MIX CHALLENGE - MC095 December 2023 - Winners announced

[1ktone]

Hello everyone,
First of all thank you to @Christoph_K for putting forward such a nice track to mix.
When I first listened to the demo it already sounded complete and I was scratching my head as to how it could be improved.

I have actually completed the mix way within deadline ( which is kind of unusual for me, but it feels right so I’m going to stop myself from over thinking).


I figured I’d load things up and see where it took me.

For this month I gave LUNA a run for mixing duties. I haven’t used the UA software before so it was an interesting discovery process.

I loaded up all the channels with a Studer 800 tape extension and the API channel. On the stereo bus I installed the Master Tape extension, the API 2500 and the API summing extension.

I created a bus group for the drums, percussion, guitars, bass, vocals and the other sounds (called bits in my mix) with an API 2500 compressor and the Neve summing modules.

From here I set up my gain staging and then balanced things until I felt them to be in the right place.

This is a great arrangement and things seemed to fall into place pretty easily. I liked the vocals and all the vocal parts and really wanted them to carry and direct the song. I went for an upfront vibe with the backing vocals and spread them around stereo wise. The 2 low parts were split Left and Right which added this nice effect of an expanding vocal stage when they came in. The main vocal had an LA2A placed on it with a shortish plate reverb, a short echo behind it and a send to the room reverb which I sent all the seperate channels to. The lead vocals also had an echoboy delay placed on them to provide a little extra interest and support. This is most noticeable in the intro and the bit just after the intro.

I added a phase effect to the start which one of the guitar parts and the introLV FX is sent to. I just wondered what it would sound like and I liked the result so it stayed.

I used a couple of instances of Clearmountains Spaces in the mix - one for a room reverb which I sent various amounts of the different instruments into and another one for the backing vocals. The drum loop has a soundtoys devil loc placed on it that I felt gave the loop a bit of extra life and bounce.

Here is the mix: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x8qygqw7 ... ixqfc&dl=0

Overall, I enjoyed mixing the track. LUNA was fun to use and gave the feeling of using a desk. There were a couple of anomalies with it: 1) there is no mono button in the “free” version, 2) there appears to be no way to print an effect from a bus. There are apparently virtual channels, but they only seem to exist when you have UAD hardware attached. Other than that it was fun to use.

One further thing I wanted to say was that the reference to using Clearmountain’s Spaces for some reverb was because this track reminded me a lot of Crowded House’s album Together Alone which was mixed by Bob Clearmountain.

I’m looking forward to hearing the other mixes.

[Gertius]

Hello,
here is my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_-F33P ... sp=sharing

Very nice tracks again this month, thanks to the song provider!

My approach was to emulate an SSL console. I used a convolution-based SSL E EQ on the tracks (equivalent to a hardware EQ captured by Waves Q-Clone). For dynamics I used the bx_console 4000 E on a few sources (Kick, Snare, Voc).
On the sum I had a hardware SSL bus comp, doing around 4dB of gain reduction.
LX480 Essentials as reverb. UAD Studio Chorus, Little Microshift, delays from Reaper.

Probably the most noteable processing was to copy the "Trash" track and gate that from the snare with heavy EQing and reverb to add some body/sustain/splash to the snare.

I found the mix challenging in the way that there were so many tracks and sounds. Navigating the session was more effort than usually and to make sure not to oversee or forget anything. On the other hand the sounds were so well recorded that actually processing them didn´t feel like so much work and was a pleasant experience.

Cheers!

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your mix.


So far, we have 9 entries (compared to 97 Mix Pack downloads).
If you have been sitting on the fence so far, please get your mixes sorted out in the coming days.

To the late adopters, please take note of the "TL;DR Rules.txt" file as part of the Mix Pack. And please do pay attention to detail (especially the Filename Template).

[ari5to5]

Hi,

Nice song, nice arrangement, nice use of fx in the production! Congrats! I hope you enjoy listening to it, as much as I enjoyed mixing it.

My mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJSxs9 ... sp=sharing


My comments:

Generally nothing extreme happened during this mix and I think there is not much to mention.

Drums: nothing extreme.. just preamp sim on kick(s) and snare, eq and compression on almost all channels.

Bass: preamp sim, dyn eq and sidechain (kick) compression.

Synthbass: saturation

All "poking" instruments (intro gtrs, main gtr, pno melody etc) were treated with fast attack-long release compression and eq.

Vox: eq and compression

Bvox: treated as a group with eq compression. Fx was used directly on the bus (mix approx 30%)

I used many fx on almost half of the tracks(reverb, spring rev, slapback delay, ping pong delay, wideners on every duplicated track eq. main gtr -vox etc, room verb, shimmer verb etc)

Mixbus: compression, saturation, tape emulation, eq (1 db inrease in 2.5Khz), clip, limiter (clipping and limiting were used to satisfy my personal taste - I fancy the distortion produced by the said tools).

[Dodgingrain]

Greetings,
Great track that builds well, excellent recording and the stems are in nice condition as is.

Drums: Used quite a bit of L1 to push the drums, cut the far low end on the 909 that wasn't needed. The hats have a little bit of 5ms stereo delay to widen them. Otherwise mostly just standard channel strip eq and compression. The kicks are routed to a ducking compressor on the bass to make sure there is room for both. No extra reverb needed on the drums. The mastered track felt like it over compressed the drums and vocals in a few spots like the buildups so I made sure not to do that.

Bass: Low passed the bass to take out some of the high end that starts around 1.5K and is automated up to 2.5K later in the track, added just a touch of distortion. Drums and Bass are compressed together.

Guitars: Mostly some cutting eq and a little bit of dynamic eq triggered by the bass to take out a little low end of the guitar when the bass is playing. The guitars have compression on most tracks and a little bit of stereo delay widening on the intro guitar and one of the Bouzuki's. The echo guitar part has some extra delay as it seemed to cut out a little to abruptly in some parts.

Keys: Mostly a little bit of stereo delay widening, some eq cuts and standard compression to thicken the tracks a little bit.

Vocals: The vocals have a lot of compression, FET compressors for peaks, SSL compressors for normal duties, and fairchild for parallel compression.
The vocals also have delays that are automated in and out. A couple of the tracks needed some de-essing. Used microshift to smooth out the background vocals and let them sit well in the mix. I didn't think vocal tuning was necessary.

On the stereo bus there is a little bit of SSL glue compression and tape saturation.

mix is here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrlY50v-4 ... w?e=KLwdrx

[PistolPete]

Title;Statistics - "MC095__Arvo_Kim_Noah__Home__Pistolpete"
Date;Saturday, December 16, 2023
Loudness_Value;-17.33 LUFS
Max_True_Peak_Level;-1.09 dBTP
Sample Rate;44.100 kHz
Max. RMS;-11.15 dB
True Peak Left;-1.09 dB
True Peak Right;-1.28 dB
DC Offset Left;-91.85 dB
DC Offset Right;-92.96 dB
Bit Depth Left;24 bit
Bit Depth Right;24 bit

Here is my entry for this month:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TBtSBO ... sp=sharing

I really enjoyed mixing this song and wish I had more time to spend on it. Started the contest late this month and have little time with the holidays so Hopefully Christoph likes what I did with this one. Its pretty awesome being able to remix one of his works as the bar is set really high. I didn't listen to the original mix at all before diving into the mix as I wanted to take it my own direction and go off feel.

The data track files were really clean and easy to work with. This left a lot of my time on creating the mix and vibe and very little on cleanup which made it easy to get right into the feel of the song. Many of the tracks really didn't need much attention at all other than positioning with reverb, delay and hints of eq and compression.

I started this mix with general setup stuff… organizing tracks, coloring, gain staging and panning to get a good submix going. I’ve been using pink noise at -17db to get all tracks to a good starting point with plenty of headroom to work with.

Next I created a sort of Brauerize setup with 4 FX sends to compressors, and sent all tracks to 1 of 4 compressor tracks, and sent each channel out to a dummy track that goes nowhere.

FX comp 1: API 2500 for Mid High tracks (keys, synths, HH and some percussion)
FX comp 2: Decapitator (drums and bass)
FX comp 3: Waves PuigChild 670 (keys and guitars)
FX comp 4: Amek Mastering compressor + 1176 (highs, air and spacial)

Next I added 2 more FX channels

FX Global Reverb: Little Plate
FX Global Delay: Echoboy with a time sync space delay

Most tracks had some combination of the Verb/Delay sends added to the chain, some tracks are dry to the compressor sends.

Vocals and BGV got separate Compressor Sends. All Vocal and BGV tracks were routed to the dummy track and had a FX send to one of the 2 vocal compressor setups

Vox: CLA 76
BGV: Distressor

Some vocal channels/tracks received some individual plugin treatment but many are dry through to the FX sends.

The Main Vox I use the Pulsar 495 to EQ and Waves new vocal plug silk pro.. its kind of a tuned vocal all in one kind of plugin so I toyed with it and overall ended up sticking with it. Main vox also have a vocal rider on lightly tapping some cuts to give a little bit of liveness.

All Drums were Autoaligned to the OH

Many of the channels are dry, and just use a combination of sends.

Some key tracks such as kick, snare, OH, main guitar I added channel strips of various types and tweaked to liking. Channel strips used are a combo of SSL4000 E strip, AMEK9099 channel and Focusrite Channel. Most of the drums and percussion and guitars went to the amek, where vocals and keys and ambients split between ssl and focusrite.

I also used some FX related plugins to create space, echos and other vibes on different instruments including using Valhalla space echo, echoboy, some Melda reverb and tremelo plugs and panman for helping to create movement and give a 3d mix feel.

All FX sends were sent to a MIX bus with:
J37 tape
AMEK Mastering Compressor for a light glue
CLA mixdown which is a type of eq/saturation/compression plug I used it for a gentle glue, punch and analog.
Saphire (harmonics)
And on the stereo out is just a wave L1 to protect against overs and a 1db lift to the gain.


Happy Holidays everyone!

[MartialFromentin]

Hello there!

Really fun song to mix!

Drums tracks: EQ, comp or transient shaper if needed
Snare : limiter because of the kick and snare hitting together
Drums bus: saturation, comp, de-esser
Bass: EQ, comp
Guitars/strings tracks: EQ, comp if needed (peaks only), panning
Guitars/strings bus: EQ, a little bit of comp (glue)
Keys tracks (synths, piano, accordion): EQ, comp if needed (peaks only), panning
Keys bus: EQ, a little bit of comp (glue)
FX : EQ
Lead vocals tracks: gain rider, Vocal Silk, EQs & comps, tube saturation, limiter
LV FX : de-esser & stereo imager
Double vocals track: Haas delay (100% wet)
BG vocals tracks: gain rider, Vocal Silk, EQs & comp/limiter, panning

I think the most interesting thing was mainly to play with proximity and depth, to enhance the very progressive atmosphere of this song.
For this, there are 2 reverb tracks :
- short room reverb
- long hall reverb
Instruments tracks are sent with an opposite panning to these different reverbs, to get a nice stereo width and different positions in the depth.
The lead vocals track has some automation applied to the long hall reverb send level, to get some depth movements during the song.

Mix bus: little bit of EQ, SSL bus comp, tape saturation

Hope you will enjoy my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AShW1J ... sp=sharing

Good luck everyone!

[TrueFlowStudio]

Hello everyone!

It's a pleasure to enter this contest; I've participated in previous mix challenges some years ago, but I assume my account was inactive too long and had to recreate one so.... Let's dive into this wonderful song!

First of all I have to say that the material was pretty clean, perfectly named, and that it's a pleasure to work with this kind of ordered and prepared exports.

Here's the mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F9_HJm ... sp=sharing
And here are the audio stats :
True Peak : -1.38dB
Integrated loudness : -17.9 LUFS
Range : 15.6 LRA (So dynamic at this stage, but I think that's pretty natural for this song).

Where to start? I had so much excitement working on this mix that I've been pretty well unorganized. So I'll try to explain what was my main moves.

Rhythmic section : I've spent some time to even the hi hat in audio track , then compressed a bit with FET compressor. Unmasking drums and bass with EQ, dbx160 on the bass drum and 909. A little white noise trick for the 909 to give it a bit of crispiness. Then drum is routed to a bus with slight API 2500 compression to glue the thing.

Guitars : EQ on all lead guitars, dynamic panning in between the intro where it's centered and the rest of the song. Some automation on the reverb sends to move the guitars back and forth at the same time. Not much done on the bouzoukis, that I liked a lot by the way.

I've tried to give a great emphasis at the buildups, with a bit of saturation (tube amp simulation on the keys) and coloration (Puigtech EQs), automation on the volumes and mid-distant reverberation.

Regarding other keys, a special attention to the melos trying to smooth a bit the low mids and a very slight optical compression to sit them in front of the mix.

Voices : pretty interesting to mix. I've EQed the lead voice to remove some nasals and I'm pretty happy with the result. Some LA-2A compression (intro and main part), and some stereo play with delays and ping pong on the background vocals, with very few reverbs as they were already placed on purpose at recording; well according my understanding. I've tried to stay in the direction of this first feeling, but it's clearly a point I would have liked to discuss with the artist; I might be wrong (aesthetic reference intended ).

Some coloration on the mixbus : a tape effect (Kramer tape stereo) and another light API 2500 compression at 1.5 ratio. And that's pretty all.

Thank you again for this great song and good luck to all!

[jw_]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vjc2pT ... drive_link

Echoing the sentiments of everybody else, very good tracks, quite easy to work with. I remember only having to split some of the bouzoukis (probably the reverse stuff). My mission this month was to emphasise the transitions of the arrangements so that, hopefully, by the end, it feels like going on a bit of a journey with the guitar solo being the climax. The main tool I planned on using were a ton of different, very unnatural sounding spaces (pitch shifting into mod delay into another mod delay into 10s reverbs, that sort of thing) and a whole lot of automation. Hope that I do not mess up the groove along the way.

Here's what I did:

Drums:
EQ, distortion on the individual channels and compression on the drum bus. Some more compression on the natural kick to make it compete with the 909. The natural hat has some extra delay and verb on that gets bypassed once the whole kit is in. There's also a parallel dbx160 for some smack on kick and snare and a parallel 76D on 12:1 for length on the whole kit. There's some extra room on the OH and a plate on the snare.

Synthbass:
Leveled it by hand because I did not want to lose the pump with heavy compression. Some distortion, some (automated) width with Eventide Dual 949s. Filter ride on the drop-section with volcano3 and some slight limiting on the glide.

Real Bass:
Very slight compression with an la2a. Some more distortion only on the mids. Got rid of some lower mids to make space for the snare and fundamentals of the guitars/bouzoukis.

All the basses share compression with the drums (1178, 4:1 slow attack fast release).

Percussion:
Mainly filtering of top end and some distortion with sansamp and saturn2.

Guitars:
Struggled a bit with attack and thump of the main guitar. There's a Deesser at ~400hz there, some more dynamic eq at ~200hz and some fast compression. Other than that, there are various types of delays and spring reverbs (panned off to the sides) on nearly all the guitars for size and width. Additionally, I mixed a reamp into the direct signal of the bottle solo and some autopan on the amped one.

Bouzoukis:
Lots and lots of automation, various tape-style delays, a bunch of pitch shifting stuff. Essentially, making things sound more like synths.

Synths:
Again, lots of echoboys and crystalizers and all kinds of spacial effects. (Additional) reverse reverb on the pitched drops and Melo Piano. Mute automation and rides to make the sections feel more distinct.

SFX:
Some verb here and there, action strike goes to the drums/basses compressor.

Vocals:
Pitch and spacial fx, super long reverbs, tons and tons of automation. Other than that, only standard eq/compression stuff and some spread with waves doubler and eventide dual949s.

Mix bus:
Mainly smiley face eq (different for vox and instrumental). The instrumental gets compressed with an SSL-style Bus comp with automated threshold for soft/loud parts. Vocals+Instrumental goes into Pulsar Mu so that poor Arvo does not sound like the karaoke-version of himself. Light clipping on the final section so that the drums can stay loud without destroying everybodys ears.

All in all, not exactly what I would call a light touch but I had a ton of fun!

[jw_]

@TrueFlowStudio, I think you need to fix access to your google drive, don't seem to be able to listen to your mix.