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

[E.C.S.]

Hi everyone,

its the first time for me here. A really well played song. Good performance.

So here we go:

- Basic things like leveling, panning, EQing and comp. on the individuell tracks
- Parallel stuff like comp, saturation for drums
- also the same for bass, for this case I like the bass sound a bit more dirty :-)
- little reverb on snare
- reverb, chorus and delay on the main vocals
- close to nothing on the BG voc.
- little automation
- mix bus : just a hair of EQing and comp for little glue ....thats it :-)

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

[erik_hansen]

Hey everyone! This is my second time but my first attempt was already a couple of years ago and I got disqualified so hoping that this time I did everything correct ^^

First of all nice song. Was fun to mix and it didn´t take too long for stuff to fall into the right place. Plugin wise I used 95% fabfilter stuff, since I got the whole bundle for student discount and try to stay with it for now. I´m using Reaper as my DAW.

Drums: Tried to give the shells more body with eq and some compression. I have parallel compression on the drum bus to make the drums more aggressive and some tape emulation to smooth some transients and give a bit of grit.
Bass: Did some compression 1176 style fast attack and release. Some Distortion vom the BOD Sansamp clone and using Basslane to spread the bass above 500Hz to make it feel a bit bigger.
Guitars: Just some eq, a little bit of compression and saturation.
Synth: More distortion cause why not and a low cut.
Vocals: Removed some harshness around 3k and did some deessing. Then some Tube distortion and a Mixture of Reverb and Delay to give it some more space without having a huge tail.

On the Mixbus I did some multiband compression, the good old pulteq trick and some Tape emulation to give it some dirt. Hope you guys like it

My Mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lgJbrg ... sp=sharing

[Edling]

Hi everyone, here’s my version of the song. My main goal was to really emphasize the feeling of a band giving it all they got Hope you enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0a0dvicm ... 76q1n&dl=0

Template setup
I use the UAD Api Vision channel on almost all tracks as this is my fav channel strip. For all groups (drums, bass, git, vox, etc) and master out I use the Britson Buss console emulation as it gives a subtle color.

Send effects
I used two different reverbs on the track, one mid-size spring reverb for body and a longer plate for some tail. I also used a long delay for effects

Drums
Kick - Compression, the usual EQ with LOTS of hi-mid boosting to make it cut through. Slight distortion through the preamp.

Snare
Used BSA Silencer to eliminate cymbal bleed, then distorted it through the API preamp and added EQ. Compressed with an 1176, then another 4 band EQ to filter out some annoying frequencies with more precision. Lastly I added a gated reverb (because that’s what you did when Grunge was hot) to add some more body to it.

Toms & OH
Nothing special. Some volume automation on the rack tom,

Room
Totally crushed the room mic through an 1176 compressor.

Drums bus
Sent kick, snare & toms through a comp buss, again crushed with an 1176, then blended it into the main drum bus. API 2500 for glue, Tape emulation with slight distortion and then a room impulse reverb to make it sound a bit more shiny. Lo-fi distorted the drums during the first verse to get some more dynamics going into the first chorus.

Bass
Ran the bass signal through a distortion, then an Ampleg sim and some 1176 compression.

Guitars
Some basic EQ and some reverb. Some automation in terms of panning, volume and effects to get good placement and dynamics on all parts of the song.

Guitar solo
Sent the first section of the solo through the delay to emphasize the feedback sound of it, then removed the delay for the main solo to keep it more dry.

Synth
I did nothing here

Vox
De-esser and the through an overdriven tape sim with slap delay.

Mixbus
I always have an API 2500 with the input barely touching the needles as it gives it just a bit of glue and coloration that I like.

[floodo]

A question colleagues, anyone else noticed a very annoying resonance in most of the tracks around 4700hz? or is it my equipment? or is it the room where the tracks were recorded?

[cpsmusic]

Hi All,

I have two quick questions:

1. Do we have to use all the guitar tracks - I'm assuming we don't but just wanted to check. I'm referring to the DI/Amp tracks - we only need to use one of these?

2. I'd like to add a noise-burst to the snare and was thinking of using the MoogerFooger MF-109S saturator which combines an envelope follower and noise generator. I'm assuming this is ok but just wanted to confirm? See here for more info: https://software.moogmusic.com/store/mf-109s

Cheers!

[Mister Fox]

I can't full answer point 01, but definitely point 02:

1. Do we have to use all the guitar tracks - I'm assuming we don't but just wanted to check. I'm referring to the DI/Amp tracks - we only need to use one of these?

Check the Mix Pack bundled TXT files (Words by the Song Provider). There really is only one DI track, and it is it's own track.

Some parts are definitely "doubles", but with a different tone to flesh out the arrangement.

2. I'd like to add a noise-burst to the snare and was thinking of using the MoogerFooger MF-109S saturator which combines an envelope follower and noise generator. I'm assuming this is ok but just wanted to confirm? See here for more info: https://software.moogmusic.com/store/mf-109s

This has been answered in minute detail in the new addendum thread (also see Newsletter from 03rd October and post #013).

Mix Challenge - Addendum: Non-permitted tool usage
See: Harmonic Exciters, Sub-Bass Synthesizers, Mic Simulators

I was not aware of the MF-Pedal while writing this post (I can't know every tool out there). I might add it in a future update.

[cpsmusic]

I can't full answer point 01, but definitely point 02:

1. Do we have to use all the guitar tracks - I'm assuming we don't but just wanted to check. I'm referring to the DI/Amp tracks - we only need to use one of these?

Check the Mix Pack bundled TXT files (Words by the Song Provider). There really is only one DI track, and it is it's own track.

Some parts are definitely "doubles", but with a different tone to flesh out the arrangement.

2. I'd like to add a noise-burst to the snare and was thinking of using the MoogerFooger MF-109S saturator which combines an envelope follower and noise generator. I'm assuming this is ok but just wanted to confirm? See here for more info: https://software.moogmusic.com/store/mf-109s

This has been answered in minute detail in the new addendum thread (also see Newsletter from 03rd October and post #013).

Mix Challenge - Addendum: Non-permitted tool usage
See: Harmonic Exciters, Sub-Bass Synthesizers, Mic Simulators

I was not aware of the MF-Pedal while writing this post (I can't know every tool out there). I might add it in a future update.

Thanks, I just wanted to check as the rules are pretty strict around here

Cheers!

[javipablos]

Hi Everyone!
This is my first post and the first challenge I participate on so, I hope everything is according to the rules.
I am sorry for my broken English (not my mother tongue) but I hope my level is enough for disscussing and posting.

This is my approach to this (really fun to mix) song:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3hhnulrn ... 0kxgw&dl=0

Everything is done ITB and no re-amping:

- VOCALS: Compresión (1176); DeEsser; Corrective EQ and a hair of tape saturation. NO FX.
- DRUMS:
- General: API 2500 Compressor and EQ
- Kick: I doubled the track to work separately with low end (adding subs) and excitement (parallel compression and distortion). I have added plate reverb on it.
- Snare: Clean a bit with Waves EQ Curves and adding punch with Pultech's and SSL's EQ and Slate's Transient designer. Parallel compression together with the kick.
- Rest of elements: UAD's API channel strip except room and OH heavily compressed with ELB Disstressor.
- BASS: I have doubled the track to add some drive with TH-U SANS simulation and treat low end separately.
- GUITARS: CLA Mix hub for all the tracks- Additional compression with LA3 for FX and Solo guitar.
- SYNTH: EQ boost in 3 KHz for cutting the mix better.
- MIX BUSS: Corrective EQ, Glue Comp, Tape simulation and slight stereo image to bring up (mainly) the guitars. Multiband compression for pack the low end a bit.

I hope you enjoy it. Any comment about the mix is welcome!
Thanks!
Javi

[Edling]

A question colleagues, anyone else noticed a very annoying resonance in most of the tracks around 4700hz? or is it my equipment? or is it the room where the tracks were recorded?

Didn't notice anything particular, but then again, I'm old, so I could very well be deaf around 4.7k

[floodo]

A question colleagues, anyone else noticed a very annoying resonance in most of the tracks around 4700hz? or is it my equipment? or is it the room where the tracks were recorded?

Didn't notice anything particular, but then again, I'm old, so I could very well be deaf around 4.7k

it's not very noticeable, but I found it in several tracks, at times you can't hear it but sometimes it converges and it's like an annoying whistle, so I decided to put a notch in the mixbus, I'll check the raw material to make sure I'm not the one introducing that resonance.
I am currently in the office, but I seem to remember that the exact frequency is 4768kz.