MIX CHALLENGE - MC092 June 2023 - Winners announced

[Christoph_K]

What a great fun to mix this cool track, a big thank you to Pål Solberg (@Naturecord) for providing the files and going through this process!

First I used SoundRadix Auto Aligner 2 for all the tracks with a significant amount of bleed and let it to its work. It was not a day and night difference but the lower midrange seemed to be a bit more transparent and overall the tracks sounded a bit cleaner and a bit more forward so to say.

Drums+Perc
I used SSL4K Strips, 160dbx on the kick and cajun, Fatso on the Overheads and some parallel compression for kick and snare.

Bass
I used the Ozone Master Rebalance on the Royer track to push back the bleed a little bitt. To get a more consistent low-end I copied the U47 track, low passed it at 200hz and compressed the hell out of it with a distressor. Then I used bx_subsynth to get more low lows, followed by L1 limiter and another low pass filter at 100hz. I played with the phase on the low low tracks and ended up flipping it, because it was, well, better. The other two tracks have a high pass at 100hz. The Bass is then split up into two channels, one emphasizing more midrange and the other one the low-end frequencies and blended to taste.

Guitar+Banjo
A little bit of brainworx BlackBox HG and LA3A, SSL9000 Channelstrip for EQ.

Accordion
The Acustica Audio ElRay is looking for the dynamics, followed by the SSL9000.

The Fiddle
Just some compression with LA3A + SSL9000.

The Vocals
Fist I cut out all the bleed stuff in the lead vocals. The channels for all three have Waves MV2, UA1176 RevA. UA LA2A, SSL4k.

BGV
In one of the tracks I found some notes wich were off so I corrected them with Melodyne. All BGVs go into the Chandler Zener Limiter and SSL4k.

FX
I used a little bit of the UA Hitsville for the vocals to give them a little bit of space and vibe. Guitar, Banjo and Fiddle got a little Abbey Road Plate. The Cajun got a tight room with a bricasti simulation and the BGV have some Ursa Space Station to thicken them up.

Mixbus
First Standard Clip to get rid of some transients (just a touch), SSL Buscomp, Chandler Germanium, Hitsville EQ, Studer 800 followed by the Oxford limiter.

Here’s my entry:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uj6pqio46svy3 ... K.wav?dl=0

[cpsmusic]

Hi All,

I'm unclear as to how the BVs have been recorded.

In the notes it says "the backing vocals were done in the same room at the same time as the rest of the instruments."

Later in the notes it's mentioned that there "are double tracks to generate more volume in the production."

Am I right in thinking that all the BVs are overdubs? It doesn't sound like there's any spill from the band in them.

Cheers!

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

What a great fun to mix this cool track, a big thank you to Pål Solberg (@Naturecord) for providing the files and going through this process!



Here’s my entry:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uj6pqio46svy3 ... K.wav?dl=0

Hi Christoph,

and again you have set the bar! and pretty high, nice mix. We'll have to work hard to top that I will certainly do my best ;-)

Cheers,

Jeroen

[MartialFromentin]

Hi everyone!

This song is really fun!

My mix details:
- Helios strip channel on all the tracks (saturation and Eq, I really love it)
- Stompbox tracks: dbx160
- Cajun tracks: dbx160
- OH: dxb160 (parallel)
- Drums bus: Eq and sat., transient shaper, limiter
- Bass: Distressor
- Guitar: 2 mics panned 100%, Fresh Air plugin, little comp. for dynamic
- Banjo tracks: Fresh Air plugin, little comp. for dynamic
- Violin tracks: little comp. for dynamic
- Instruments bus: Pultec Eq, Vari-mu comp. for glue
- Vox: gain rider, de-esser, some comps. and Eqs, limiter, tube saturation
- Reverb bus: only 1 plate reverb (RO-GOLD) for the whole song, different send level depending on the instrument...
- Mix bus: Baxandall Eq, SSL bus comp., Tape sat., tilt Eq

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rtczY3 ... drive_link

[Mister Fox]

I'm unclear as to how the BVs have been recorded.

...

Am I right in thinking that all the BVs are overdubs? It doesn't sound like there's any spill from the band in them.

I think the confusion resides with the comment "in the same room as the rest of the instruments". But it's actually quite simple.


The band was recorded together in one and the same room, just in sections:

• We got the main song recording (instrumental)
• We got individual overdubs (Banjo Solo and Fiddle Solo)
• We got the vocals in two layers -- recorded "without instruments" (aka: overdubs).
  • Layer 01: VOX (Magnus, Angel and Marianne -- lead vocals and chorus doubles)
  • Layer 02; BVOX (additional aah's in layers A and B)

You do hear the vocal mics bleeding into each other though. This wouldn't happen if everyone was recorded individually or in a dedicated booth.


At least this is my understanding. I'll let @Naturecord know that this is an open question.

[Pingafuego]

Thanks @Naturecord and Salige Syndere for this opportunity to mix such a great song, very well recorded and dynamic!

In my attempt, I used Reaper stock plugins, with exception of Waves Renaissance Vox for the lead vocals.

Main vocals: filtered the vocals (HP filter), and boosted some high frequencies (around 5k for presence, and 10k for air). Rvox and stock compressor in series, and a bit of saturation to help in the mix.

Backing vocals: HP filter, and boosts in the midrange (around 1,5k) and high freq (5k).

All vocals sent to a slap delay and Lexicon-type reverb (Ambience reverb).

Guitars: panned L/R, with EQ filtering low frequencies and boosting body, presence and air. Sent to delay to ambience and depth.

Banjos: eq filtering low frequencies, a bit of presence and air. Sent to Lexicon reverb (ambience bank).

Fiddle: eq filtering low frequencies and boosting mid range for tone. A bit of compression to tame. Sent to guitar delay.

Accordion: eq filtering low freq and boosting mids. Compression.

Bass: difficult to mix, since there is a lot of bleed. I filtered the low rumble, boosted low freq, mid @ 700hz, and presence @ 2.5k. Applied saturation , compression and a limiter.

Cajun: eq, compression (DBX type), and saturation. Eq, parallel compression and Reverb on the bus. The stompbox has some subsynth to boost low frequencies and DBX style compression.

Master bus: eq filtering extreme lows and high frequencies, compression, saturation and a limiter to catch some peaks.

Measured with Expose to comply to the Mix Challenge rules.

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

[mark9500]

OK - here's my take. Hope I've got the levels right!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Khdy33 ... sp=sharing

Mixed in the box, my approach started with a straight static mix - where there was a multi-mic option, I blended them to suit what I was hearing and the direction I thought they should go in. I used the drum samples sparingly - as reinforcement rather than 'the' sound. I gave the stomp pride of place as the bottom around 60Hz, then brought the bass in above that. I'm pretty aggressive on high passing, so everything else generally takes a low-end hit to make way.

Otherwise, I've used gentle compression on most tracks, a little EQ tweaking to help some things poke through here and there, and J37 tape saturation on just about everything. To help maintain the band-in-a-room vibe, I've stuck with one reverb (Valhalla Vintage) with a touch of delay on the lead vocal. The lead vocal has a fair chunk of clip gain (Pro Tools) management to help control the volume fluctuations prior to compression. Then it goes into a UA 1176/LA2A pair and a hint of Decapitator. The choir harmonies are running through a Kramer Tape emulation, with some tape echo to help thicken it up.

There's already a bunch of great mixes up here!

[BenRadix]

Hello everyone,

This is my first participation here, but actually I did it essentially for fun (and I really enjoyed it) !

A few words about my mix.

I did not use all the takes, when multiple mics were used I picked just one of the two which fitted best in the mix.The only exception is guitars, I used both tracks with a small L/R pan.

In terms of effects, nothing really fancy:

- several layers of compression on the lead voice (bx_opto by brainworxs, SSL X-ValveCompressor) and an insert with a small distortion (DIYRE Colour TM79)
- the bass tracks goes to a Drawmer 1969 for compression and to add some warm
- for the "Ahhh" backing vocals, I used melodyne and Vocalign to adjust everything
- compression on the Snare (SSL AWS)
- parallel compression on the two guitar tracks to add some crispness (Soundskulptor CP4500)
- EQs on all tracks (SSL AWS), again nothing super fancy

That was my first time EQ-ing a banjo and that was actually quite interesting ! On the reference mix, it sounded a bit "boomy" to my ears but actually if you don't lower the trebles it ended up being too agressive. Some subtle tuning was required here!

For the reverbs I used VSSD4HD Rich Hall (TC M6000) as the main reverb to create some space, EMT250 (TC M6000) for the plate on the Snare and Chambers (Lexicon) for the voices.

On my master bus I have the SSL compressor of the AWS and I used two MCI JH600 channelstrips in inserts. The MCI channelstrips were used to add some subtle distortion and for final EQ adjusment (essentially +1.5dB at 100Hz).

In terms of loudness, since the reference track was a -20LUFS, I aligned to this and my mix has the same level.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UT5C0k ... sp=sharing

[Valter Zape]

I used eq, compressor and gate on all channels. On the guitar I put a parallel track with amp clean to highlight the mids. On the bass I used a drive send and a delay send to add some stereo. I sidechained the bass with the kick drum. On the vocals I used a compressor, desser, gate, a compressor just working on the gain increase, and another lighter compressor. Reverb and delay effects.



Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-qVQMF ... drive_link

[Christoph_K]

Hi Christoph,

and again you have set the bar! and pretty high, nice mix. We'll have to work hard to top that I will certainly do my best ;-)

Cheers,

Jeroen

Thanks for the compliment
Let's see, it's always a matter of taste though.