MIX CHALLENGE - MC100 October 2024 - Mix Round 1 in evaluation

[VividPhase]

This is my second Mix Challenge, and hoping I’ve managed all the rules correctly. Thanks to the song provider, this was a fun one to mix and challenging for me to keep the energy up with the LUFS down. I didn’t get too crazy here, tried to keep it true to the original while improving the drums and fitting all the guitars, and working to keep the energy up while managing the LUFS/peak requirements…more details under Spoiler section below.

Song: MC100__SilverStoned__MrRockNRoll__VividPhase

► Show Spoiler

-Drum tracks: Some kick shaping and EQ. The snare was tricky, I went with Transient Shaper > Reverb > Transient Shaper > EQ > Final reverb (The purpose here was to work to add some “meat” back to the snare, and reshape the tone to still sound appropriate). A bit of track automation to slightly shift energies in sections.
-Drum Bus: Saturation > Compression.

-Bass: Guitar Rig with “Vintage Bass” > Saturation. A bit of automation to slightly shift energies in sections.

-Vocals: Just some mild vocal shaping/compression, with widening on the whispery vocal #3, and reverb on the bus

-Synth: Compression > Widening > Reverb

-Guitars: I didn’t do any individual compression/EQ, just panning and some slight volume automations.
-Guitar Bus: EQ > Compression > Dynamic EQ > Reverb

-Master Bus: It was sounding a little dark, so a mid to high EQ boost tilting up to 2db > Low end filtering > Tape Saturation > Very Slight Glue compression > High end safety filter

[amtown]

@VividPhase yeah I think I successfully disqualified myself from this one lol. All good, it's not as if this is for an Emmy nomination or something . It was fun to do. Maybe I'll get the next one.

[VividPhase]

@amtown Oh that sucks if so But yeah I agree, at least the stakes are manageable, and for me sometimes the hard-learned lessons stick better -At least either way you could still include your work on this one in your portfolio (again including the required info from the txt file)!

[Mister Fox]

The Time-Stamps still align with the post, so things are still "in the green".

You folks will know for sure after the first Mix Round (as usual).

[PhilBeis]

Hi all, my first time here.

Here is my try: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NRzAE9 ... sp=sharing

Quite a lot of stuff used in the mix, here are a few things:

GENERAL
- DAW: Reaper
- some eq on every track (sometime quite hard, and sometimes dynamic in different bands, sometimes just highpass)
- a bit of Waves Equator sidechained (only on a few tracks: bass and synth)

DRUMS and BASS
- Analog Obsession TRAX transient shaper on the snare to drastically reduce the transient (then compressed again toghether with a short reverb)
- Strymon DECO saturator and Kiive Tape Face on many drum tracks and bass and drum bus (also AMPEG on the bass, but still not very happy with the result)
- TDR Molotok compressor on most of the drum tracks
- PA Shadow Hill Class A Compressor on the drum bus

GUITARS
- guitars tracks panning
- guitar tracks divided in different group (solo gtrs excluded), on each group TRAX to enhance a little the transients, followed by an SPL Iron
- a bit of reverb only for solo gtrs (solo guitars do have also a channel strip)
- a little bit of automation (most panning)

VOCALS
- 1 group (folder) for Voc2 and Voc1, 1 group for Voc3
- Sonible SmartEq, SmartComp, SmartDeess, DECO saturator on all of them
- Newfangled Recirculate with different setting and automation on Voc3 and on the Voc1-2 group
- Klanghelm MJUC compressor on both groups

MIXBUS
- very gentle compression with PSP Flare

RENDER
- Reaper normalized to -16 LUFS-I

Have fun!

[Mellow Browne]

Hey there,

Thanks to the provider and Mister Fox for making things possible.

For this mix I only used a few tools.

DRUMS:

Kick: Helios 69 Preamp to give it a slight vintage character > 1176 Rev E to add punch and smack 4:1 with 2db of GR and medium attack/short release > Little VOG as quasi Pultec style Low boost
Snare: Studer A800 to smear the transient > Fairchild 660 to make it even less spikey
Drum Bus: Api 2500 for some glue 2 db GR with .1 ms attack/.5 sec release 4:1 R > PSP E 27 adds a little brightness @ 10 kHz> Fairchild 670 for the mojo with 3 db GR, SC filter @ 73 Hz and mix knob @ 85% and time constant position 1

Bass: Marshall Plexi Classic for some slight guitar-like vibes > Ampeg SVTR Classic for the bass tone > LA2A silver with 1db of GR just for the character > TDR Nova side chain to the kick @ 67 Hz with .1 ms attack/36 ms release and 5-6 db of GR
Bass Reverb as send: TENSjr with a pre delay of 8 ms to add a subtle room

Kick, Snare and Bass routed to Buss for Parallel compression > 1176 Rev E 12:8 Ratio with short attack/release > Linear EQ (with low shelf +1 db @ 100 Hz for more thump) blended into the mix per fader to give it some extra juice and fatness in the lows

GUITAR BUSS: Api 2500 to control the dynamics with 2:1 ratio .1 ms attack/.5 sec release and 2-3 of GR but unlinked channels > Linear EQ with low shelf (-4 db @ 140 Hz) and mid scoop (-1.5 db @ 214 Hz and 446 Hz) to get rid of mud and clashes with the bass > TDR Nova side chain to the kick @ 67 Hz > TDR Nova side chain to the vocal group @ 185 Hz and 2.4 kHz to tame some harshness
Guitar Buss send to Delay TAPE 201 in mode 5 with 78.2 ms delay and slight reverb added (internal eq used to avoid clashes with dry signal and other elements)
Guitar solo has Deelay as an insert with 1/4 note with 100% dry/ 50% wet (internal eq used to avoid clashes)

Drums, Bass and Guitars routed to a buss > Ampex ATR-102 for a little glue effect and slight tonal enhancements > TDR Nova side chain to the vocals @ 209 Hz with .1 ms attack/91 ms release and @ 6.2 kHz with 1.4 ms attack/37 ms release and 5-6 db of GR for both bands

VOCALS:
Voc 3: Neve 1073 Preamp in Mic input and Hi-Z -20 pad active, Low cut @ 80 Hz, +2.1 db @ 220 Hz, .7 db @ 3.2 kHz and +3.17 db HF to give it a bit more grit > Logic DeEsser 2 to tame sibilance
Voc 2: Deelay 1/2 note (automated) > Fix Doubler to make it wider during the short bridge part > Logic DeEsser 2
Vox 1: DeEsser 2
Vox Bus: LA2A silver with 1 db of GR to gel all vocal parts > Linear EQ with low shelf and mid scoop @ 250 Hz to unmask from the guitars
Voc 3 + Voc 2 send to EchoBoy with 77 ms delay and Comeback Kid with 1/2 note delay for some ambience and delay throws


Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qZEl6v ... share_link

Edit: more information added as requested. Hope this helps!

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,

Here is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yel8b4 ... sp=sharing

Drums: I added more attacks to the kick and snare. I also evened out the kick and snare levels, because it was sometimes very loud, then very quiet. I added high end to kick - cut mids. There was only mono room track, but i wanted to have more stereo field to drums, so i added reverb.
Bass: I added highs and controlled a little bit with compression. It was already compressed so i only added compression to control high end after eq.
Guitar: It was not recorded to be stereo, so i made from this guitars stereo, without loosing center..
Mix: mix itself has only shadow hills compressor and saturation. I made mono below 70hz. I had much more plugins on Masterbus, but it was allowed only to have -16 lufs and room for mastering..

Generally it was good recorded track, so it was pleasure to mix. It has own sound already, so challenge was to get it "radio ready".
In my opinion, my mix has much more power and emotion then rough mix.

Cheers!
Alex

[PonySho]

Hi all, my first time here.

Here is my try: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NRzAE9 ... sp=sharing

Quite a lot of stuff used in the mix...

Hi PhilBeis. Welcome to the forum. I really like your mix. It's very balanced and unhyped.
I see you're using the Sonible SmartEQ - I'm using it too and I like it a lot.
Your mix is my fave mix so far.

[i-dont-like-mixing]

Hi,

This is my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VeEoCn ... sp=sharing

tools used: my ears.

More seriously:

BASS: slight EQ
DRUMS: GATE-COMP-EQ
GTR: EQ
SYNTH: EQ
VOX: COMP-EQ

Some automation

[amtown]

@PhilBeis Great mix ! I like that the vocal delay is apparent during the softer vocal sections. I considered a vocal throw on that part, but thought it might have been too much.