MIX CHALLENGE - MC048 October 2018 - Winners announced

[Franz]

hello "fese"

I come back to you on a subject that is close to your heart: the voice. Interesting and complex subject but paradoxically simple too:
I explain myself. If at the beginning a recording of a voice is considered as "good", I do not really see why we should "grind" it.
If she (the voice) does not "agree" in the future mix, as well record it again. And this mainly for artistic and non-technical reasons.
What is the technique for, specifically the "plugin"? Or we try to "save" something (it's OK for sounds of electronic origin) but very little
for acoustic sounds, or we use it for sound creation in which case the "plugin" are very perfomant tools. If there are any problems
with the recording, it is necessary to solve the problem of continuation and not to believe that one will find the miracle solution to the mix.

A mix must first be seen in a defined musical context. This is not a "unpacking" of hundreds of plugin that will produce a good
result automatically. Everything is a question of nuance and fingering.
Very few singers don’t like their own voice when they hear it while listening to the recording of it. I understood that you did not
escape the rule. Returning to your proposed title mixing, I find the recording absolutely clean (as many competitors you are also told)
and we can really focus on a beautiful musical achievement that must above all be interesting to me the goal of any successful mix ....

Good luck for the future (difficult choice, I must say) and thank you again for having proposed us this excellent title!

Cheers

Franz

[Siyabonga]

4. Waves Vocal Rider - to keep a steady level of the vocal

Could you tell me a bit more in detail how you used that? I have the hornet autogain which I think is a similar plugin, but I never really sure how and when to use it...

I'm not familiar with "hornet autogain" but sounds as if it does the same job... basically the reason why I've used Vocal rider was to avoid using compression since the vocal was well recorded to begin with and also to maintain it natural dynamics.

The idea was to keep the vocal vividly in front of the mix without using a compressor. The vocal rider has a feature where you can feed the a sidechain signal wich will act like a reference for the rider ... from there the rider will automatically keep the vocal steadily above the mix by riding the fader

hope it makes sense

[tiptoe3]

hi fese,
thank you for your sharp feedback. hahaha. xxxx happens when you try some strange stuff. lol mixing on a macbook isnt a thing for me. and i mean on the laptop speakers. :-) shipping over the baltic sea without headphones was not an ideal situation. i gave it a try and failed miserable. Listen back on speakers shows some weight in your words. snare: a runaway. balance could be a tat more darker. ;-)

cheers, tippy

[fese]

Oh, how I dread round two... always insanely hard to decide

The mixes are all good and I cannot judge based on technical criteria, so I tried to go just by feeling, which is hard enough: I'd listen to one mix for a longer time and get accustomed to that and then changing to the next feels irritating at first, but then you get used to that one... never ending story. I was one moment away from throwing coins

But I must cast a decision and here it is:
1. Ben-on-the-board
2. Mork
3. vintage

Congratulations to the winners and a big thanks to all those who took part. Mix Challenge is always a lot of work but I learn a lot.

[fese]

The idea was to keep the vocal vividly in front of the mix without using a compressor. The vocal rider has a feature where you can feed the a sidechain signal wich will act like a reference for the rider ... from there the rider will automatically keep the vocal steadily above the mix by riding the fader
hope it makes sense

makes sense and is generally how I understood it worked. But what do you use as sidechain signal? The instrumental mix?

[Siyabonga]

The idea was to keep the vocal vividly in front of the mix without using a compressor. The vocal rider has a feature where you can feed the a sidechain signal wich will act like a reference for the rider ... from there the rider will automatically keep the vocal steadily above the mix by riding the fader
hope it makes sense

makes sense and is generally how I understood it worked. But what do you use as sidechain signal? The instrumental mix?

Yes. I use a the instrumental mix

[Mister Fox]

First and foremost, congratulations to the winners!

The Winners Podium is
1) Ben-on-the-board
2) Mork
3) vintage


We perform with the usual - please select one license out of the pool (in order of the winners podium) and mention it in this thread, then (important) get in touch with me via PM with your full name, mail address and your plugin selection.

I'll update the "winners podium" thread shortly.

Thanks again for your participation. You can leave the thread alive if you want to exchange tips/tricks, edits, etc.



To the songwriters among us, the Songwriting Competition 15 is still up and running. You can find it here:
http://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11



And a desperate cry for help:

The Song Pool is dry. We have no more material for future Mix(ing) Challenges (game ends end of November).
Please reach out! (FAQ on the Song Pool Campaign page)

[vintage]

Hello,
Happy to be on the podium this time! Thanks to Fese for the time spent listening to our mixes, thanks to Mister Fox and MIX CHALLENGE for these mixing opportunities.

Let's go work on the MC049 now!

Patrick from Brussels

PS: For the choice of the plugin, I await the decision of the two winners ... My choice would be NYRV AGENT if this is available ...

[Mork]

Hi,

congratulations to Ben and vintage!
Quite a surprising outcome - I am really happy that my last minute „brute force“ mixing session turned out to be of some use.Usually attempts like that end with really nasty, out-of-proportion mixes.

Awaiting Bens decision...

Cheers
Mork

[Mister Fox]

If we're not hearing from Ben by Monday, I'll drop him a PM.


Due to internal reasons, I sadly have to temporarily put the "Black Rooster Audio" offerings on hold. I'll keep you updated on the status of that deal.