MIX CHALLENGE - MC102 February 2025 - Submissions until 21-FEB-2025 23:59 UTC+1/CET

[Mister Fox]

...
the provider told me it's your decision to allow a litlle edit at the beginning of the song: I'd like to close this millisecond-gap in the "Keys-Noise"- track by cutting and crossfading. For me it sounds like a fault and I couldn't hear it in the released version.

It is technically not a fault. Just to really be sure, I checked the multi-tracks and zoomed in on the two points where the sound "cuts out" (I used Wavelab for this). To me this does not look like a render glitch, neither is there a "click" that is building up in the mix.



(the screenshots will auto-delete after 2 months)


Since we only talk like 20-30ms of cut/crossfade, that would count as "micro-adjustment" and you can try to address this. However, it is masked with other sounds that build up at the same time. You could also add some more saturation or other subtle effect to "transition" better.

Then state your case towards the song provider after posting your mix. Ultimately, he has the final word if you need to revert this change if you've been selected for Mix Round 2.

- Please let me know if it can't be downloaded. I have had issues with the shareing before.

Your entry is accessible and it's already on my HDD. Thank you for participating.

Please also get a quick refresher on the bonus request by the Song Provider. (see post #003 and the TL;DR Rules.txt)

[Edling]

Then state your case towards the song provider after posting your mix. Ultimately, he has the final word if you need to revert this change if you've been selected for Mix Round 2.

I'm totally fine with this edit. I think we added distortion and reverb to that sound in the remix, and a lo-fi vinyl filter in the original mix, so we never ever listened to it unprocessed

[Strange]

Then state your case towards the song provider after posting your mix. Ultimately, he has the final word if you need to revert this change if you've been selected for Mix Round 2.

I'm totally fine with this edit. I think we added distortion and reverb to that sound in the remix, and a lo-fi vinyl filter in the original mix, so we never ever listened to it unprocessed

Thank You! Done!

[Denge]

- Please let me know if it can't be downloaded. I have had issues with the shareing before.

Your entry is accessible and it's already on my HDD. Thank you for participating.

Please also get a quick refresher on the bonus request by the Song Provider. (see post #003 and the TL;DR Rules.txt)

Will update now! Thanks.

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

Hi all,

Wow, what a track we have the privilege of mixing this month! Thank you @Edling for giving us this opportunity. This is such an emotional track, it really resonates with me and regardless of the competition it's going to sit in my playlist for the foreseeable future.

Here's a broad overview of my thinking and some of the main mix decisions I made:

• The original mixes are fantastic so these were my reference
• The emotional content of the material made me want to preserve its truthfulness, so I refrained from using any pitch correction or making any timing edits as I might ordinarily have done. All the tracks are played exactly as provided
• I paid particular attention to the section changes between verse and chorus to ensure there's a big increase in energy. There are lots of little volume automations drawn in where the sections change, particularly on the drums tracks, which help emphasise first hits and give an emotive boost
• The mix was sub-grouped into Drums, Vocals, Guitars and Key with compressors on the guitar and keys masters side-chained to the kick drum, so they duck slightly to give the kick more space and apparent weight
• Tracks have been largely panned symmetrically, but I used an auto-pan plugin on the tremolo guitar track with an unusual "double-sine" pan shape so it seems to flow between left and right in a slightly unexpected pattern without being random
• I rolled off the low end on the vocals at 160Hz and the keys at 260Hz allowing the other instruments groups to fill the lower-end spectral area
• I usually always add reverb to drum tracks, however it just wasn't needed here as the provided drums sounded fantastic as is and really life-like with a great room sound already
• Reverb and Delay were added to the vocals in conservative amounts with automation used to increase levels for certain phrases such as "dig your own grave"
• I placed a "radio" effect on the breakdown vocals so it feels like the person singing is a shell of their former self, asking for a second chance. The effect then fades out as the final word "see" fades up back in its regular sound
• There's a little bit of saturation and compression on the master bus, which helps the impact of the drums in particular
• As usual, there's lots of compression and EQ used across the majority of the tracks with various different brands doing the work, but who wants to just read a list of plugins?!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fWW3q4 ... qBcaz/view

Best regards,

Benji

Hi Benji,

That is a nice warm full sounding mix. Thank you for uploading so soon in the game and giving me another quality reference track I can compare my mix to

Cheers,

Jeroen

[BenjiRage]

@Strange and @JeroenZuiderwijk, thank you very much for your kind words!

[PhilBeis]

Hello, nice song!

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

[rijavia]

just my first try to mix it : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MPU1AQ ... sp=sharing

[Paramnesia]

@Edling and @Mister Fox I wanted to check with you before posting. On the solo guitar in between the played phrases there is a huge (although short) rush of noise with the wah. It's a very common issue with no gate on high gain sounds normally I just cut those small sections to clean up the sound I want to do that here as well is this allowed or would this break the no mute rule? I'm thinking its really not much different than using a gate but want to be sure, thanks!

[Edling]

@Edling and @Mister Fox I wanted to check with you before posting. On the solo guitar in between the played phrases there is a huge (although short) rush of noise with the wah. It's a very common issue with no gate on high gain sounds normally I just cut those small sections to clean up the sound I want to do that here as well is this allowed or would this break the no mute rule? I'm thinking its really not much different than using a gate but want to be sure, thanks!

There's no problem from my side, but please wait for @Mister Fox answer as well so no rules are broken!