MIX CHALLENGE - MC044 June 2018 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

It's the 01st August 2018, 1:30am - the 2nd Mix Round has officially ended.

Sadly, not all participants have sent in their edits. (missing entry from - if I'm not mistaken: Jarouse, Rogro)
Please check your upload links again, and have an eye on this thread for the final results.

Also - for the future: Properly label your productions - especially if you use a pseudonym on the forum and a different name in your mix (I lost track of who made what entry).



I'm now opening up the room (again) for Q&A's and giving each other feedback (which is highly encouraged)
Both the Mix Challenge 46 and Songwriting Competition 12 just started.

See you on the flipside.

[Baddo]

Alright, time to get dirty... this time I'll be posting as I review the mixes, to encourage conversation.

[Henrik Hjortnaes]

Henrik, now that the challenge is over I am really interested in how you got this "slipknotty" (yes, it's a word!) drums where every drum hit has that same click on top. Is it just saturation/distorton? But first you would need a transient to clip, so Transient Designer into distortion?

My best guess to what you are hearing is that I have every drum distorted, although I backed off distortion on the kick drum for R2. But you are absolutely correct.

Generally, but not always:

• I first use NI Transient Master to bring out more attack of the drum. That plugin does it in a sorta bass-heavy pleasing way. Sometimes I dial in more sustain with that same plugin as well to also lengthen the drum sound.

• Then some normal clean EQ, almost always boosting the top end.

• Then comes the plugin that is doing most of the work: Sie-Q by Soundtoys. With this plugin, I drive the drum into distortion with the DRIVE feature, while simultaneously boosting the LOW knob a bit and typically taking away some 700 Hz. The bass boosting smears the transient even more and lengthens the drum sound. If I overdo it, it farts out, but buried in a mix I can go pretty far without it being detrimental to the overall drum sound. To me Sie-Q is fantastic.

This way, I can take a short, flat, cardboard-like drum sound and create some character and tone. I prefer a punchy, powerful drum sound and I usually do not like using heavy-handed dedicated compressors on drums, because I can't make it work in the way I want.
So, I have no dedicated compressors on any drum. I do use a Slate FG-Grey on the drum bus though, because it is a master of bringing back some punch if needed. Clariphonic is on the drum bus as well, and it will certainly contribute to the "click" sound. It's always a difficult balance and I hope I did not overdo it, because too clicky sounds very annoying.

Now, I need to make a session with all the R2 mixes and compare us. It's always fun and surprising how insanely different we mix

[Mork]

Hey Henrik, thanks for the detailed insight, very helpful! I will have to really mess around
with drum distortion some more. I am always afraid of bringing up too much bleed, but that didn't seem to be an issue in your mix. I didn't have the chance to try the Sie-Q and sadly don't own any Sountoys stuff (yet ) but if you love drive, tone and smack give the Acme Opticom a try if you have some time to spare and haven't already done so. It's rediculous how much punch and dirt you get out of just 1db of GR. Also you can turn off the compression and just use it as a tone box.

It's always fun and surprising how insanely different we mix

You are absolutely right, it always fascinates me how different the mixes are and especially how many of them actually work! It's not just wider, brighter or some other boring technical stuff, but how emotions are presented, added, emphasized and how the song feels. It lets you know that there isn't a "right" or "wrong" and also that you have to trust your guts, because you are the only one that can give the song what you think it needs, but also that you could never do it like somebody else. Although I now know exactly what plugs you used for the drums, I could never in my whole life make it work the same way. I think this is the most important and wonderful thing I've learned here!

Cheers
Mork

[Baddo]

Hi guys, pretty busy week. But here I am, and lets finish this:

Hello everyone ! First of all thanks and congratulations to Badoo for his valuable comments that give a real meaning to the contest of "MixChallenges".

Actually his constructive remarks about my mix are true: I tried to apply them at best and I think the result is very good. In summary:
- "I am losing the snare though ...": excactly: I changed the sound of the snare drum and the bass drum for a more massive presence throughout the title
- "solo guitars": I changed everything: first the sound closer to the original and I integrated them into the rhythm rather than seeming to be outside
- "the last fade out was bad though": I like this chaotic end ...

For me this new mix has an incredible dynamic especially for this reason: except for some tracks (bass, bass drum, snare drum) I used NO compressor or LIMITER in the mixing: it's true and the sound is incomparable. Let's not forget that the goal is to achieve a MIXING and not a MASTERING.

Briefly technical side: all the tracks were imported in SAMPLITUDE PRO which is simply beautiful but very complexto use. All the tracks have been processed in before being exported on a HD 24 coupled to a console Tascam DM 4800 for the following reason : a very big dynamic and a very flexible automation (NO compressor NO limiter as say).

The interesting issue of this contest, for me, is to present ANOTHER MIX that is as close as possible to the SPIRIT of the initial mix without trying to imitate what would have no interest.

Send a mix on a full moon night with eclipse, you have to dare to do it (LOL)

Franz

Great work on the new kick and snare, I found the balance stellar. And the mix is incredibly clean and tight. Your goal of making the mix very dynamic has being achieved, kudos to you for moving out of the pack and making the mix without compressors or limiters. “think” I may like the last solo guitar a little louder but then again I think it is just the change in timbre, so scratch that. The lead guitars are cool, the rhythm guitars sound great. Very well done. Oh, and thanks for going back and fixing the fade out.

[Baddo]

Thanks for the feedback once again, it was clarifying.

So I was pretty conservative with the changes. I took away some of the mud of the bass around 100 and 300 Hz, and that gave a little room to bump it up on the lower frequencies. Then I took away a couple db until it felt right.
For the guitar issue, I did a combination of both things. I used a plugin named "parallel particles" from waves that does several things under the hood, and that already gave them some definition and volume. Also, the lead guitar had a 1/16 delay on it, so I automated it to change to 1/8 on the "actual solo" parts, where the guitar should be more distinctive. That helped getting some of the delay out of the way while keeping the benefits of it.

I was A/B-ing the mix and the revision, and there's not a huge difference. But, if you listen for these two things, the bass is still there but feels less muddy and the lead guitars stand out without feeling an obvious volume bump compared to the first version. Hope I found the sweet spot and you're pleased by the adjustments. Cheers!

MP3: https://mega.nz/#!FGxlSQ6I!-6S0dtKV-MB- ... VnpWLudwZM
WAV: https://mega.nz/#!1PoRQK5K!liOfU1g2h0nN ... LQUoqV0Sm0

OctopusOnFire

Wow, nice punch. You retained all the clarity and lowered the bass without loosing fatness, very nice. I will have to look into this parallel particles plug, sounds like a nice tool to have. I love the different tones you gave the guitars and I really have nothing negative to say about the mix. There is one minor thing that I am not sure about and it just might be myself being a little close minded and that is the subtle auto pan effect you used on the guitar when it is riffing alone. But man… I love your mix.

[Baddo]

Ok, I just leave the EQ from guitar...and that is) natural tone

MP3 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hdtcgw597fcc ... 2.mp3?dl=0
WAV - https://www.dropbox.com/s/l1uchkjwynqn2 ... 2.wav?dl=0

Coiled Ear

Ok man, very nice. Everything sounds in place, very solid. Again, your drums shine. Your bass rocks. Everything sounds fantastic, all the good things are there, no buts. Well done.

[Baddo]

Hey folks.

Thank you for taking time for all those refklections on all the mixes.

Here is my second entry.

Allright. I bought myself a nice soundtoys bundle and used radiator on guitars and took some earlier eqings out, especially on solosguitars. I crushed the DrRoom mic a lot, and i liked it. Also i de-mudded the guitars with this supernice TDR Nova. Also i used CLA76 on Drums in parallel. I leveled it here and there. In the end, it is very close to the first entry.

Wav
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7snj37jlunovo ... 2.wav?dl=0

Mp3
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nrqea7yuz9je5 ... 2.mp3?dl=0

Love
JL

JonasLasse

Dirty guitars, I love what you did to them, there is massive impact coming from the drums, so I guess what you did on the room track and the parallel compression is paying off. I love the range you built, how the track sets back when going into the verse, and then opens up on the chorus, very tasty, great work. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the washy hihat sound reflecting in the back at the beginning of the speed section, but then it quickly grew on me, and besides, it takes my mind of that one 16th note I didn’t play… so I guess thanks for that! The solo works perfectly, great riffs, man I love the sound of your guitars.

[Baddo]

Second entry: my mix was too sharp.
Therefore I did some eq correction on the guitars.
I also turned down the volume of my mix because it was too loud compared to others.

wav: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9491isr5qk09h ... 2.wav?dl=0

mp3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2xtcpld3evq3v ... 2.mp3?dl=0

Dr.Acula

This mix is still scorching I don’t get the echo on the rhythm guitars and think it sounds kinda distracting, and I hear some fizziness on the guitars, I think it is maybe this and the echo that throws me off, but it’s not a deal breaker, in fact it is a nice tone otherwise, very cool. The mix is very in your face and aggressive, which I like, and it is also detailed which I also like. . Very nice job.

There is some kind of hiccup at 0:08, and at 2:30, I have no idea why that may be there.

[Baddo]

Hey! Thank you once again for detailed feedbacks

So here are my fixes:

• Rhythm guitars are fattened in parts where they are alone by reamped through engl powerball DI tracks.

• Added more automation and for overhead tracks and a bit cleaned highs overall, to make mix more... bright where it is needed, for example at opening chords for choruses.

• Added another guitar track for choruses, it was reamped DI with some secret sauce Guess what is it. everything under 300hz was cut.

• Increased volume of sm57 at chorus parts for lead guitars to help them cut through mix.

• Added brand new Mercuriall Chorus in solo parts, to make it wider and a bit differ from other parts.

I hope these improvements not spoiled the original mix of mine, and would be noticeable enough for the judge

MP3
WAV

noogard

None of those improvements spoil anything. It sounds great, very nice job. I can’t put my finger on any problems, I really like it. You nailed it. I think this is definitely the better version of your interpretation of the song. If I was forced to comment on anything I think could be improved even more it would be that I think the echo on the lead guitars is still a tad too loud, but in reality it’s insignificant. Excellent work.