MIX CHALLENGE - MC104 June 2025 - Mix Round 1 in evaluation

[Mister Fox]

It is the 22nd June 2025, 00:30 UTC+2/CEST - the first Mix Round has officially ended

A very warm welcome to all new participants (from which there are plenty - hello to "Sonic State" and "Recording.de"), glad you found this place, nice meeting you and I hope you'll enjoy your stay. Furthermore, an extended thank you to everyone that is spreading the word about the Mix Challenge.

Please also help get the Songwriting Competition as popular (SWC094 is still in full swing and there are 3 days left).


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 091 submissions this month (091 prior to the deadline, plus 01 after the deadline, not counting possible re-submissions)
• the multi-tracks have been downloaded 148 times (regular compressed ZIP, not counting off-site access!)
• We have 01 submission after the deadline (as of 22-JUN-2025 13:40 UTC+2/CEST)
• We have 01 submissions that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and are therefore disqualified (re-checked 22-JUN-2025 13:40 UTC+2/CEST)
• We have 00 submissions not submitted properly or not submitted in public (e.g. submitted via SoundCloud or via PM - see Rule Book, post #6, Upload and Submission Guidelines)
• We have 01 submission that has (probably) been withdrawn (entry counts as "submission within the deadline")

STATISTIC SHEETS:

• Overview of Submissions - is your entry within given parameters? (PDF - updated: 00-JUN-2025 00:00 UTC+2/CEST)
• Overview of Submissions (disqualifications only) (PDF - updated: 00-JUN-2025 00:00 UTC+2/CEST)

Explanation for the Statstic Sheets can be found in Mix Challenge - Addendum: Statistic Sheet and Wild Card Mechanic


INFORMATION:
No more edits to your forum posts, please! You had plenty of time for that leading up until the deadline.

The submitted entries will be checked again for accessibility and time stamps over the course of the next 48-72 hours (collection check)

Statistic Sheets are not available yet, please wait for the official announcement post -- sheets will arrive by end of 27-JUN-2025 latest -- this is not an automated process
Statistic Sheets have been updated (on 00-JUN-2025 00:00 UTC+2/CEST)
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⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	Our Song Provider for this month, @BenjiRage, decided to go the "(Feedback for) Top 15" route. There might be additional feedback, but this is not a guarantee. We will keep you updated.

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I now open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however.


Please watch this spot for the Statistic Sheets, client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.

Good luck to all participants.





The Songwriting Competition 094 (SWC094) is still in full swing.
There are 02 entries so far -- this month's theme: "Colors and Street Art" (Picture Theme), genre: free to select

Please spread the word, get involved, and just make music!




EDIT: 22-JUN-2025 00:30 UTC+2/CEST - initial post
EDIT: 22-JUN-2025 13:40 UTC+2/CEST - Initial Statistics updated

[scottfitz]

Here's my 10 randomly selected feedback. Please remember that I'm trying to help if I can and also practising my own listening skills.

@Ronson79
Stamping out the beat really strongly with a kick that sounds like it’s distorting - it’s got something for sure, I do enjoy it, but I kind of miss the synth with the delays when it’s that low as this, it was giving us that syncopated lilt to the groove. Still you make room for the other sounds. Really fat bottom end, possibly just a bit too much in the balance, bass 400-600Hz frequencies are getting to me a bit by the chorus. Piano solo too low in mix, like it’s not there at all?

@Vanderdude
delayed synth sounds quite scratchy. It’s very interesting at first, I wouldn’t say I disliked the idea. However as the song progressed, I grew a little tired of the attack of those higher frequencies at me all the time. I would probably soften the attack and bring it down in the mix a little, try to get it to a point where the vocal is less intruded on. By the chorus, I’m starting to feel a bit fatigued by the high frequencies with little low end to balance it. I would be careful of your monitoring if this mix is sounding full to you, perhaps the Beyer DT770s are a bit too pronounced in the bass region?

@sthauge
It’s a very nice frequency balance and crystal clear mix. I think it could do with more of a difference between the verse and chorus in my opinion, the chorus should feel very obviously bigger and I don’t think it does, you get this explosion and then it settles back to nearly the same texture, same dynamics, same sound as before. For me the moment that the first chorus hits is probably the most important moment in the track and indeed in most pop music tracks. On the piano solo section I feel this is your chance to have some fun and I’d like to hear that solo sound sing somehow.

@PapaScrumptious
I think you’ve got into the right zone for the music and had some fun along the way, it’s an interesting take. There’s something jumping out at me about the vocal, if you listen around 55 seconds in the word “and” and later at 2m “I”seem to leap out. I wonder if you have a large frequency boost in the area that this word sits close to? At 1m in, the bleepy noises I feel are a bit too high given how they interfere with the vocals. The BVs are a tad high for me, like you’ve made them equal to the Lead Vocal, I think that can definitely work, but you want to use that for vocals that have been written to be a duet more like with each line having it’s own nice melody, whereas as this one I feel the higher line is quite a dull line to promote in this way.

@Strange
Solid mix, very nicely done. Couple of small things: I was craving a bit more effects on the vocals in the chorus, they sound a little bit out on their own to me? The piano solo sounds a little plain perhaps?

@Pingafuego
The balance is OK, possibly the vocals are too high? BVs too high on chorus, they need to be a fair bit lower than the lead and at that point we have the vocals still too high also, so it’s a bit out of balance vox vs backing. A good test to see if you vocals are too high, is look at the needle on the mixbus compressor. If it looks like it’s reacting mainly to each vocal phrase, then the vocals are too high. You know that the vocal must be too high because you know you don’t want the whole mix to be mainly going up and down in volume in line with the vocal dynamics, that was never the idea with the mixbus compressor.

@marc clement
I think the verse is fine, but in the chorus, it seems to go out of balance with the vocals now being insufficiently supported, especially lacking support in 0-80Hz region. Piano solo seems off to the right side, I think it should be central and the main focus of interest at that point.

@Zsolt
Sounding pretty good. Is the root note of that delayed synth which is a bit too dominant, ringing solidly all the way through? The chorus doesn’t quite deliver for me, the song needs to feel like it obviously shunts up a gear. Again on the chorus that delayed synth still sounds like it’s ringing on a bit too much with the effects you’ve used? The effects probably can be like that if that part is lower in the mix, or alternatively lower the extent of the effects.

@rvalle
the verse section is decent, but a little bit bass heavy (this is a very minor problem). The chorus is a better balance. Maybe the snare has a bit too much body in that 100-150Hz area. I’d like a bit more in the 10kHz+ region on the chorus. In the piano solo section, things become quite bass/lo mid heavy and lacking in the top end. The dynamics are well controlled so it’s an enjoyable listen.

@approxgo
The intro is cool, nice and bright. When the verse vox come in the mix is becoming a bit overly bright around 4-6kHz and a bit lacking in bottom end 0-100Hz. On the chorus, this is similar. I wonder if you have boosted the vocal presence area, it probably didn’t need that in my opinion. However this mix is enjoyable and interesting to listen to in general and I think your use of the effects has been great. Maybe more FX for the lead vocals will help to make things more cohesive on the chorus?

OK that's it from me and good luck to all.

[Strange]

Here's my 10 randomly selected feedback. Please remember that I'm trying to help if I can and also practising my own listening skills.


@Strange
Solid mix, very nicely done. Couple of small things: I was craving a bit more effects on the vocals in the chorus, they sound a little bit out on their own to me? The piano solo sounds a little plain perhaps?

OK that's it from me and good luck to all.

Thank you@scottfitz, you've mentioned the things I struggled with and I didn't want to do too much. Maybe I've done it.
I hope I'll get the time to give feedback, too. Cause I want to do it well and not in a hurry...
Greetings
Peter

[sthauge]

Here's my 10 randomly selected feedback. Please remember that I'm trying to help if I can and also practising my own listening skills.

@sthauge
It’s a very nice frequency balance and crystal clear mix. I think it could do with more of a difference between the verse and chorus in my opinion, the chorus should feel very obviously bigger and I don’t think it does, you get this explosion and then it settles back to nearly the same texture, same dynamics, same sound as before. For me the moment that the first chorus hits is probably the most important moment in the track and indeed in most pop music tracks. On the piano solo section I feel this is your chance to have some fun and I’d like to hear that solo sound sing somehow.

Hi @scottfitz

Nice, thank you for giving feedback, always welcomed. What we are talking about is what I call movement in the song. We agree that there should be movements like pianissimo, crescendo and forte(to use the classical terms) and focus on interesting elements. We might disagree about how to do it in this song. I was thinking about giving you some feedback as well and that would be your use of the broad and wide synth, freq wise, in the chorus. It can be very overlaying over other elements like your vocal, small nice notes etc. and hide them or eg make it difficult to hear the vocal words. I decided to reduce the use of that synth and my suggestion to you would be to consider how you are using it. You are right that I go back to the same texture, so I could probably done something more to divide the verses from the choruses, I have to think about a way to do that. So far I've by intention made a proper difference between the ''explosions'' or crescendos and the rest of the song just to very clearly establish movements and surprises for the listeners.

You done a good job with your mix, so I've not much to say except my comment over and your intro. When I first heard the mix I was thinking ''what the heck have he done here'' until I understood that it was a fade-in. Is there a way to do it more obvious for the listener that it's a fade-in? ''Telephone'' sounding first bars? Could not resist, what about this: Intro sample

He, he, may be I should use the intro myself

Just av tip, you mentioned your snare sound in one of our previous posts. I was not satisfied with my snare sound either, so I had to come up with something to get it where I wanted it to be. The solution was to duplicate the snare track, making a low-pass down to the freq I needed, and guess what, use a compressor to give me the transient I wanted to add in with the original snare track.

Cheers and good luck in the competition.

[BenjiRage]

Just a quick post to say thank you very much to everyone for submitting your mixes. 91 submissions is amazing, I really didn't expect we'd have so many!

My intention is to give feedback to everyone. I'm currently about two thirds of the way through the entries and will be working through the rest in the coming week. I hope to have the feedback ready to post not too long after the statistics sheets become available.

Best regards,

Benji

[Henrik Hjortnaes]

Good luck, Ben. That's a lot of work.

[scottfitz]

Here's my 10 randomly selected feedback. Please remember that I'm trying to help if I can and also practising my own listening skills.

@sthauge
It’s a very nice frequency balance and crystal clear mix. I think it could do with more of a difference between the verse and chorus in my opinion, the chorus should feel very obviously bigger and I don’t think it does, you get this explosion and then it settles back to nearly the same texture, same dynamics, same sound as before. For me the moment that the first chorus hits is probably the most important moment in the track and indeed in most pop music tracks. On the piano solo section I feel this is your chance to have some fun and I’d like to hear that solo sound sing somehow.

Hi @scottfitz

Nice, thank you for giving feedback, always welcomed. What we are talking about is what I call movement in the song. We agree that there should be movements like pianissimo, crescendo and forte(to use the classical terms) and focus on interesting elements. We might disagree about how to do it in this song. I was thinking about giving you some feedback as well and that would be your use of the broad and wide synth, freq wise, in the chorus. It can be very overlaying over other elements like your vocal, small nice notes etc. and hide them or eg make it difficult to hear the vocal words. I decided to reduce the use of that synth and my suggestion to you would be to consider how you are using it. You are right that I go back to the same texture, so I could probably done something more to divide the verses from the choruses, I have to think about a way to do that. So far I've by intention made a proper difference between the ''explosions'' or crescendos and the rest of the song just to very clearly establish movements and surprises for the listeners.

You done a good job with your mix, so I've not much to say except my comment over and your intro. When I first heard the mix I was thinking ''what the heck have he done here'' until I understood that it was a fade-in. Is there a way to do it more obvious for the listener that it's a fade-in? ''Telephone'' sounding first bars? Could not resist, what about this: Intro sample

He, he, may be I should use the intro myself

Just av tip, you mentioned your snare sound in one of our previous posts. I was not satisfied with my snare sound either, so I had to come up with something to get it where I wanted it to be. The solution was to duplicate the snare track, making a low-pass down to the freq I needed, and guess what, use a compressor to give me the transient I wanted to add in with the original snare track.

Cheers and good luck in the competition.

Hahahaha, the intro really made me laugh, it came in so much louder than I was expecting. I do actually like it and I also take the point that my fade in is not graded so well at all and a more deliberate one would be more effective.

For the chorus, I definitely want that synth in there but you're absolutely right that currently it is causing problems for the Lead Vocal, In fact on the chorus my lead vocal is suffering quite badly especially if you listen in mono, there's nowhere near enough there. Perhaps it can be improved with some sidechain compression so that the synth ducks the vocal a little or perhaps it doesn't completely duck but does enough in one band, so a sidechained multiband compressor between 1kHz and 5kHz say. I could of course reduce the level of that synth and that may well be the first step to solving it but I don't want to lose that kind of magical feeling of 'being lost in the waves'. I do agree with you essentially, but I think it will need some careful adjustments to try to preserve what I had while clearing some frequencies when the vocals are there. I may also need to check the EQ on my vocal FX and see if they can duck the vocal somewhat as well.

Snare transient 'trick' - nice one, I don't normally try things like this, sounds like a good one to experiment with to see if we can get some extra transient snap without resorting to the dreaded transient enhancement plugins.

thanks for your thoughts

[Mellow Browne]

Massive @BenjiRage!

[PapaScrumptious]

Here's my 10 randomly selected feedback. Please remember that I'm trying to help if I can and also practising my own listening skills.

..........................


@PapaScrumptious
I think you’ve got into the right zone for the music and had some fun along the way, it’s an interesting take. There’s something jumping out at me about the vocal, if you listen around 55 seconds in the word “and” and later at 2m “I”seem to leap out. I wonder if you have a large frequency boost in the area that this word sits close to? At 1m in, the bleepy noises I feel are a bit too high given how they interfere with the vocals. The BVs are a tad high for me, like you’ve made them equal to the Lead Vocal, I think that can definitely work, but you want to use that for vocals that have been written to be a duet more like with each line having it’s own nice melody, whereas as this one I feel the higher line is quite a dull line to promote in this way.


........................

OK that's it from me and good luck to all.

First of all, thank you very much for the feedback. Any feedback I can get helps me out immensely.

I think the couple words that leapt out may have been artifacts of a transient enhancement plugin I put on at the end of the mix session. Those vocal transients probably slipped through the cracks for me. Great catch. It's the first time I've tried that plugin (Black Salt Audio Reviver) so I now know to keep a watch out for those types of artifacts with it. I was probably a little too aggressive with it or it or maybe it should have gone just on instrument buses without touching the vocals. I will definitely keep these things in mind next time I try that plugin. Thank you.

I personally liked the bleapy noises, lol, that's why I had them up so high in the mix. I see your point though. I probably overshot it. The Reviver plugin may have enhanced it a bit more than I intended as well. Definitely something I'd revisit though.

The BV choice was a calculated risk I took. I was shooting for a soaring, airy, "Above the Clouds" (pun intended) feeling during the chorus which pushed me toward mixing the vocals more like a choir than the traditional lead/bv feel. I debated back and forth before going for it. It may have worked better to start the chorus off with the lead more on top and going with the choir tone more in the second half of the chorus. Maybe it was a total swing and a miss. I'd love to hear the perspective from others on this.

Thank you again for taking the time to listen and give feedback. It helps me find things I overlooked as well as figure out if some of the conscious decisions I made actually worked out the way I intended or came across in unintended ways.

[Drannob]

Well, I don't have much time, so I took a few mixes and made some quick comments. Sorry if it seems pointless, I'm not very good at giving my opinion
I'm not going into details, I'm just giving my overall feeling about the mix. For me, it's more important than talking about cutting 250Hz on a kick or adding 3dB on a bass. What matters is the overall feeling of the song. That's how people normally listen to music, lol.

@Ronson79 Good bass sound that gives the groove of the song, well balanced mix but too dry for my taste, I can't feel the 80s vibe on it, I'm not above the clouds

@scottfitz Yeah, this one have the 80s vibe Nothing much to say, everything is right to my ears! You are a good mixer, generally I like your mixes

@LowlandsWave very saturated/agressive sound, you push Something too hard. This is a dry mix but it have something that I like but I can't tell what… Without this saturation this mix would have been better, too bad.

@BenoitCharbonnier Français ? Very well balanced, each sound is good in itself but overall Lack depth/verb to my taste. This is a good mix but I Don't feel the 80's vibe on it, sounds too dry for me.


@Mellow Browne this one is mixed like a hip-hop song, very dry/ upfront drums. This is a cool mix but I can't feel that 80's vibe. Otherwise the mix is ​​good.

Sorry guys, this is still brief, but I don't see myself going into detail, and anyway, from what I'm hearing, I don't think it's helpful. First of all, I don't hear "error," and secondly, who am I to judge? We're in the same boat...We're all here to learn, right?