MIX CHALLENGE - MC098 June 2024 - Winners announced

[jordibakes]

Hello everyone,

Here's my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SStL8p ... sp=sharing

DRUMS
Eq, Saturation, Compression, Reverb

BASS
Eq, Saturation, Compression, added a little bit of Chorus

GUITARS
Eq, Compression, Reverb

PIANO
Eq, Compression, Reverb

VOCALS
Eq, De-Essing, Compression, Reverb, a little bit of Delay

I also added Volume Automation to almost every instrument, and Panorama Automation to Guitar and Piano

STEREO BUS
Saturation, Compression, Limiter

Thank you,
Have a nice day

[MFTWC]

The song was mixed in cubase 13 pro.

I started with adding some ambience to the drums with a reverb, then I sent them to a bus for some compression.

The bass got some compression and some side-chaining from the kick.

With the guitar tracks I took the cosm one and filtered out the low-end, then I added a chorus FX and some flanger automation.

Lead vocals got some de-essing, compression and some slight saturation. I also automated a delay FX on different phrases.

The piano got some eq only.

The background vocals got the same treatment as the main vocals.

Also on the guitar and the lead vocal tracks I used a stereo trick by duplicating the track twice, then panning the two tracks left and right and phase shifting one of the tracks, then I bussed them to a stereo delay with a small delay value with no feedback, then it got mixed in with the original track.



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygFp3A ... sp=sharing

[PauPeu]

Yooo Paupeu, I LOVE the sound of your bass you got going, it just fits so well

Thanks mate! Here's the tip for you and everybody that likes it: A very generous low lift, a little saturation, and a send fx with the first preset of Lexicon Chorus, it's called "vibra-toad" or something like that.

[filipandrei]

Hello,

This is my take on this multi-track

MC098__Arnwyn__Robot_Baby__filipandrei.wav

MIX BUS - Pulsar Modular P455 MDN with 2db boost on 50Hz, 700Hz and 10Khz, aiming for a compression no more than 1db of gain reduction

DRUMS / PERCUSSION - UAD Distressor with 6:1 ratio, squeezing about 4-7db compression with a reasonably slow attack and a fast release, followed by an Avalon VT-737 with a bit of top end and small boost on 60Hz.

BASS Spliting it in highs and lows. Choosing a strong compression ratio for the low-lows, to keep this under control ( Avalon VT-737 )

ACOUSTIC Gtr BUS - Mild compression with an LA-3A and, followed by SSL 9000J console for a narrow 360hz boost and a bit of 10KHz

KEYBOARDS SSL 9000j with a mild boost on 1.5Khz and a bit of 400Hz and a bit of THD for some harmonics

VOCAL BUS - Started with some DeEsser / SSL 9000J for a bit of air and 10KHz clarity / LA-2A for some compression and finishing with a 902 DeEsser plugin.
I also have some effect sends to a Slap Delay (Valhalla Delay 90ms) / UAD Lexicon 224 on Plate Setting with no Bass and shallow Mid reverb time and 20ms pre-delay and Convology XT with some IRs from PastToFutureReverbs (CLA 480 Vocal Plate 5 IR).

Good luck, everyone

[floodo]

Hi thanks for providing these tracks, I was very pleased to have been able to mix something so well recorded,

I have a doubt, my mix was a little high, the integrated lufs give about -16.5 more or less but that is due to a section that I decided to make it quieter, if the integrated lufs give -16.5 if not count that section would be giving me about -13 lufs, then my question is the following, the mix is within the correct parameters if the integrated lufs give -16.5 while 70% of the work is around -13?

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Mister Fox]

If you want to be sure if your entry is within parameters, check (for example) with Youlean Loudness Meter 2, set it to either ITU-R BS.1770-4 or EBU R128. Then you measure the whole song, not just a section.

If the Integrated (ILk) value is not higher than -16,1 LKFS / LUFS (same thing, different label) just to be on the safe side, and the max dBTP value does not exceed -1,00 dBTP, then your entry is within parameters.

[Emil]

Hey guys, here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PWsd_R ... sp=sharing


Started by setting levels and panning like in the provided demo mix as a starting point.

Drums:
A bit of compression on all drum tracks. Soothe with the «dampen cymbals» preset with a tiny bit of tweaking on the crash tracks. All drums (including cymbals) also send to an aux with Sound City reverb, and all drums except the kick send to an UAD 224 and 480 aux.

Bass:
Put on an ampsim and some light compression after that

Guitar:
Used Little Labs ibp to phase-correct the two tracks. HP filter at 80hz. Sends to the previously mentioned 480 and 224 auxes like the drums.

Piano:
HP filter at 57hz. Gullfoss to tame the mids a bit, and a soothe after that for the same reason but on a sharp setting. Sends to the previously mentioned 480 and 224 auxes like the drums.

Backing vocals:
HP on 70hz on male vocals and 90 on female. Deessers on both, a tiny bit of compression, and soothe on a sharp setting to tame a bit around 10khz. All send a bit to a slate VSC reverb.

Lead vocal:
HP at 90hz. 3 instances of soothe to smooth out resonant frequencies across the whole spectrum. Deessing, and some light compression. Sends to a 480 and 224 aux.


Mixbus:
A curve bender eq that boosts a tiny bit at 16khz with a high self and an UAD vari mu where the GR meter barely moves a tiny bit in a few places.


In the end I used automation to lower everything a few db in the quieter parts of the song.

[Ohbeejuan]

Here's my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vvd083 ... sp=sharing

This song was really interesting.

I tend to use a hybrid setup when I mix; using Pro Tools and mostly mixing in the box and running my mix out and back in through a Black Lion PM-8 Summing Mixer.

VOCALS
Ok, first things first, I read the notes and I totally agree with the assessment about the vocals having a harsh edge and whistle in them. I've run into this problem before, and in general it's rather hard to take off that edge without totally killing the sibilant sounds that need to be there because it acts the same as white noise where it's rather hard to isolate across the frequency spectrum. IMO this is usually a problem with mic choice. Some mics just hate a particular vocalist and the best thing to do is swap it out for something else. In my experience, this generally occurs the most when a female vocalist is paired with a cheap import mic.

When listening to the official and rough mix of this song, I noticed that the harsh edge in the vocals was probably dictating how loud in the mix the vocals could be. In turn, I think this can have a huge impact on the emotion impact of the song. Obviously we want to hear the vocals, but if they're too harsh, I think most of us would have a tendency to mask them a bit more than wanted by the instrumentation.

Most of the vocals I treated the same by using the following signal chain:
EQ cutting at 4.25k about 8 dB
dBx 160 compressor - Thres -1, compression 4, output gain 0
Eiosis e2desser - slow vocal, sensitivity 64.1%, amount 71.9%, dry/wet 50%
TDR Labs Nova - EQ cut at 16.5k, mutiband compression threshold -12.2 dB, ratio 2:1

After that I sent all the vocals to a submaster and treated them as single instrument with the following signal chain:
TBPro Audio CS-3301
Avid Pultec MEQ-5
EQ cutting at 7.41k by 5.4 dB
TDR Labs SlickEQ cutting at 8.8 k by 10 dB and boosting at 1460Hz by 2 dB
Izotope Ozone Dynamic EQ set to Baxendall Treble and squashing the high end pretty hard

I also sent the vocal submaster to an aux send that I ran through the following and mixed in to taste to spread out the vocals:
Outer Space reverb
Valhalla Vintage Verb
A-1 Stereo control

DRUMS
The drums are samples, so I general I tend to not compress samples just because they're usually pre smashed when you get them.
All I did for the drums was pan and do some basic EQ in addition to sending the drums to an aux send with the Black Box HG-2 on it. I find that saturation can do a ton to help drums out if I want to stay away from compression.

BASS
The bass all I did was do some basic EQ and then sent it to an Aux send that had a Blue Cat Chorus on it. You can fill out the low end if you mix in a chorus on the bass that helps it cut though without overpowering everything, and it gives the bass movement.

PIANO
The piano only has basic EQ on it to help the midrange cut though and work well with the guitar.

GUITARS
Basic EQ to make it work with the piano

After that I sent all the instrumentation to a submaster and bussed that to an aux send with Outer Space, Valhalla Vintage Verb and A- Stereo control on it to mirror what I had on the vocals. If I do it this was it gives me more control over the FX to be independent between the vocals and the instruments.

SUBMASTER
Everything gets sent to the submaster and I ran it through the following:
TDR Labs Slick EQ
SSL Bus Compressor
Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor
Avid Maxim Limiter

SUMMING
The last step I usually do is to run everything out into a Black Lion PM-8 Summing Mixer. It has a transformer in it that helps the kick and bass come to life that I can't get in the box and glues everything together in a way that I really enjoy.

FX
So I ended up automating a few parts with the FX that I had to deceptively give the impression that the song was rather dry to fit with the aesthetic that the artists were going for to sound sterile. For example, I didn't really like how dry the drums were, so in the intro the reverb and stereo widener that I used is pulled back a bit to sound dryer, then as soon as the vocals come it I raise it slightly. Unless you're listening for it, you probably won't even notice it. It's a subtle thing, but in the majority of the song I felt it needed something to tie everything together in a single space.

AUTOMATION
The automation for me was the last step. I didn't do a whole lot, just pulled up some of the little flourished between the instruments that tend to get lost in a mix.

OVERALL EMOTIONAL IMPACT
Overall, I think the mood of the song works and takes into consideration the concerns and desires of the musicians. What I felt that I improved on was primarily the vocals. As is they are rather smooth and present without overpowering anything else in the mix. I thought about using Vocalign to push the BG vocals to absolutely line up with the main vocals, but it can introduce sibilance problems across that many tracks and overall I don't think it needed it.

[elements]

Just wanted to say … I like this track. I think the image of a robot baby is quite interesting. Tech trying to take over the world and all..

[leslingle]

Well I have not been in a "Mix Challenge" in quite a while and I guess it is a good time to be back "Happy 10th". Well now that my new control room is 90% finished I am approaching mixing from more of my roots now so this mix was run through a analog console to bring back the missing width and depth to the mix. So my trip through the mix was first as always balance and panning before anything else is done I only used about a dozen plugins on the whole song which were from UADx and Plugin Alliance. Drum Buss: Hitsville Mastering EG and Better Maker Buss comp. Bass: Brainworks Subsyn and a Chandler Curve Bender. Piano: Millennia Tube EQ. Acoustics : Schoeps Upmix. Lead Vox: Lindell 902 De-esser and Avalon737micpre. Bgvs: Hitsville music Eq, Neold U2A, and SSL Fussion Image processor. All of this was bussed out to a Allen & Heath ZED436 to a pair of KT EQP's and a ART ProVla2. Then printed back to the Pro Tools session. Also I did use a UADx Capital Chambers for some reveb and I almost forgot the acoustics went through a old Behringer Ultragain tube Mic preamp. Hope that helps someone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ofGoO5 ... drive_link