MIX CHALLENGE - MC094 October 2023 - Winners announced

[45Garage]

Another good mix challenge. I really liked the track and think that under the circumstances of when (and how) it was recorded the band did a great job. The way the drums were done was kind of neat. Of course it meant I had no reason to use my fancy new gate plugin

Mix notes:

Drums: tightened up the phase where needed. TDR Nova GE for eq’s on all channels. Lindell SBC comp on kick and snares. TDR Molotok comp on toms and overheads. Hit the room pretty hard with Vertigo VSM3 and smashed it with BF76. Drum bus had the old trusty SSL Bus Comp.Drum parallel got beat up by TDR Molotok with some Eq from Kiive warmy EP1A.

Bass: As the notes stated, I kept an even balance between both tracks. Tweaked the phase a bit between the 2 until I felt it gelled. Flavored the direct with the Sans Amp PSA1. Bass bus got eq from TDR Nova GE and comp from Molotok.

Guitars: Eq from Nova GE and comp from Molotok on all tracks. Lots of eq between the guitar tracks to get them to play nice together.

Synths: A bit tough. synth1 wanted to compete with the bass and synth2 wanted to hang out with the guitars. Used a stereo widener to push them out a bit. Eq’d them out of the way. TAL Chorus LX helped too.

Vocals: TDR Nova GE and Kazrog True Dynamics. Lead Vox were on their own with BV’s being sent to a bus for treatment. Tuned up some resonances with Baby Audio Smooth Operator and grabbed some air with Maag EQ 4’s air band. Used BSA pocket delay on both.


Master Bus: Lindell SBC about 1db. Kiive Tapeface mild drive and saturation. Fuse Baxandall EQ. UA LA-2A about 1db.


That’s about the gist of it. Good luck to all on the challenge.


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p5zblhrd ... uy30q&dl=0

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder / update:

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	In agreement with the Song Provider @BenjiRage, we decided to extend the challenge deadline... ...until Tuesday, 24-OCT-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: As mentioned in post #023, in the last two newsletters, on Discord and the pin at the top of the forum, the filename template has been adjusted. I currently count 11 entries that do not use the proper filename. In fact, one user completely ignored it, and another one didn't use the forum username (therefore, this entry can't be associated and would therefore be "tagged OUT"). I am once more acting out of generosity towards the given Rules and Guidelines. I really do not understand where there is a problem with just copy/paste/adjust a given template, which has been provided multiple times (reminders, also see the adjustment of post #001). The Filename Template is: MC094__Pray_For_Hayden__Dont_Panic__ForumUsername.wav To those users that are affected by this: For MC094 / October 2023, you are allowed to correct the filename until the deadline has been reached. As long as you do not change anything else (as in - no re-upload!). Merely editing the name is possible on Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, and probably even other storage spaces. I will cross-reference with what I already downloaded, and also with time-stamps on the forum (which in turn means, more time needed for the Statistic Sheet). The Mix Pack bundled "TL;DR Rules.txt" exists for this very purpose. Please pay attention to detail. Do not put your entry at risk of being disqualified. Have fun, and good luck!

As of this moment, we have about 38 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!).

[unclesnuggles]

Hello everyone
Mix ITB / Cubase pro10.5 / Focal CMS40

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QUTxP4 ... sp=sharing

First I adjusted the gain of the tracks.
I start with the drum balance, StuderA800 on all individual tracks, except kick and toms. The tracks are sent in groups (buss overs, buss toms...) I apply a corrective eq at this time. All drum + bass groups are sent to a dedicated bass drum bus. I apply the same principle on guitars, vocals, synths... all my main buses are sent to a final buss, in this one I apply the Digital bxV2 + Tubetech eq, spatialization with the Digitalbx and bass boost + 8000k boost with tubetech.
Kick / eq - British ClassA (boost 3.2k) - neve33609 with sending in Saturation.
Buss Snares/eq-1176
buss overs, Shells, Room, nothing apart from corrective equalization.
For the guitar tracks I applied Magneto saturation (native Cubase). My buss gtrs are mainly processed with eq Frequency + Tubetech channel for color and comp.
Lots of automation on the main voice, eq, comp 1176 +la2a sending in IVG12 distortion.
I also have a lot of compression buses //, all with different comp and eq, some are calibrated.
As reverb I mainly used Tsar + Pure plate reverb.

That's the broad outline, between all that there is still a lot of work!

Congratulations again Benji for the song and the performance of the musicians of the session. I really enjoyed listening to and mixing this song.
Rock on!

Good listening
Seb

[AskAndy]

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Al0k-deoMtpH5STyVMk ... R?e=OvghaP i dont know why submission didnt submit so this is a back up submission. nice paragraph in the original . discussed my pannig ideas for ash and tom gtrs . LV hpf at 209. the hope was to get past the filename hurdle. but i guess its now a keystroke issue hrmpphh

[DIVESPANNER]

MC094_Pray_For_Hayden_Dont_Panic__DIVESPANNER.wav?

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wnfzmu9m ... e925j&dl=0

HI
Here is my version of Pray For Haden Dont Panic
Started with mixing gain staging subtractive eq compression had to Transform To Renderd Audio several times due to CPU restraints plenty of parallel processing main compressors Klanghelm SDRR PA Empressor Elisia Townhouse Shadow Hills Klive Tape Presonus Multiband Pro EQ Analog Delay Open Air Waves SSL H delay EMI Tape
Just had the Shadow Hills on the Master Bus

Many Thanks for the opportunity and hope you all enjoy
all comments suggestions welcome and much appreciated

[Mister Fox]

Folks... seriously. Are you doing this on purpose or is there an underlying issue?

Please read again what I wrote in post #082. It is getting really frustrating at this point. 3 entries since that post, and 2 of them do not use the template.

We have rules! Breaking them would result in being "tagged disqualified". And I will be strict during the creation of the Statistic Sheet. You put your invested time and talent at risk.

[pabloAT]

Dear all,
Many thanks to the song provider and Mr. Fox for such a nice track to mix!
Please find below the link to my mix:
[Dropbox's link to MC094]

Preliminaries
DAW: Cubase 12.0.70. Panning, aligned drum kits (MAutoAlign), frequency cleaning (Pro-Q3), grouping tracks into 6 stems. Stems sent to a mixbuss channel.
Drums
HPF/LPF and traditional compression where needed
Preamp (73) on snare top, blending with snare bottom and (sub)grouped
OH cymbals tamed with soothe2
Room track heavily compressed and blended with the drums with gusto
Toms grouped with an instance of a subsynth (bx) and limiter (L2)
Stem = Tape machine.
Bass
“Amp” provided the low end (with compression and saturation), “DI” provided the mid/highs (with compression, Parallax’s saturation). Both tracks are grouped with compression and a touch of inf Bass. Stem = Tape machine.
Guitars
A lot of automation (volume, on/off, panning, …) here. Sends to a delay and spring reverb.
Stem = compressor, further EQ and tape machine.
Synths
Mainly M/S EQing to leave space in the mix. Stem = a touch of True Iron for analog vibe and tape machine.
LV (Ash 1)
Lots of cleaning, volume adjustments and automation. Then compression (3 sequential instances with a max. 1-2 dB GR each, saturation, deesing, etc. Sends to reverb and delay channels. Stem with a bit of extra saturation and tape machine.
BV
Grouped Ash2, Ben and Jonny’s tracks, compression, saturation and a bit of microshift. Sends to reverb and delay channels. Added a touch of saturation tape machine in the stem.
Mixbuss
Subtle mixbuss compression (max. 1 dB GR), Gullfoss (used here to test if buying or not, not sure yet…), tape machine and a final instance of a limiter only to catch a few wandering peaks. (Very) intensive automation for individual tracks and stems from the middle of the mix process.

Best wishes to all participants,
Cheers,
Pablo

[Gertius]

Hi all,

thanks to Mister Fox for organising this nice Mix challenge, and also thanks to the band for providing such well-recorded tracks to mix!

Here is my submission:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytfDoo ... sp=sharing

Really enjoyed mixing the song.
It´s a tight 3-minute package of positive energy, which I tried to support through the mix.

Hybrid mix, DAW: Reaper, Monitoring: Yamaha NS10M Studio + Sennheiser HD650

My approach was to emulate an SSL console.
Each track has an SSL 4k EQ (convolution based) and when needed, an SSL 4k dynamics (bx console SSL E).
I used compression/gates on all the close mic´ed drums, and compression on bass guitar and vocals.
The mix is summed through a hardware Kahayan Epsilon SSL style summing mixer and fed through an SSL hardware bus compressor.
I did some carving out of over-prominent frequencies, then boosts as needed for placement.
The goal was to make space for each instrument and making the drums quite big through the interplay of EQ+dynamics.
I did a few versions before I arrived at this one. A previous approach was to cut much more of "offending" frequencies, but that sounded small and weird in the end. I redid the complete approach with less cuts and much bolder boosts in the HF+HMF area, and liked that outcome a lot better.
Automation-wise I felt it didn´t need much. In maybe 10 places I automated a vocal phrase, drum roll or characteristic guitar licks.

I used only a handful of timebased FX and used aux sends to feed the signals to them as needed.
2 reverbs (IR based PCM70 Tiled Room and LX480 Large Chamber),
2 delays (Reaper´s ReaDelay, single tap, short and long),
chorus (ERS DimD)

[alavault]

Hello!
Mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DtHh5z ... share_link

More or less the same setup as MC093.
Overall, it is a multibus setup à la Brauer.

Drums: Because the shells and cymbals were separated, mixing was pretty "easy" since there was no bleed.
The only noteworthy change was adding a delay on the stereo room to give some more size.
Bass: Ditched the amp and used a high-gain amp (ENGL style), which gave the bass a better articulation.
Guitars: as Ash's guitars were relatively "clean," they were not aggressive enough for my taste. So, they were distorted some more and added a liberal amount of 3k and 5k to make them cut.
BGV: Spread in the stereo field and go to another stereo widener. Highpassing, and that's about it.
Lead Vocal: Multi-compressor setup (Disteressor, Opto, 1176, etc..) to make the final sound.
FX: plate on vocal and room on the rest. 1/8d delay on the guitars and 1/4 for the lead vocal.
Master Bus: Tessla as overall drive and "mojo" into Loudmax to avoid clipping the limiter.

That's it.

[tiptoe3]

Hi,
thanks for the track. Thought that i wouldn’t mix a song for the competition, cause i mix into bus fx and landing at -11LU ´til -9LU. Taking it off afterwards changes the whole thing.

Anyways, liked the song, so i have to mix it!

https://c.gmx.net/@317237882228053658/M ... bgYLhlKYgw

The toughest thing was to bring the different parts together. Timing and sound-/ qualitywise.
I mixed the song twice. Tried a few real amps an the guitar tracks first. That went so wrong… ;-)

Well, second run, left the guitars alone. Found a few fadermoves that made sense. 100,1k,10k cycles
boost. Nothing special.

Kick, Snare mult.: High boost, low boost, compressed, distorted- found a balance

Overhead low cut

Toms: Bigger than life bottom and distortion

Parallel Drum and Snare Bus. ssl style 10:1, dbx160 for snare- kissing the needle

Bass: Stalevel, low-cut on the second track, DimD send

Vocals: de-plosive, 1176, RVOX, deesser. rverb and hdelay as send

BVox: same as main vocals plus send: pitch +/- 5cent

Bus: api2500 old style 4:1, -3db GR, L2 for level, eq for topend

cheers, tippy