MIX CHALLENGE - MC095 December 2023 - Winners announced

[kombainera]

Hi there my mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lMSKFn ... sp=sharing

First of all thanks to all involved ! Interesting song this month - not easy for mixing for sure. For me the biggest challenge was to make balance mix since most of the time there are strong instruments in very very lows and more or less to 500 hz mostly and till hi register vocals hits there is nothing in the upper freq. specter.Really like the " soundtrack " drums and the energy that they bring to the mix but it was hard at least for me to not make holes after the build ups because more or less the only thing that is entering is a bass but if i turn it too load it starts to mask the vocals.And for some reason it was hard for me in the last part to balance the drums no matter that i start the mix from them. From mixing workflow point of view after the drums i make the instrumental part first on a buss then mix it with the vocals. If someone wanna know more for some specific settings on a plugin or so i will respond at any time but since there are a lot of tracks i decide that it will be more useful to share the part that was hard for me instead.

[Barry M]

@Christoph_K Can I ask what vocal mics were used? Thanks.

[Christoph_K]

@Barry M As far as I remember it was the AT4060.

[Mister Fox]

Additionally, @Barry M -- please also check the "Words from the Song Provider" TXT file in the Multi-Track Mix Pack.

[Wyku]

Hi all! This is my first time taking on a Mix Challenge after just discovering the site a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I've done everything right!

My mix is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OZ4ukt ... sp=sharing

I'm new to mixing so I haven't mixed anything like this before which made for a fun challenge. Definitely something I wouldn't have come up with in terms of the tracks and all the different elements, which was actually one of the biggest challenges for me in just organizing everything to make sense of it all before I could even attempt to start mixing. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I hope others enjoy it too (especially Christoph_K ). I'm digging just listening with my eyes closed and getting taken for the ride that the track takes you on.

I only listened to the original mix a couple times to both not be influenced by it and to not try to "beat it", I just tried to do my own thing based on how the track and the elements made me feel along the way, while making use of all the tracks and not modifying them as per the rules of course.

The acoustic drum and bass section at the end was more in my wheelhouse in terms of what I normally listen to and have mixed so I focused on that section first to get it pumping worked backwards a bit from there.

I really liked all the little sound effects and I played with panning and delays to get them playing off each other more, like a couple of the Bouzuki hits setting off in the Left channel and the Water Rings setting off as the "echo" in the Right channel (I probably would have thrown a couple more of those in if I could modify things ). Some tracks were kept a little drier to play off the more wet sounds and create a mix of balance and contrast. Overall I tried to create wide an encompassing space surrounding the lead vocal.

I had a bit of fun with the synth section with those Pumping Hi-hats emphasizing them more to change up the feel a bit and emphasize the groove more through that section. The track builds through there, but I didn't want it to hit too hard yet so that when the acoustic drums section kicks in it really kicks in for the final build towards the end drop out.

Anyway, I'm not too sure on what all I should include for details, but if there are questions or comments let me know!

[mix.altmsh]

Hi! This is my First time on this site. Hope you like It // // // Do Share The Feedback //

This is My Mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssD_-l ... sp=sharing

I Was overwhelmed by the sheer no of tracks and elements that needed care, so i started backwards..

First I did the Outro....Using Cymatics Origin the Drum Loop was Chorused on one Channel followed by an Hass Delay...Creating that phasy wide drum..
Then on Guitar I used Khs Reverser...to create those spatial spacy reverse effect on the left channel automated to increse with time....
I also put drum loop on the guitar channel for a short while to create some movement...

Then On Acoustic Drums I turned down the Overheads and Drum to get drums forward....so that i could get space for other elements...
Kicks were mixed only for support and i didnt enhanced them much....Big Impact was the highlight, so i used SonEq to put some highs and to cut some lows and then to add them back...

The Ambient Tracks or occasional Precussion contained details within them...as laziness suggests I put effort in brightening them up so i can get movemnt into the track without using Automation

Overall, Most Difficult was to get every track to poke, and not to get a wall of sound obscuring the Pianos and Guitar within them....
How Succesful I was in this can only be judged by the Mix itself..

Finally, On Mix Bus... Saturation on mids and highs to get the body back to the Track...as i used heavily Slate's Fresh Air, Although It brighten ups the Drum Bus, Guitar Bus and Pianos it can make them feel tinny and the body can get lost....

[jakeh83]

Here's My submission,

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mzjlxruk ... gymow&dl=0

Nicely written track this, i usually mix metal and heavier genres so this was a nice learning experience, it was nice to have lovely clean tracks to use with minimal editing, creating the ambience on the vocals was a struggle for me as my ear isn't quite there yet! also getting the acoustic guitar balanced without limiting it to oblivion!!!

[Mellow Browne]

Hello,

It's been a while since my last entry. Thanks to @Christoph_K for this track.
I tried to set myself a time limit of 90 minutes to finish this mix and to rely more on the gut feelings.

I made the mix with UAD Luna and used the Studer 800 extension on both kick tracks, the Oxide tape extension on the synthbass and the Ampex ATR extension on the drum bus and stereo output. I also added the SSL G Bus on the stereo output for a little bit of glue and movement.
So, I started with general gain staging and balancing elements volume-wise. The quality of the tracks is very good so I didn't have to eq much, just some separation from kick and bass with a low cut somewhere between 75-100 Hz, depending on the element (mainly the guitars).
I treated everything pretty much as busses > Drums / Main Guitar Bus / Guitar 2 Bus / Bottle Solo Bus / Home BG Bus and an also ALL VOX BUS with the SSL E channel with some light compression (3:1) and a little bit of eqing to make some room. I also made an Instruments Bus with some more low cut treatment @ 79 Hz or so for that extra separation from vocals and drums.

I used Valhalla Supermassive, Soundtoys Echoboy and Little Plate as Reverb and Delay for the main guitar tracks and Lexicon 224 for the vocals.

My TC Clarity shows me:
-True-peak Max @ -1.4dBTP
-Programm Loudnesd -18.1 LUFS
The mix could be a bit louder but I just wanted a very clean mix with no distortion.

Tools I used:
Low cut EQ: MdynamicEQ
Main GTR: Tube LA2A
Main Vocal LA2A Silver and bx_digital v3 as deesser
Drum Buss and Stereo output compressor: SSL G bus
All Vox bus: SSL E channel

Here is the mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bY0kIA ... share_link

Happy mixing to everybody!

[Ronson79]

Imo this is the best track to mix since a long time here on MC. The production and sound to begin with fits the quality of the mixes @Christoph_K is known for. This was fun again as it is not about repairing and compromising - it´s for enhancing an already good production. Great and interesting build up of the song which I tried to respect during mixing.

Integrated loudness: -16,0 LUFS, TP -1,08dB left -1,11 right, measured with Izotope RX

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njEQ6B ... sp=sharing


Drums:
Actions Strike - tightened the lows a bit
changed the 909 a bit as it was sounding to hard for the song for my taste. Made it rounder, bigger and smoother
aligned acoustic kick and snare to the overheads
general cleaning here and there + gentle saturation to impart some more color
compressed the overheads, room tracks and snare - all other signals without compression
used a transient designer on the hihat to accentuate and tighten the groove
several tracks go into a room reverb
kiss the needle with the SSL Buscomp2 on the drumbus

Bass:
Synthbass - level automation for ducking purposes, bit of eq cutting and enhancing the width and harmonics a bit
live bass - split into low and high part - compressed the lows, compressed the high part and added width

Keys/Synths:
not much processing, some are without any processing, level automation
some corrective work and delay on the Piano Pluck
some Soothe2, reverb and width on the Water Rings
little clean up/control in the Pitched Drops

GTRs:
eq, comp, width and mild saturation on several tracks
Bottle solo - controlling the transients with Spiff
some guitar got reverb, some delay to accentuate the groove

Vocals:
level automation and typical compression
tried to find a balance between presence and body that I like and that fits the vibe of the song
created a few delay throws to enhance a few sections

Mixbus:
mild parallel compression with DynOneV3 for a little bit midrange glue
gentle eq with AA Erin to get more overall air and dip a little bit of 3k
a touch of width with StageOne2
catching peaks with DMG Limitless

[alavault]

Hello!
Mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7fuBG ... sp=sharing
Every channel gets a SSL 4k channel strip for the color.
Drums :
* Orchestral drums are reverberated some more to send them at the back.
* Real drums are processed in a common manner. There is not a lot to do here. All sent to a room verb and a parallel compression. The snare gets it's own "bigger" reverb.
* Shakers and accesory percussions are severely filtered to avoid clutter (LP/HP). The panning tries to have the elements balanced between the left and the righ.
Bass :
* OTT on both. Quite aggressive processing.
Guitars and the like:
* HP quite extensively (around 100 Hz for the guitars, 300Hz for the bouzouki). Sent to a room reverb and a 1/8D delay.
Solo:
* Used only the dry track and crushed it under saturation and longer than long reverb.
Backing Vox:
* Spread around the stereo field and sent to a chamber reverb without predelay, to try to send them to the back.
Lead Vox:
* Saturation and parallel compression here. Send to a hall with a 100ms predelay to send them in front.
Master Bus:
Tessla into a clipper.