MIX CHALLENGE - MC051 February 2019 - Winners announced

[smalloceanstudios]

Hello everybody!

This is the first time I participate in this challenge. Here it is the link to my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gBEE4S ... sp=sharing

First of all I set the volume and panned every instrument. I put the drum and bass in the middle and the double guitars one in each side. Lead vox is in the middle and chorus one in each side.

Once I did this I used EQ in every instrument and voice just to create the space of each of them so they don't fight with each other in some frequencies. After this I used compression on the voices to make them less dynamic and on drum to make it punchier and controle it.

I sent drum and bass to an auxiliary track and saturated them. I did the same with guitars.

Then I used parallel compression on drums and a second parallel compression track for every track unless drums.

Finally, I used different Fx tracks for reverb.

I'm not very satisfied with the result. The good thing is that you can hear every clearly because of the EQ at the beginning, but I don't know, I feel as it lacks something.

Hope you enjoy it! I accept critiques.

[MOA22]

Echooread mix

Thank you for letting us play with your tracks. I really love the song. Hope it shows.

...

Dear Echooread,

I haven't listened to your work yet, but you've already won the humor prize.
Thank you for that great moment !!!!!
And sorry for your libido...

David

[CottonJennings]

Check It Out!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jyh57sd7fbjyv ... n.wav?dl=0

Mix in Pro Tools 12.

Mix Bus - 33609-TGEq-Tape

Drums- Kick= CLA MixHub-DigiRackEq-dbx160-Helios69L-DigiRackEq. Bused to a parallel 33609, Lowender, and Brauer Motion.
Snare= CLA MixHub-Helios69L-Arouser-DigirackEq-MannyMDistortion-Decapitator. Bused to a parallel 33609, Echoboy, and Brauer Motion.
Toms= Pye-Heq. Bused to a parallel Radiator.
Overheads= bxDigitalEq-AcmeOpticom-VTM. Bused to a parallel TG Comp.
Drums Bleeding= Trim-Locness-DigirackEq-C6. Bused to a parallel TG Comp.
All Drums bused through a Scupltube.

Bass- CLA MixHub-Omega A-Kramer HLS. Bused to parallel SansAmp, Echoboy and LoAir. All then bussed routed through VintageWarmer.

Main Gtrs- MEQ, and TG Channels. FX= EchoesT7E-SpringBox and Cooper Time Cube.

Lead Gtr- Pitched a couple octaves down and up through a LA2a Gray-Trash2-Digirack-MannyMDist.

BGVs- Sibilance-Rvox-Dverb

LV- Sibilance-PSPPreQuersor2-1176A-VCL864U-Scultube-MannyMDist. Parallel Arouser and Tape Echo, Little Plate.

LV Outro- Same as Lead Vocal but Reel ADT and DevilLoc.

[Drumwizard]

Hi everybody!

Here is my submission of the challenge. This time I made a mix in Reaper.

mp3 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ty9bx ... GDfF9V1wtU
wav https://drive.google.com/open?id=1f0wBd ... 0UOXiLdfIV

[davemcisaac]

Love the song! And great tracks to work with.

I decided to try Wave's CLA MixHub across the whole mix. It's a CPU hog, but I kind of like the results I got. It's an interesting idea and I got it cheap with a coupon and introductory price. I started off with presets and adjusted from there.

Master Bus: Satson CS - Tried the demo on the master bus and bought it immediately! Great sound & very light on the CPU.

Sub-Mix Bus: Goliath - Tape saturation/Paradox - Eq sculpting & parallel compression/bx_digital V3 - Mono-Maker,Stereo Width,low end eq/4U+DynamicTiltEQ to darken mix slightly

Lead Vox: See screen shot

BG Vox: I doubled all tracks & time delayed the copies for spread to make the chorus really stand out.

Bass: I double the track (Hi/Lo) and put distortion on the Hi, then amped the bus with AmpliTube3. I used bx_digital V3 to clean up the low end. I also side-chained the kick through ReaComp to duck the bass on kick hits.

Drums: Eq, compression, & saturation with CLA MixHub across the kit. Low Tom got MDynamicEQ added to control the low drone. See screen shot for more.

Guits: See screen shot. I did some ducking with ReaComp on the Rtm Guits triggered by the Lead Vox & Lead Guit.

Mp3 - https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... CUi5Jqgs8k
Wav - https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... Un3jqEXJt7
Screen Shots - https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... TIrLelikR7

[jonsubs]

This is my first mix challenge. I want to thank the organizers, the musicians, and all participants as I enjoy reading the details.

MP3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q-EmFn ... sp=sharing
WAV https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A6sKSp ... sp=sharing

DAW: Studio One, Windows
Buses Screenshot: Group (yellow) and global (purple): https://ibb.co/hsmNqGR

In terms of style I wanted to honor the aggressive vibe of the song. I respected the original guitars (no DI or effects alterations), and overall I used parallel compression for that thick gritty sound.

There’s not much seasoning on the tracks. Most of the treatment happens in buses (see screenshot). Across everything you’ll find eq and compressors, mostly ToneBoosters Flx (eq, dynamic) and Bus Compressor, and BX_Opto compressor. Also McDSP 6050 channel strip only on select tracks, particularly when I wanted to add drive/saturation or use a specific compressor.

My mixing approach here is mostly to first control the track if needed with some clean compression, then use a parallel bus to add more crunch to taste. Most of the time the compressor on any group bus is set to 50% wet, so it acts as a parallel compressor.

The other 2 key plugins that make it to select tracks are Waves Vocal Rider for leveling the volume (vocals and bass), and TB Sibalance which I used to take the edge out of excessive roughness on some tracks.

Drums: routed to 3 sub groups, then to a main subgroup (see screenshot). I like to group my “body” drums: kick and toms, my “highs” like hats and OH, and separate the snares.

Global Effects
I’m using 2 reverbs: a room for the entire mix and a short plate for select use (drums and vocals). The reverbs are ducked to the input by about 3-5db (that ducking compressor is built-in to UltraReverb).

I’m using 2 delays: a mid-length that is easy to hear in the song, and a slap delay to add energy to guitars and other tracks.

There are 2 “thickening” global buses: a parallel compressor for the entire mix (receiving from subgroups), and a “widener” that is essentially 2 widening effects + a micro-pitch effect. The widener receives from tracks I feel could use more presence in the mix like the guitar solo and background vocals.

The exit bus has some treatment for cleanup and a bit for taste. There’s a Barricade limiter set to -1db just to catch a few loose spikes across the mix, then it goes into the 6050 for basic eq passing at 20hz and 20k, and about 1.5db of compression just for a little control. One global instance of TB Sibalance using a light setting helps dial back loose roughness from any tracks. NLS adds a bit of saturation to the entire mix in the spirit of the song. OzoneImager is there to help me touch up the width as the song was feeling too narrow but I liked the panning balance already so I didn’t want to re-pan the tracks.

There is very modest automation. Once to blend the outro vocals, and also automation on the delay send of the solo guitar. I also moved the intro guitar to the center before the vocals begin.

I don’t want to go overboard with details in the first post, so please feel free to ask about anything.

[Franz]

Hello everyone,

A little late but very busy with many activities in the musical domain.
That said, excellent title to mix at the beginning of the year.

So, we should not amalgam between Anglo-Saxon groups and French groups: this title which obviously includes
a very strong message will make me rather think of "TRUST", a French group of the late 70s. with his title “antisocial”.
It is therefore necessary to find the right balance between the voice and the instruments: for me, it is the voice
that leads the boat: it must be perfectly intelligible throughout the title and the instruments must push it
(and not the other way around).

First concerning the original mix, we feel very well the energy released by the orchestration and the rage in the voice:
a mastering in which we dropped the pack of rabid dogs.
But we are in a mixing competition, so it is very difficult to get closer to the original master,
but would it be interesting to imitate it ?

At the level of the tracks, the sound is overall quite crude. Not really problems if it is the lead voice to seriously
rework to bring him "presence" as well as energetically correct the sound of the bass. Nothing insurmountable, whatever ...

The work was done in REAPER, SAMPLITUDE PRO, digital recorder ALESIS HD 24, console TASCAM DM 4800
and external gears like a Lexicon 300, a true TECKTRONICS plate reverberation and other devices.
So it's not worth it that I explain in detail some settings as far as certainly a lot of competitor does not have this material.

But here is the sequence of the mix:

Note: no samples only the original tracks

- Drums: transcend shaper for snare and the kick with huge equalizations,
the other tracks only the equalization and compression.

- Bass: I used the plugin "vandal" implemented in the software Samplitude to make
the original sound more round and punchy.

- For guitars, same process, I used the tracks "DI" to re-create an overall sound
through the "vandal" plugin. In fact, it is a question of finding "a global sound" :
the example is the end of the title where we have the impression to hear only
one guitar which produces a big rhythmic sound whereas in does it are 3 guitars

- For the “lead” song : I cleared the voice and made many corrections to get a sound
"hoarse" and especially understandable in this mix.

- The "choir" voices : to mix subtly with the main voice: they are not true choruses
but rather a reinforcement of the lead voice at certain passages; a particularity
for the voice at the end of the title: it seems to come from another world
(better than that decried in the song) as well as the solo guitar that follows this voice

The real difficulty is to give a great energy to this title while keeping a sound that I call "clean".
In my opinion it is possible, since I have just tried to do it and we can always go further with a major mastering.

good listening !

For those who would like with details about the mix, it is with pleasure that
I will answer you. In any case, good luck to all and especially good courage toTalbot and Delucq

Wav 48 Khz 24 bit : https://www.dropbox.com/s/t741zppa7515v ... v.wav?dl=0

Cheers

Franz

[Piranha]

Here it is:
WAV:
https://campuen-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g ... w?e=RuVDMX
MP3:
https://campuen-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g ... w?e=3CmWbF

I'll add details about my work tomorrow

[Iheb Boughzala]

This was a fun experience and I love the song

Here is my mix of the song:
Wav : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1flAZz ... ZG1xs8eo7M
MP3 : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kqOdw ... MUJgxTVWed

Session ScreenShots
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pB66K ... jVJ8rfZXzQ

Comments and questions are very welcome !!

[Mork]

Hi,

looooove the song! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to mix this.
I really like the style of the reference mix (which is really good to begin with) and wanted to make it even bigger and a little obnoxious. Super fat snare (like in the reference), fat guitars, mean vocals, chaos, mayhem. Although I don't understand a word (but have read the translation) I wanted better speech intelligibility as it's crucial to this kind of music.
I am really, really tired from work and not able to write a long description at the moment (have to get up very early again), but feel free to ask anything you want to know. But when I read over your descriptions I think you got the hang: EQ, compression and tons of saturation. The only difference is that I kept it more on the dry side, which I like, but I really dig some of the cool chorus 1/16th delay throws that you guys did.

WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d01FP ... O8rBkDyxI4
MP3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1do-0n ... 8awOeS1mH5

Cheers
Mork