MIX CHALLENGE - MC096 February 2024 - Winners announced

[Clueless]

Adjusted levels & width of tracks, panned various elements
Majority of fx used were Airwindows except ReaEq
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qv16620b ... 2xv5o&dl=0

[mix.altmsh]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucCA57 ... sp=sharing



It all began with the kick drum, the foundation, ensuring it resonated with primal force, yet remained precise and clear. Sidechain compression on all instruments, allowing other elements to breathe around it.
Synths and pads: high-pass filter, eq sculpting for air and brightness. A ton of sidechain reverbs and delays

Nice Low End, Thick N Juicy....
A bit of hype and brightness [Can be achieved through Saturation N Widening] and it would be Fire....

[Mister Fox]

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


So far, we have 17 entries (compared to 84 Mix Pack downloads).
If you have been sitting on the fence so far, please get your mixes sorted out in the coming days.
There will be no deadline extension!

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).

[Dodgingrain]

@Mister Fox sorry if this is a flood for the topic but i keep reading that people put limiters on there mix buses i know that its not a big deal but kinda feel that its a bit unfair for the rest of us that don't do it. At the end when someone must choose the louder mix will sound better every time even with 2 db above the rest.I have no idea if this has been discussed before but I'm really interested to see what you all think about it. I know that if I use a multiband compressor at the end it is almost the same as putting a limiter -1 - 2 db, but nevertheless I have the feeling, at least for myself, that I should keep my limiters for the "mastering challenge"

Not sure if it helps but every pro level mix engineer that I know, in the american pop world at least, mixes into limiters on the stereo bus, usually multiple limiters when they are mixing and they are left on for the mixes sent to the client to evaluate. They are removed for the final mix down that goes to mastering only. Most of the time they are not doing a lot, less than 6db of reduction total across all of the limiters on the stereo bus, but are used as much for gain staging and enforcing consistency as anything else. For example, the first limiter is mostly a guard rail in the sense that past good mixes have hit that limiter a certain way. If the new mix is hitting it in a similar fashion its probably reasonably balanced, has appropriate peak control, etc., if its not hitting the way other good mixes have in the past that means there are issues left in the mix to address. Something like plugin alliance bx xl is really good for this as you can monitor the sides separate from the center, etc. or a decent multiband works pretty well too. Usually the 2nd and 3rd limiters are for color and to bring up the overall level of the track. At least with American pop if your short term luf's are not around -6 to -8 at the peak of the song you are too quiet, integrated LUFs are largely irrelevant and are more dependent of the arrangement and genre than anything else and targeting a specific number is silly. If the first limiter is being hit right then the 2nd and 3rd should have very predictable behavior from song to song. The other big reason is most decent mixers can master reasonably well and the last thing you want is a surprise when the track goes off to mastering and comes back sounding different. We also want the mixes the client is listening to to be at a comparable volume to other similar professional tracks so the song being mixed sounds good to the client when played in rotation to other songs when they are evaluating the mix. If the mix isn't being limited properly its going to sound out of place (aka bad).

lol, my thoughts on the topic anyway.

[mix.altmsh]

@Mister Fox sorry if this is a flood for the topic but i keep reading that people put limiters on there mix buses i know that its not a big deal but kinda feel that its a bit unfair for the rest of us that don't do it. At the end when someone must choose the louder mix will sound better every time even with 2 db above the rest.I have no idea if this has been discussed before but I'm really interested to see what you all think about it. I know that if I use a multiband compressor at the end it is almost the same as putting a limiter -1 - 2 db, but nevertheless I have the feeling, at least for myself, that I should keep my limiters for the "mastering challenge"

Not sure if it helps but every pro level mix engineer that I know, in the american pop world at least, mixes into limiters on the stereo bus, usually multiple limiters when they are mixing and they are left on for the mixes sent to the client to evaluate. They are removed for the final mix down that goes to mastering only. Most of the time they are not doing a lot, less than 6db of reduction total across all of the limiters on the stereo bus, but are used as much for gain staging and enforcing consistency as anything else. For example, the first limiter is mostly a guard rail in the sense that past good mixes have hit that limiter a certain way. If the new mix is hitting it in a similar fashion its probably reasonably balanced, has appropriate peak control, etc., if its not hitting the way other good mixes have in the past that means there are issues left in the mix to address. Something like plugin alliance bx xl is really good for this as you can monitor the sides separate from the center, etc. or a decent multiband works pretty well too. Usually the 2nd and 3rd limiters are for color and to bring up the overall level of the track. At least with American pop if your short term luf's are not around -6 to -8 at the peak of the song you are too quiet, integrated LUFs are largely irrelevant and are more dependent of the arrangement and genre than anything else and targeting a specific number is silly. If the first limiter is being hit right then the 2nd and 3rd should have very predictable behavior from song to song. The other big reason is most decent mixers can master reasonably well and the last thing you want is a surprise when the track goes off to mastering and comes back sounding different. We also want the mixes the client is listening to to be at a comparable volume to other similar professional tracks so the song being mixed sounds good to the client when played in rotation to other songs when they are evaluating the mix. If the mix isn't being limited properly its going to sound out of place (aka bad).

lol, my thoughts on the topic anyway.

As for a limiter giving advantage in terms of loudness of [1-2 dB] is not true in regards to the mixing contest, as all mixes are capped to max [-16 LUFS], the mixes with a limiter on [having Short Term LUFS around -6 or -8 db] poses a disadvantage in terms of loudness, as they have lower dynamic range and the transients on the tracks without limiter are able to poke to -1 dBTP, and are able to deliver more punch while having exact same volume as the tracks with limiter on......................................But Still, Limiters and Mix Bus dynamic processing usually have a sound that is considered desirable......................Also this is EDM, not a Jazz Record....It's not going to be released in Japan as a SPECIAL EDITION [That can only be appreciated by some highly cultured individuals having not just the taste but also the equipment worthy of a gentlemen]

P.S. If U like the sound of Limiter, then keep it, if not, then remove it...

[Mister Fox]

I will update this post/thread eventually, especially since this post is from May 2017 and a lot has changed over time. But please consider reading the paragraphs on "EXAMPLE 2 - "The Glue Effect"

Mix Challenge - Addendum: Summing Bus Treatment



And to close this one out, before this turns into a way too big off topic discussion:

Despite what others might say (most notably, Youtube "tutorials", or those stating "you're doing LUFS wrong" -- basically those that still cling to the days of the Loudness War).

The maximum allowed loudness for the Mix(ing) Challenge is still -16,0 LUFS ILk (Integrated, k-weighted), with a maximum signal strength of -1,00 dBTP (which at this rate, only happens if your peaks go "rogue"). Outstanding mixes can be achieved at that program stream loudness, EDM mixes can still have a healthy movement in the Short Term Loudness Range. Summing bus compression, as mentioned in the post above, is then used as an artistic tool.

If in doubt, maybe indeed try as mentioned above as experiment for a comparison/listening test... create a Clipper > Limiter array for testing purposes (e.g. VladG/TDL Limiter No6), check at -16,0 LUFS ILk max and -11 LUFS ILk max... Maybe even render both, loudness normalize, then A/B. Also download a demo of Audified MixChecker Pro or a demo of AudioThing Speakers, compare to other listening environments (plenty of them in both tools). It if sounds great everywhere, no matter if at the game's allowed maximum LUFS (-16,0 LUFS ILk max) or -11 LUFS ILk (what "Spotify Loud" uses), then it translates well to everywhere.


Still -- the rules of the game clearly state:

Try to create a mix in your own style that complements this production and can stand on it's own, no matter the playback medium. Edit/Mix in such a way, that barely any after-touches other than proper fade in/out and finalizing for distribution (incl. loudness adjustments e.g. for release on Streaming, Vinyl, Tape, CD) is needed for a possible follow-up mastering step.

Maximum allowed loudness: -16,0 ILk (Integrated)

See post #003, the TL;DR Rules.txt and the official rule book.



The timer is still running, 7 days left.
Have fun, and good luck.

[jw_]

As always, thank you @Jorgeelalto and @Mister Fox for another round of Mix Challenge.

I'm not too familiar mixing this genre, so I decided not to stray too far from the (already excellent) ref. Just going for more/different spaces and hoping to improve on the articulation of some things here and there. Did not feel the need to futz around with the arrangement appart from some mute automation on the kick tail. And resampling of the voice snippet, because he's mentioning 'electronic brains' and there's no way I'm not going to do that.

Here are the main points of what I did:

Split the mix into kick and everything else. That "Everything Else"-Bus gets ducked by the kick, just as baby jesus intended when he invented techno. There's also some slight limiting on it so the high hat transients don't take your head off when the kick drops out for a bit. 33609 on quite conservative settings across the whole mix for glue, as well as some soft clipping, yet another comp to smooth things out and some smiley face eq. Another main feature of this mix is an Eventide SP2016 on vintage stereo room that acts as the main space for a lot of things; super grainy mid range, I think it's really awesome for this stuff.

Drums:
Not much happening here. EQ, compression, various types of distortion (mainly tube stuff and bitcrushing). Spiff on select things to get some low mid pop. Hats, ride and kick tail get ducked (additionally) by the kick punch in various amounts.

Synths and Basses:
Again, lots of different types of distortion for texture. DBX160 in parallel for some snap. Spiff on the lower midrange of the sequencers to get them to seperate a bit more. Phasers, chorusing, automated and heavily filtered mono and stereo delays for space. Some modulated pitch shifting into various spaces on the pads and the 2nd reece atmos hit. Some things get ducked by the kick even further.

FX:
Not much happening, just EQ. Some more space on the voice sample. Heavier filtering and even more space on the resampled parts.

Here's my mix this time around.

[approxgo]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucCA57 ... sp=sharing



It all began with the kick drum, the foundation, ensuring it resonated with primal force, yet remained precise and clear. Sidechain compression on all instruments, allowing other elements to breathe around it.
Synths and pads: high-pass filter, eq sculpting for air and brightness. A ton of sidechain reverbs and delays

Nice Low End, Thick N Juicy....
A bit of hype and brightness [Can be achieved through Saturation N Widening] and it would be Fire....

Thank you for the feedback . Just took a listen , it definetly needs more brightness.

[mix.altmsh]

As always, thank you @Jorgeelalto and @Mister Fox for another round of Mix Challenge.

I'm not too familiar mixing this genre, so I decided not to stray too far from the (already excellent) ref. Just going for more/different spaces and hoping to improve on the articulation of some things here and there. Did not feel the need to futz around with the arrangement appart from some mute automation on the kick tail. And resampling of the voice snippet, because he's mentioning 'electronic brains' and there's no way I'm not going to do that.

Here are the main points of what I did:

Split the mix into kick and everything else. That "Everything Else"-Bus gets ducked by the kick, just as baby jesus intended when he invented techno. There's also some slight limiting on it so the high hat transients don't take your head off when the kick drops out for a bit. 33609 on quite conservative settings across the whole mix for glue, as well as some soft clipping, yet another comp to smooth things out and some smiley face eq. Another main feature of this mix is an Eventide SP2016 on vintage stereo room that acts as the main space for a lot of things; super grainy mid range, I think it's really awesome for this stuff.

Drums:
Not much happening here. EQ, compression, various types of distortion (mainly tube stuff and bitcrushing). Spiff on select things to get some low mid pop. Hats, ride and kick tail get ducked (additionally) by the kick punch in various amounts.

Synths and Basses:
Again, lots of different types of distortion for texture. DBX160 in parallel for some snap. Spiff on the lower midrange of the sequencers to get them to seperate a bit more. Phasers, chorusing, automated and heavily filtered mono and stereo delays for space. Some modulated pitch shifting into various spaces on the pads and the 2nd reece atmos hit. Some things get ducked by the kick even further.

FX:
Not much happening, just EQ. Some more space on the voice sample. Heavier filtering and even more space on the resampled parts.

Here's my mix this time around.

Kick is solid, Space on the track is beautiful ,...BUT....the ride cymbals at around 00:46 Sec onwards needs a lift to make the track pump and also synths around that time are also very dry lacking HYPE!!!...The Static Elements of the Mix are tasteful [Insert DiCaprio lifting wine glass]

[dstra]

Hi everyone,

Here is my submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/170IOE0 ... sp=sharing

My objective was to always have the bass drum in the foreground (EDM), but not at the cost of all the details in the other tracks. So the challenge was to find a setup that would allow all tracks to be sufficiently compressed to make all these details audible, but still leave enough space for the bass drum. I ended up with the following setup/routing:
- all tracks, except the bass drum, were routed to one of 4 buses, and compressed there
- the 4 buses were fed to the pre-mix bus and further compressed there
- the pre-mix bus and the bass drum tracks were routed the main bus, where the last compression step took place
After messing around with the compressor settings, I was so happy with the result that no additional volume automation was felt necessary.

Tracks
Most tracks were already perfect and required no further treatment, except:
- Bass: lowcut
- Lead: lowcut, reverb
- FXs 2: lowcut
- Vocal: gate, reverb
- Sequencer 1: eq
- Sequencer 2-4: lowcut
- Kick punch: eq (automated), compressor, reverb (sidechain compressed)
- Hats Mixed: eq
- Extra tops: lowcut
- Ride: distortion, eq
- Snare roll: lowcut

Buses
- Pads bus: -
- FX bus: compressor
- Sequencer bus: compressor, sidechain compressor (make space for the kick)
- Drums bus (except kick): compressor
- Pre-mix bus (all buses above, without kick): compressor
- Main bus (pre-mix bus + kick): compressor ("glue"), limiter

Tools
- DAW: Ardour (on Linux)
- plugin bundles: Calf, LSP and others

Hope you enjoy it!