins.

For the lead vocal chain I used my tracking gear - a DBX162SL and a Warm Audio WA273-EQ. I used both channels of the DBX, the first reducing peaks and the second doing overall levelling. The WA273 added a touch of EQ.

For the effects processing I tried to emulate the "CLA approach" using four reverbs and four delays. The four reverbs were a vocal plate, a room, a hall and a non-linear "effect" reverb. All the reverbs were IRs. I also used four delays - a vocal slap, a quarter note, an eighth note and a throw that was mainly used for the lead tracks.

I tried a different mixbus for this mix, using a hybrid approach. The mixbus consisted of Acustica Taupe, Aphex Compellor 320A (hardware), SPL Vitalizer (hardware), TDR Nova GE and Sonnox Inflator. The Nova GE was added right at the end because I found that despite my best efforts the mix was less bright than the commercial pop mixes I was referencing.

Specs:

44.1kHz/24-bit
-22.4 LUFS (int.)
-1.4 dBTP

Good luck to all contestants and once again thanks to everyone involved in the challenge.

Cheers!

[RB310]

My goal for this challenge was to see if I could get a song mixed within a couple hours. My idea was to keep the song somewhat mellow. I was not aiming for a bright and shiny mix. I wanted to take a different approach and make everything "midrange".

I kept most elements untouched and balanced out the mix. But when it came to the bass, I eq'd out some of the lower mid frequencies in order to make room for the kick drum. I boosted the kick drum in the low end quite a bit, but I tried to keep the brightness natural and let it come from the overheads. Also, I pulled back some of the attack on the snare with eq in the upper midrange and rolled off some of the top end because it was poking out a little too much for my liking. When it came to the vocals, I pretty much kept them untouched and slapped on a compressor to even them out. I already liked the way that they were sounding so I didn't try to take too much away from the tone that it was already giving. Pretty much I liked the overall tone of the tracks in the mix and just did mostly compression and leveling with the faders to give it a dry, simple approach. I wanted to add effects and delays but simply did not have the time. But I did really enjoy the song. It was a good one. Thank you.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r8-E-_ ... share_link