MIX CHALLENGE - MC093 August 2023 - Winners announced

[EmClrk]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I0qPXk ... sp=sharing

Really enjoyed this one, thanks for providing it!

My main aim for the track was to do maintain the retro feel and sense of authenticity but with some more modern heft without gimmicks. General point of reference in my mind was somewhere between Muse and Queen.

First off I got to grips with the vocal recordings and chose what I felt were the most appropriate mic patterns for the individual singers and sections. I chose what I felt was a more upfront sound for the lead vocals and a slightly less upfront for the backing vocals, not by much though.

Then I went through some simple clip gain level balancing to get in the right ballpark to start mixing. I used the artists comments of wanting an upfront vocal and piano to allow those to lead the way for the initial stages and concentrated on the final section where most of the instruments were playing to get a rough mix of level and panning before sculpting anything beyond HP/LP filtering.

The vocals and piano were already sounding pretty good so I didn't want to dive into them before I'd got the drums and bass parts balanced around them. For the drums I tried to keep a retro feel, not too bright or reverby. I used fairly light compression for the kick and snare but used a parallel send for a heavier compression to bring up some subtleties in the playing and add some extra weight. Most of the drum mixing was top down from the drum buss. I did also add a dynamic EQ on the overheads to kick in around 3k when the snare hit to give it a little bit more width/space but not be too harsh the rest of the time.

I tried to get the bass tone I wanted by getting the right blend of mics and DI signals at first. I then added some compression to even things out and a parallel channel to concentrate on the mid range bite that I could bring in and out to accent runs and sections that needed to come forward a bit. Later on I added a chorus effect to give some width to allow more space in the middle for the kick and wrap the bass around the field a little bit before narrowing the very low end in the master buss.

For the piano I did very little in terms of EQ other than scuplting it around the bass and vocals. My main aim was for the piano to be chimey but not harsh. I created sub groups for the close mics and far mics and automated their levels throughout to create the depth I wanted.

The vocals sounded great in my opinion so I tried not to do too much. Some simple high ratio compression to tame the highest peaks but then manual clip gaining to get the balance right from phrase to phrase. I did use a multi band compressor to get more control over different regions of the register.

For the backing vocals it was mainly a matter of bring them up or down depending on the the lead vocal and providing a focus in the section beginning around 2.36

The leslie I approached similarly to the piano but with less of a focus on bringing it forwards.

For reverbs I used a small verb to create a room for all the parts to sit it. A huge reverb for the swirly effects and occasional vocal tails. A granular delay that fed into the huge verb mixed very low to give some width and variation. A mid sided reverb for a bit of extra size for vocals and drums when required. Lots of automation on all sends for these to sit right.

For the swirly effects it was more automation of levels again.

Would have loved to have more time to spend on it to give it a slightly more modern tilt, maybe a touch more sound design but I liked the retro vibe so went that way to begin with and stuck with it.

[ari5to5]

hi,

nice song!

my mix here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZIDP_Z ... sp=sharing

my comments:

Master: eq (low shelve, high cut), exciter, clip, limiter

Drums
Drum group: eq, clip, eq
drum paral. compression and eq
kick: eq, paral. saturation of lows, saturation
kick paral: gate, transient enhancer, saturation, multiband compression
snr: eq, saturation
toms and o/h: eq

Bass
All bass tracks (4) were grouped and treated as one with: dynamic eq, eq, sidechain compression (kick), widening. distortion was used on Bass DI

Prophet 1 & 2: eq

Piano
All piano tracks (4) were grouped and treated as one with: dynamic eq

Organ
All leslie tracks (4) were grouped and treated as one with: dynamic eq

radio - flat

tambourine: saturation, compression, eq

ac gtr: dynamic eq, tube compressor, widening

el gtr: hard panned and treated with eq and phase alignment plugin

Vox
LV (GAZ) was treated with vocal rider, compression, eq, dynamic eq and eq. LV rear mic and the provided fx - flat
BVs (Sion and Frank) were grouped and treated as one with compression, eq limiting and fx
BV (polarized) were grouped and treated as one with limiting and eq
LV FX: plate/room, shimmer, delay

[dstra]

Hi everyone,

I can only agree with the comments so far: great song, great performance, great recording. It was a pleasure to mix it, and yes, challenging too (dynamics, very different parts) . Here you can find the result: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-LGpi ... sp=sharing

Tracks
Gaz lead: eq, compressor, widener, reverb
BVs: eq, compressor, reverb
Sion BV4: eq, widener
Sion middle section yelps: eq, reverb, automated panner
Acoustic: eq
Electric guitar: eq, compressor, widener, reverb
Piano: eq, compressor
Leslie: eq, distortion (only on Leslie bottom condenser), compressor, reverb
Prophet: eq, widener (only on Prophet 2, automated)
Radio: eq, widener
Bass: eq (automated), compressor, sidechained dynamic eq (controled by Kick --> ducking low frequencies), widener
Kick: eq, widener, reverb
Snare: eq, widener, reverb
Toms: eq, compressor, limiter (only Rack tom), widener, reverb
Overhead drums: eq, sidechained dynamic eq (controled by Snare --> ducking the snare's lower frequencies)
Tambourine: eq, compressor
Cymbal scrapes: eq

Special effects: long reverb on "salute", explosion reverb after bridge
In general: a lot of volume automation

Buses
BV bus (choir): eq, compressor
Vocals bus: -
Instruments bus (guitars, keys): compressor
Drums bus: compressor
Main bus: compressor

Tools
DAW: Ardour (Linux)
Plugin bundles: Calf, LSP, Zam, Dragonfly and others (i.a. self-developed widener)

Hope you enjoy it!

[Mange]

Here´s my mix of this great fun, challenging song. Unfortunately not enough time to add that final touch. Will continue working on it a bit more to the portfolio. Great thing when artists agree to let us use their song for our advertisement.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xVIhBm ... p=drivesdk

Always fun a long while in the mix adding some console mojo. This time I think it was the rca console that just added that extra whatever. The second in Presonus ctc-1. There really isnt much to tell about the mix. Just bread and butter stuff tools used. Yeah, thats right, I added a throw delay, thats a truly rare occasion as I very much don´t like throw delays and risers. Use a musician instead insert something creative. Well, this time I thought it fit quite well with a throw delay.

I see some used wideners... I used a narrower. I´ll edit this post if I remember doing anything worth mentioning.

[Manii]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ia1Yws ... sp=sharing

Please find here a nicer player for those who only want to listen (and/or comment) : https://on.highnote.fm/space/7d46bf77-a ... 6db5f6ae3a

Here is my mix entry. It's been a very long time I didn't participate to a mix challenge due to early children at home, but I couldn't resist for this one. I mixed with headsets only during evening when children are in bed hahaha.. I hope the result will come good though. What a joy working on this song, I had a smile on the face from start to finish. Thank you to the author for sharing this one, such a privilege !

- I had 7 busses (drums, bass, guitars, piano, synths, main vocal, background vocals).
- I didn't do much on the single tracks except some EQ and compression, using mostly channel strip plugins from Lindell Audio.
- The main vox is heavily compressed to get this "in your face" sound, using SSL 9000J console from Plugin Alliance and also Kazrog True Dynamics plugin.
- I have some saturation plugins here and there, and automated also on the main vocal.
- I used a lot of automation on the volume but also for the effects (saturation, reverbs, delays, pannings)
- I have multiple reverbs going on (spring on the piano, plate and room for drums, chamber, delays and flangers for vocals)

My main focus was to make the sound consistent from start to finish, without quiet passages to feel empty, and to make it interesting and fun to listen to. I hope you will enjoy listening to it as much as I had producing it. Cheers!

Tools:
Studio One, Plugin Alliance channel strips, Kazrog True Dynamics, Process.Audio Spicerack and Comp.TWO, Valhalla Reverbs and Delays, Waves Brauer Motion for placement effects

[SuC76]

Hi, there,


big greetings to everyone on the mix challenge !

Here is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZUmpMN ... drive_link




DRUMS - goes to drums group, some FG-N EQ on low and top, Cla-76, added parallel with Uad Fairchild
and some stock eq on top and bottom, touch of plate reverb on snare and toms


BASS - goes to bass group, sidechain comp to kick, few dB, some filters on top and bottom, Cla-3A, FG-N,
added some 80Hz, 1.6k and 3.2k

GUITARS - Acc. guitars goes to one bus, added some comp., some chorus and some chorus.
Elec. guitars goes to one bus, added some FG-N 3.2k and some top, added some Cla-3A
All guitar are filtered on some bott and top

PIANOS - goes to piano bus, added some tops with stock eq and touch of delay, all tracks are filtered
LESLIE and other keys - goes to another bus, added some FG-N lows and 4.8k , FG-116, and some revival

GAZ LV - goes to one LV bus, added some Cla-76 Blue, FG-N around 2k and 5k,FG-Bomber,
automated delay and reverb through the song

All other BVS goes to another bus , added some Cla-76 Blue, stock eq, added some delay, reverb and chorus



Master Bus - Bus Compressor2 , 4:1, 1ms attack, auto rel. few dB of GR

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24... oh wait... we're actually not!

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	In agreement with the Song Provider @Gaz (Gaz Williams), we decided to extend the challenge deadline... ...until Thursday, 24-AUG-2023 23:59 UTC+2/CEST To those struggling for time, this gives you an extra 3 days to get your mix sorted out, and properly prepared prior to uploading. Additionally: I have also been very generous regarding the given Rules and Guidelines this month, especially towards new users. Some of you got PM's in recent days with the request to please check that your file is accessible to the public (do check in a private tab, or a dedicated browser!), and that you are using the provided filename template. This will be a final reminder to all participants to please pay attention to detail. To those users that are affected by this (currently 4 participants): You are allowed to fix the filename and/or the accessibility until the deadline has been reached. As long as you do not change anything else (as in - no re-upload!). I will cross-reference with what I already downloaded, and also with time-stamps on the forum. The Mix Pack bundled "TL;DR Rules.txt" exists for this very purpose. Have fun, and good luck!

As of this moment, we have about 42 entries.

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!).

[ZioPaperone358]

Hi guys

This is the link for my entry https://drive.google.com/file/d/19WRJPr ... sp=sharing

Sorry for being so inactive, I had a really intense year and the mix challenge slipped away.
As far as the mix went I tried to go for a more 70s sound. as far the processing goes I did:

Kick: cut quite a bit of lowmids 300-600, pushed the "knock" at 1.5k, compressed with 1:10 ratio between attack and relase (10ms att 100ms rel) at 4:1 ratio, put in a transient designer and then saturated the output.

Snare: gate, reduced low mids, enhance the stick attack a bit and cut a resonance at 3.5k, then the dynamic approach was similar to the kick (comp with slower attack), then I added a bit of reverb to it (not very 70s I know )

OH: cut the low mids (I left the fundamental of the snare), hp at around 120hz, boosted some high end, compressed a bit (3db) with an g style buss comp at fastest attack and fastest release (0.1ms and 100ms), then soothe2 to control the 2-10k area a bit and another soothe to control just the area around 8k. a bit of clipper to chop just the fastest transients. later on I added a bit of parallel comp with little saturation on it.

TOMS: cut low mids, hp the subs, boosted the high end, controlled the 3-4.5k area, compressed, saturated, a bit of reverb.

K and Snare were also sent to a devil loc in parallel
On the drum buss I had a tape emulator and ssl style comp with 10ms attack and 100ms release 4:1 with sc at 90hz.

ACOUSTICS GTRS: cut the lows, reduced low mids and a bit of the 1k area and boosted with a shelf from 2.5k up, compressed a bit (fast) saturated and sent to a chamber reverb.

BASS: DI louder than the amp, cut a couple of db at 250 lp at 6k, compressed (opto, quite colorful), MB transient designer to reduce even more the attack (around 1.5k). eq boost at 1.5k (now that the attack is smoothed out), saturated with an emphasis on the 170-450hz, RBass,MBcomp to control the low end and then later on I added a bit of parallel comp with little saturation.
DI: compressed with fast attack and quite fast release, with the sidechain so it would target the attack on the strings
AMP: compressed with extreme fast attack and slow release
SUB: lower in volume and compressed a bit.

EL GTR: microshift, fast comp, cut lows reduced low mid and enhanced high mids, saturation, soothe on high mids and 1/4 dly+spring. there are also 2 different distorsion: one for the solo and one for the last 2 parts after the solo.

LESLIE: cut lows reduced lomids and tamed the 1.7-3k area with soothe. boosted a bit of 700, widened the stereo and parallel comp. plate + 1/8 dly

Prophet fx: things changed during the song since it was playing different fxs. in general a bit of levelling, cut lows reduced low mids and different stereo fx, dlys and one reverbs during different parts of the song.

PROPHET SUPERSAW: cut the lows on the mid channel reduced the 400-500 area boosted a bit of 1k shelf on the high and saturated a bit. Widened a lot.

PIANO: Comp with slow attack and fast release with sidechain so that it target mostly the mids. hp at 60hz, boosted a bit of 1.7k a bit of 8k and reduced a bit the 500hz area and parallel comp. room reverb

LDVOX: reduced the 800hz area a bit (I saturated it later) tamed a lot the 2-4k area, top end shelf, very fast comp with slower release, de esser, parallel microshift and compression. lots of effects changing during the song (long reverb, short reverb, slap delay, delay+room, trow delay).

BACK VOX: On the guys vox I reduced the low mids, compressed, de esser, then sent to a short reverb and occasional slap. On the "Queen - like" vox I cut the lows, reduced the 1.2k area compressed, saturated and sent to a dimension d (arturia).

I did a loooot of automations, in volume, effects and small eq points depending on what instruments played with what and what's happening on the song. That in my opinion helped a ton. I know a some stuff may seems overprocessed (like the bass) but I was moving quickly so it was faster for me to address what I was hearing that way. All in all took me an afternoon to do it so perhaps there could be things to revisit.

I hope you like it! and if someone has any suggestions to make I'm looking foward to hear them!

Have a great day and week.
Alberto

[sthauge]

Thank to all contributors that make it possible to work on these tracks.

(there's a mixing mistake in the uploaded track that last for ca 20 seconds, see ENDNOTE)

This mix could be unfamiliar to many. Sound is always Left/Right and DEPT. To maintain the dept, this mix is not "glued". "Gluing" a mix will generally make the mix Left/Right only. By preserving the transients it's possible to make dept, air, space and separation in the mix. You might give yourselves some time to listen and get used to the sound.

There's a lot of ordinary work on the tracks, so I'm only comment on what I think is important.

Here are my impressions and actions on the song:

The lead vocal have some low midrange freq that need to be treated. I reduced some with EQ, but to not lose those freq when not necessary, I used a multi-band compressor to duck these freq only when they're to loud.

The bass is sort of woolly and need some more character. Some is gained by enhancing overtones and some with EQ. I experimented a bit and ended up flipping the phase on the bass condenser microphone and level it to give the result I think is best.

It's a lot of parallel compression on the mixbuses adjusted to fit the type of instruments/vocals on the different buses.

There's some very minor MS treatments on different buses depending on what I like to achieve with a solid senter and ok width

Automation:

The lead vocal are very dynamic. The band asked for upfront vocals. It's easy to get it to loud and to weak with the dynamic present in the track. To get it right the track needed a lot of automation to the leve it as even as I wanted.

The bass line have many nice parts that can increase the listening experience of the song. Some of the bass line parts are made more audible to achieve this.

-16.3 LUFS

-1.3 dBTP

48 kHz/24 bit

MC093__Rocketgoldstar__Born_Taurus_Man__Sthauge.wav

ENDNOTE: After I posted the track I was informed that my kick was out of sync for about 20 seconds. This was due to a movement on a little part of the kick track. I had a walk-through yesterday on what caused the 'out of sync'. I discussed it with my DAW vendor and the movement of the kick track was done without my knowledge. Anyway, in the end it is my fault. We always have something to learn, so take breaks, so you don't get to tired. Always do listen carefully to the exported file before sending to clients or post it somewhere.

[i.shadrin]

It was a pleasure to mix! Great record! Tried not to mess 70s vibe, for me it was kinda a theatre rock opera

MC093__Rocketgoldstar__Born_Taurus_Man__shadrin.wav

Hope you will enjoy it!