MIX CHALLENGE - MC094 October 2023 - Winners announced

[White Punk OD]

I try to make a mix that simply sounds like the song and not the mix.
when I hear the song, it's the song and it may fit or not fit in some playlist.
In this direction I seek to improve. Not there yet.

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

I'm always amazed of how different my mix sounds depending on what I hear before it. Do you feel the same? It's scary how our brain adjusts.

Yes, you are right about that, I have the same experience. But also for me it really helps to first volume match the different tracks completely. Just a half decibel difference can mess up your perception on how a mix sounds. Sometimes I think my mix sounds worse (or better) than another mix...until I gainmatch the mixes......

[scottfitz]

Yes exactly, but how you gain match is vital too, I use an AB comparison plugin but if you don't have the two tracks aligned exactly right, the gain match will be way off. I find even 0.2 dB difference will lead you to the wrong conclusion about a mix.

[BenoitCharbonnier]

Hello here is mine

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iqzen8xa ... 28x6g&dl=0

i had hard times with the vocals, i tried to make guitars aggressives, and drums punchy

[Dodgingrain]

I'm always amazed of how different my mix sounds depending on what I hear before it. Do you feel the same? It's scary how our brain adjusts.

That's a good reason to find some genre appropriate professionally released tracks to reference when mixing and why I disagree with the volume limits on our mixes as that comparison isn't possible without at least rough mastering.

[White Punk OD]

All of us need to find our individually best workarounds.
To me, it means to apply the linear part of signal theory, though not all mixing engineers give priority to it.
It says, that with a 24-bit resolution, you can change levels back and forth without losing too much (you do it within a 64-bit floating point DAW engine, and observe the 24-bit integer output that is normally being used), and it comes down to the question, what percentage of humans at all is able to hear or feel the impact of (stacked) dithering, especially on the popular listening devices of our time.

[PistolPete]

After randomly clicking into a mix here and there,
my feedback to a number of the respected participants:
I focus on aspects that could deserve a second thought, it's just in telegram style to keep it concise.
humble opinion only.

Pistolpete
dry but full sound!
comps are pushing some elements a bit off the dish
vc might become more stable with tweaks on comps and some finer automation
let's be careful with sharp cymbals

White Punk OD! Thank you for taking the time to listen to my mix and provide me with some great and honest feedback. Very much appreciate your time and another set of good ears on my mixes.

Dry and full is really spot on. I used almost no FX such as reverbs and delays on this mix, other than a very very light global verb to create "room" but without really being noticeable. I also had an extreme delay and long verb on a FX send that my main vox were sent to and it was only automated on certain vowels, syllables and words in distinct parts of the song but again done very very lightly just enough to create a little "highlight" to the vox. at 1:01-1:02 when the words are "wanna be out of sight" i highlighted the "i" in sight a little too much and you can here the quick delay verb a little more than the rest of the automation.

Here is the automation on the FX send.. (wasn't sure how to insert the photo in the post)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-LPuQI ... sp=sharing

I definitely should have done a little more volume automation on the vox as in some points the vocals slide just a bit under the "pocket" where I could have helped lift them a bit more in a few spots. I'm really looking into getting a usb fader/controller to make automation more hands on and musical instead of "mouse riding" which becomes more of a chore than a extension of creativity.... lol.

A de-esser on the main vox as well as on the cymbals to help calm the little sharpness in them would have been a nice touch. I really have a feeling that is my headphones or ears weak point in my current monitoring setup as I find most mixes I do seem to have the same issues with that extra fizzle on the sibilance and cymbals. I really need to get myself some better cans I think the sennheiser 280s I use are amazing for stereo field and soundstage, and for hearing detail but it seems I always have trouble with low mid around 300-600hz as well as that 6k-9k range. When I listen to other peoples mixes the sound kind of "honky" boxy in my cans so I have a feeling my cans accent this area, so I undermix the low mids which results in sharper highs and thinner sound many times.

I really appreciate your feedback and taking the time to listen to my mix. Really spot on feedback and I know where to focus on if given the opportunity to go forward in the rounds... lots of great mixes though so not likely.

[White Punk OD]

headphones is really very personal.
this time here I made my first mix with X65, for me would improve the problems in frequency areas you mentioned.
still learning to work with these.

the way you do automation needs very fine mechanics.
you can compare, I'm doing the opposite, I let it run very naturally, hoping to pick suitable comps, and then later on I insert very simple rectangles and curves, that catch a phrase or syllable, in case of ramps I use the curve bender that creates a left or right side bend.

[maxovrdrive]

After randomly clicking into a mix here and there,
my feedback to a number of the respected participants:
I focus on aspects that could deserve a second thought, it's just in telegram style to keep it concise.
humble opinion only.

maxovrdrive
rocks great! good flow throughout the song. stable vocals.
minor tweaks to try:
lots of midrange here, deserves a mastering attempt to check out if it's coming out well when (theoretically) released.
I think the bus comp coughs and chokes at the first sound in the intro. maybe attack too slow, too much level difference to eat, something like that.
perhaps you can feed the first note/hit with a little lower volume and the issue won't get noticed any more.
base tone of the snare is singing a bit much, this sound might want to become a bit wider, with more surrounding from the adjacent frequency ranges.
kick is quite nice, bassGts and subsonics still might deserve a bit more attention.

take it lightly, it's just for further experimenting, all your decision.
You can't compare my comments from one mix to the next, and make it a _comparison_ of the mixes.
I'm just telling my fast impression of one mix, forgetting about all the others.

Thank you @White Punk OD for your comments. I always welcome comments regarding my mixes. As you mentioned, "take it lightly," and I did. ;-)

That intro bit, I agree. I just failed (or forgot) to address the issue as it also bothered me. Unusual though that it's not noticeable while on my DAW (reaper), but I do notice it when I'm reviewing the mix through VLC, foobar2000, or my phone. In any case, if I do proceed to R2, that will be addressed. I will most probably adjust levels instead of touching my 2-bus compressor, as making the attack faster will lessen the low-end "bloom" I have.

Regarding midrange, I actually had it lower in previous iterations, but eventually brought it up to "hug" the vocals. In the end, I'll leave it up to the producer to comment on that issue.

As far as the bass guitar (and eventual "subsonics"), I will look into it and see if I can squeeze a little more sub out of the track.

Regarding the kick --- many thanks... I struggled with this and the snare too... I think it all worked out in the end.

Once again, thanks again for your comments --- much appreciated.

[jw_]

That intro bit, I agree. I just failed (or forgot) to address the issue as it also bothered me. Unusual though that it's not noticeable while on my DAW (reaper), but I do notice it when I'm reviewing the mix through VLC, foobar2000, or my phone. In any case, if I do proceed to R2, that will be addressed. I will most probably adjust levels instead of touching my 2-bus compressor, as making the attack faster will lessen the low-end "bloom" I have.

If you happen to have an opto-style compressor on the bass, might be worth checking out. Those can be notoriously slow on the first hit and may let through more initially than later on when they are "settled". Even some plugins simulate that behaviour. Had that same issue myself with an la2a and ended up just turning down the bass.