MIX CHALLENGE - MC093 August 2023 - Winners announced

[PauPeu]

I hope cover art suggestions are permitted?



"Hip hip hooaaargh!"

[jw_]

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

Another thank you to @Gaz for the multitracks. Growing up, I listened to lots of 70s Prog Rock which, as a child of the 90s, somehow did not serve to increase my coolness all that much in the eyes of my peers. Anyway, was a treat to mix!

Some Notes:
Not going to document everything because I don't think "I took a bunch of 300hz off the snare" is all that useful information. I probably eq'd a bunch of stuff and likely used Kirchhoff or the excellent TBProaudio CS5501v2 for that. Let's move on to more interesting (and more self-indulgent!) things.

The core of my template is a bussing system that you can think of as the bastard child of Scheps' rear bus and Brauer's multibus stuff... well, kinda sorta. The important bit is that I mix into some shared (parallel) compression (busses much like the ABCDE of Brauer, a parallel 76 for emphasis on some stuff, a couple of Weiss DS-1 doing rear bus-like things etc.pp.). Most importantly, the lowendy and rhythmic stuff gets compressed before it reaches the mix bus and introduces some movement on everything else but the vocals.

As per mix notes, the drums were going to be the "70s Rock" anchor of the song, so I planned on leaving them mostly dry with some tapish splat, softclipping and more low mids than I would normally leave to make them sound "recognizably old". I hoped this would allow me some leeway to take more modern approaches (read: too much compression and cheesy delays) on the rest of the instruments when I wanted to (and also have very un-70s amounts of lowend).

For each element, I'll try to outline the channel inserts first and sends/parallels/bus-fx afterwards when needed.


Mix Bus
DMG Trackcomp SSL 30ms attack auto release, 60hz sidechain hpf, 66% wet
Softube Germanium, basically Brauer's setting with less of a bass bump, 30% wet
bx_masterdesk on the chorus (basically some slight level and some eq, not really compressing)
Pulsar 8200 for smiley face eq
IK Tape 24 on GP9
1db@6k shelf on the sides in the chorus


Drums
tightened with auto-align
light expansion on kick and snare, cymbal bleed stuff
Trackcomp 76D on everything, slowish attack, fast release, 4:1 on OH, 8:1 on kick and snare, 12:1 on toms
Softube Tape on kick, snare and OH with some High Freq trim on everything
Standardclip softclipping on everything
some early reflections

Pulsar 8200 for the air band, Pulsar MU, Waves TransX and Devilloc on the drum bus

dbx160 parallel
Sansamp parallel on Kick and Snare
Nuke Distressor on the OH for the guitar solo section
some short room reverb off the OH


Bass
tightened with auto-align
dynamic eq on the lower mids and upper bass regions
Trackcomp LA2A
Saturation and some punch from Process.audio sugar
Devilloc on the Sub

DI goes into Sansamp + Devilloc parallel


Tamb
quite filtered
Saturation
Trackcomp 76D, 8:1 slow attack fast release
Softube Tape
some early reflections

Sansamp parallel
TRacks Sunset Sound Spring reverb


Guitar
tons of dynamic eq @5khz
Pulsar MU, slow attack fastish release. really only doing anything during the solo
Kush LG Drive for midrange distortion
Arturia BL20 flanger on everything but the solo
12ms offset Valhalla tape delay with slight spread on the solo and the prechorus stabs
some early reflections

1/8th note delay everywhere, slightly offset again
Audiothings Springs Reverb
Waves BrauerMotion Autopanning frenzy during the solo
parallel 76 for emphasis during the solo
spring and chamber reverbs


Acoustic Guitars
dynamic eq around 450hz
saturation
MU
tape
early reflections

spring and chamber reverb


Leslie
separated the intro part from the guitar solo part

Intro:
Arturia Dimension D on the top
early reflections
Valhalla Vintageverb
same autopanner as the guitar solo
chamber reverb

Guitar Solo Part:
LG Drive on the top
early reflections
autopanner, chamber and spring reverb only on the top


Prophet 1
lots of dynamic eq around 3k and 200hz
Trackcomp LA2A
saturation
VintageVerb


Prophet 2
slight widening of lows and mids
saturation
VintageVerb


Piano
different eq settings in Scheps Omni Channel for L/R
Arturia Tube-Sta only on parts where drums are playing

some reverse verb sidechained to the original piano only on the instrumental section before the guitar solo because I thought it was THAT kind of section

There's some chair/pedal noise in the piano but I think it's cool. Authenticity'n all that.


Piano Overdub
filtered to be very midrangy
L/R eq in Scheps Omni Channel
smashed quite hard with Scheps Omni Channel VCA comp

some dynamic eq around 2k on the piano sum
spring and chamber reverbs on all pianos


Cymbal Scrapes and Radio
early reflections


BGV
dynamic eq on the low mids
Weiss Deesser Dual Band
RVox
Trackcomp 76A, 76D or LA2A depending on the part
Waves MV2
Pulsar 8200 because who needs Pultecs
Arturia Jun-6 chorus on, well, the chorus
Devilloc
early reflections

all BGVs go out into the parallel "emphasis" 76 in varying degrees
parallel spread on most of them (Waves Doubler, sometimes into a second widener)
filtered off (650hz lowpass) delay (80ms L, 85ms R) into chorus and saturation into short plate reverb
plate reverb on all BGV


Yelps
Rvox
Devilloc
early reflections

emphasis 76
same filtered dual delay as BGV
same spread as BGV
slap delay (Valhalla Delay on Clarity with some ducking and drive) into short plate reverb


Lead Vox
RX'd some breaths and clicks, tried to clean up some edits where I deemed necessary
split into different sections for slightly different tones and compression settings
same basic inserts as BGV but a lot more upper mid range and air (and much easier on the deessing and dynamic eq)
BlackSaltAudio Telofi on the Call/Response Part

high doses of parallel 76
Trackcomp 76D fast attack medium release into Relab LX480 as verse verb
slap delay into plate reverb
same filtered dual delay as BGV
prechorus and chorus have an additional 1/8th delay
VintageVerb on 80s Concert Hall 120ms predelay 4sec as chorus verb
detuned/reverse L/R 1/4th 1/8th Delay into plate reverb as "chorus sauce"/additional chorus space
Valhalla Shimmer coming out of the 1st chorus and the outro
Spread with Soundtoys Microshift

Well, that certainly was too much information. Only my mom would pretend to have read all that. Thanks, mom!


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

[DOUGLAS COSTA]

good music, good recording !let's work!

[Piotr]

Hi! I followed the suggestion that It would be interesting to hear a much more modern approach to this song. I tried to achieve it in the choice of tools for the mix as well as the work on the sound itself, using bolder movements and more intensive processing. My mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T6Lj9o ... sp=sharing

[...]
It was a pleasure to work on this mix. Really good song, starting with the composition, through the performance, and ending with the contained message.

Hello,

Congrats for your mix! It's one of my personal favorites (I didn't listen to all of them). Good luck!

Hi! Thank you very much for your words of appreciation. I'm very pleased! I'm quite satisfied with it.
You also have a very solid mix! I'd say it's a bit sharper than mine, feel more SSL character, which I like!
All the more I appreciate your work due to the circumstances! And it's nice to read that, because I'm in a similar situation, my baby is now less than a year old. Learning to mix is not easy being the parent of an infant. I wish you all the best and good health for your family!

PS. Thank's for link to Highnote link. I didin't know this service, seems great!

[Mister Fox]

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


As of this moment, we have about 60 entries. (+-1 or +-2, because I have some double entries and deleted posts!)

Additionally:

• I still can't download certain mixes (@Ntsakosoul)
• I am awaiting feedback from one user that posted and then instantly deleted the entry (@Nbwltn2)
• I have one entry that has been submitted through WeTransfer (not allowed, see TL;DR Rules.txt and Rule Book - post #006 -- @servandisco)
• Plus plenty of entries that do not use the correct filename template (@TheodorChatzopoulos, @Necaster, @Christoph Stoll, @IMM, @servandisco), with two of them not having no username association (which would result in a "Tagged OUT" situation - see Statistic Sheet and Wild Card mechanic)

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!).

This will be the last time I'll post a reminder and give you the rare chance to fix these small mistakes. Other than that -- no changes, no re-uploads -- your submission is final until you might be selected for Mix Round 2! I will check with time stamps compared to your post on the forum.

Please also consult the TL;DR Rules.txt - this is why they are there for!

[Ronson79]

Here´s my take on it..

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/133t2jh ... 7mDvU/view

Drums:
Auto-Align, several instances of eq and compression on single tracks - saturation/compression on groups

Piano:
eqing + a touch of spring rev going into a group with compression, imaging and saturation, transient taming

Bass:
Reverb, compression, bass split for more control over the highs

Prophet:
panning automation

Organ:
eq + movement

Acoustic:
eq

El GTR:
controlling resonances, saturation, imaging, delay and parallel grit

LD Vox:
parallel compression, eq, delay, reverb, harmonics, compression

BGV:
parallel compression, eq, delay, reverb, harmonics, compression

Mixbus:
eq, compression, saturation

[RayK25]

Great composition and performance by all -excellent tracks.

https://mega.nz/file/RjJBjZbC#NH_ty9DG0 ... Thx1MzgW1k

The primary goal was to get that 70’s sound that many of us love so very much. After carefully reviewing the static mix, the first thought was to craft the drum kit to be similar to that of the early Yes recordings. This kit supported that very well and from there it was off and away.

DRUMS
Close mics were brought forward. Snare was treated with a multiband compressor with just a very slight touch of stereo delay. Kick was gated with a quick release, 4:1 compression with large amounts of reduction and pultec EQ at 30hz & 4k. Substantial lo-pass for toms. Tambourine limited and widened to fill the side channels. Side chained crush compressor for all shells and small room reverb for snare and toms.

BASS
Hard limiter, slight mid boost EQ, multiband compression. The DI channel ended up above the cab channels.

ELECTRIC GUITAR
EQ to remove hard frequencies, compression and a small stereo delay to fill the sides. Polarity flipped for guitar 1 blue.

ACOUSTIC GUITAR
Panned hard L/R, hi-pass eq and strong limiter to chop the bursts.

PIANO
Limiter followed with hi-pass EQ and low/mid cuts to clean but not color.

KEYS
Panned to a variety of fields. Mild stereo widening.

VOCALS
Limiting to decrease bursts and compressed to color. Analog channel strip to add more color followed with a multiband compressor and side chained stereo delay. Backup vocal bus received very similar treatment with some hard panning.

MIX BUS
Some limiting, dynamic eq, tube compression and tape saturation.

OTHER
Tracks were heavily inspected for background noise and all but piano pedals were cleaned up. A great of deal of automation was used as one might expect for this genre.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! Thanks to all that contributed.

[Jo Sanas]

Hi everyone !

First, thank you for organizing this mix challenge and providing the multitracks, it's a great and very inspiring song to mix.

The composition really reminded me about Bohemian Rhapsody so I guess it influenced me in the mix. I chose to put the lead vocal and the back vocals quite forward, using saturation and playing on reverbs. I tried not to over-mix the drums because I tend to do it a lot, being a drummer.

Now, the plugins I used :
I chose the SSL9000J emulation from Plugin Alliance to be my main coloration console, so it's on all tracks.
I used the Pro-Q3 as my correction EQ when needed and the SSL9000J's EQ and compressor for coloration.
I treated piano tracks as a group once I put their level right in relation to each other to my ears, same for back vocals.
After treating the drums tracks individually, I used the Shadow Hill class A compressor (from PA) as a bus compressor and added a Maag EQ4 to enhance the high end frequencies.
For the reverbs, I used some room and chamber reverbs from the Seventh Heaven (Liquid Sonics), a plate for the voice and the snare (using some ducking effect for the last one).
I used the Purple MC77 compressor (from PA too) on the lead as a parallel compressor and on the back vocals too).
Finally I used the Shadow Hill class A compressor again but this time on the master bus to get a summing glue effect and the Pro-L2 to check my LUFS level and put a -1dBTP for safety.

That's all. Thank you for reading me and have a great day !

Here is the link for my entry: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-NxMQs ... drive_link

[ggibson1988]

Thank you Rocketgoldstar / Gaz Williams for this song. This one will be stuck in my head for quite some time.

Here is my mix.

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

Kick Condenser & Dynamic:

2 instances of Pro Compressor (Stock Pro Tools), 1st with fast attack and slow release for consistency . 2nd with slow attack and slow release for punchiness.

Fabfifilter Pro Q 3 for EQ on both and 92 sample delay (time adjuster) on dynamic.

Along with additional compression on Kick Bus.


Snare: Pro-Q 3 on track with compression and Pultec EQ on Snare Bus


OHs:
Compression and EQ

All Drums bussed to Drum Sub Bus which was duplicated for parallel compression, then to Drum Leveling Fader



Bass:

Used Condenser as Clean low end, (Low Pass at 225 Hz), and amped DI with High Pass at 250 Hz and SansAmp PSA-1 for reamp.
Blended and compressed on Bass Bus with Bass Dynamic and Bass Sub Octave


Acoustic Guitars:

EQ, Oxide Tape Recorder for Saturation and Pro Compressor


Electric Guitars:

Compression and EQ


Pianos:

Oxide Tape Recorder, Pro-Q 3 and Pro Compressor.


No processing on Prophets / Radio


Gaz Leads:

Used Spit Version as I could not get the Polarizer to work on my version of Pro Tools.

Pro-Q 3, Oxide and Pro Compressor. Flipped Phase on rear mic.


Delay and EQ on Background Vocals.


Mix bus:

API 2500 Bus Compressor with slowest attack setting, medium release and 1.5:1 ratio. Only about 1db of GR.

Pro-Q 3 for EQ.

Ox Inflator for Saturation and Air Stereo Width for additional width.

[EchoOread]

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


Thank you for the music. I enjoyed mixing it.

In the beginning of the song I kept the piano darker than the vocal bc I thought it'd be more appropriate. I used an EQ and a compressor for that.
I thought the snare was thin so I used an EQ and a compressor plus a parallel to thicken it up.
Flipped the phase on one of the kick and treated with an EQ and a compressor and a limiter.
Flipped the phase on one of the electric guitars panned them wide and same processors, an EQ and a compressor.
Slightly panned the acoustic guitars and yeah, an EQ + compressor.
Bussed 3 basses together, an EQ, compressor, limiter.
Some of them got some FX. I used a reverb and a simple delay. I tried to keep it as natural as I could.
Great song! remind me of Queen, one of my favorite bands.