MIX CHALLENGE - MC054 May 2019 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

I'll keep it short as to not distract from all other entries

None of my plugins can measure LUFS whatever that is. I know this has been a hot topic recently so I'm trying to explain everything clearly.

If you're using Fabfilter Pro-L, you can use the K-System scale (manual page 10). Select K-20 and try to shoot for anything between -20dB and -16dB loudness wise (or -21dB to -15dB RMS/K-System).

If you're using Fabfilter Pro-L2, and you really want to use LUFS metering, you can access the "Loudness Meter" (manual page 18). Change the Target to -14LUFS (right hand side of meter), switch the Loudness Time Scale (below the meter) to either Short Term or Integrated, see that the play button has been pressed, shoot for roughly -16LUFS (which would in theory equal -20dB RMS to -16dB RMS).

I've recently made a post on KVR Audio regarding the differences between metering tools, and when to use what. You can find it here - as part of the Youlean Loudness Meter thread. I should maybe copy it over to the Mix Challenge audio community as well.

[RudeGullit]

Hey guys,

I enjoyed this challenge a lot.

The song really grew on me, especially the vocal delivery. Had to get used to it, but it makes the track. The lyrics and their humour are great and there's a nice swing to the song.

Listening to the lyrics. I decided I wanted the mix to sound "warm". So that's what I went for. I used quite a bit of plugins on this one, so I'll summarize. If anyone has questions, I'll specify.

Drums: Shifted some of the files a bit for phase issues. Used gates on kick and snare. NI VC76 and VC160, TDR Nova and transient shaper on individual tracks and Ableton's drum buss on the drums as a whole. Some VintageVerb on a buss.

Bass: A bit of La petite excite on the low end, for warmth, NI VC76 for comp and TDR Nova EQ.

Keys: I found the keys a bit flat, so I used solid EQ, Valve Exciter and a buss with Phase 3 phaser for a bit of movement and a buss with Outer Space for more movement, fullness and space.

Guitar: VC76, just a touch, Some EQ and SDRR2 for some saturation. Exciter and Outer Space (same as keys) on busses.

Horns: EQ, SDRR2 again, and a bit of VC2A, Soundtoys Little plate on a buss.

Vocals: EQ, VC76 again, and a bit of VC2A. Plus Izotope's Vocal doubler and a bit of Multiply for width on the backing and harmony. VintageVerb and Replika XT on busses.

Masterbuss: A touch of Abletons glue compressor, VC76 with a 1:1 ratio for some gritt, and that's it.

Oh, and there's volume automation on a lot of things, but mainly on the horns, so the vocals are still in front.

Any comments are very welcome!

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1el2q12 ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/176R8-F ... sp=sharing

[paperthin]

Thank you, sir! Helpful tips! I will educate myself on this

I'll keep it short as to not distract from all other entries

None of my plugins can measure LUFS whatever that is. I know this has been a hot topic recently so I'm trying to explain everything clearly.

If you're using Fabfilter Pro-L, you can use the K-System scale (manual page 10). Select K-20 and try to shoot for anything between -20dB and -16dB loudness wise (or -21dB to -15dB RMS/K-System).

If you're using Fabfilter Pro-L2, and you really want to use LUFS metering, you can access the "Loudness Meter" (manual page 18). Change the Target to -14LUFS (right hand side of meter), switch the Loudness Time Scale (below the meter) to either Short Term or Integrated, see that the play button has been pressed, shoot for roughly -16LUFS (which would in theory equal -20dB RMS to -16dB RMS).

I've recently made a post on KVR Audio regarding the differences between metering tools, and when to use what. You can find it here - as part of the Youlean Loudness Meter thread. I should maybe copy it over to the Mix Challenge audio community as well.

[martman22]

Haven't been here in quite a while. I thought I would try this song out. Great tune.

Used Crave EQ, Marconi, Nova GE, True Iron and some Nebula plugins.
Nothing special. A touch of reverb on the master buss.

MP3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19syVt ... JGPd2keuGB
WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13_CQR ... 3kwOIwX8iJ

Hope we have more songs like this to mix.

[Photonic]

Hi all,

First of all - nice song! Well performed. Thank you very much for providing it.

And thanx for the hint to Steely Dan. So I had the feeling that this kind of style needs a more gentle drum sound. Not too heavy, not too deep. Therefore I used ReaPitch to tune the kick and snare a bit up. Not much, but now the drum kit sounds smaler and more unobtrusive.
I split the guitar in three different sounds for vers, chorus and solo.

Mixed in Reaper v5.51.

Drum-Bus: Presswerk (Drum Compressor Mode), Thrillseeker VBL, TDR VOS Slick EQ, Maxwell Smart
Kick: ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaPitch
Snare: ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaPitch, Transpire (to increase transients), ReaGate to shorten the sound
Toms: ReaEQ, ReaComp, Transpire (to increase transients)
Hats: ReaEQ
Overheads: ReaEQ, ReaComp
Room: ReaEQ, ReaComp
Drum Reverb: ReaEQ, Acon Digital Verberate

Bass: Bass Professor II (by Sonic Anomaly)

Guitar Vers: ReaEQ, NastyDLA
Guitar Chorus: ReaEQ, GReen Eugene (satturation), Reapitch (stereo - left and right tiny pitched and panned against eachother), TDR VOS EQ, ReaDelay (only right channel for 20msec shift)
Guitar Solo: ReaEQ, S.LAX, NastyDLA

Keys: ReaEQ, GreenEugene, Acon Multiply

Sax: ReaEQ, S.LAX, ReaDelay (for tap delay)
Trumpet: ReaEQ, S.LAX, ReaDelay (for tap delay)
Trumpet LE: ReaEQ, S.LAX, ReaDelay (for tap delay), NastyDLA

Vox: ReaEQ, TDR Nova (De-esser), Presswerk (vocal compressor mode), ReaDelay (for tap delay)
Vox Double: ReaEQ, TDR Nova (De-esser), Presswerk (vocal compressor mode), ReaDelay (for tap delay)
Vox Harmor: Vox: ReaEQ, TDR Nova (De-esser), Presswerk (vocal compressor mode), ReaDelay (for tap delay), Acon Multiply

Reverbs: Acon Digital Verberate.

Master-Bus: MQ57, Presswerk (bus compressor mode), SPAN

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hy13bl6iaued5 ... c.mp3?dl=1
WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nhars2tw25ij ... c.wav?dl=1

[SergioITASCO]

Hi all, I hope you are well.

The song is absolutely amazing and it was a pleasure for me to get on this mix.

Mine is supposed to be a full dynamic and true stereophonic mix so I would suggest to listen at it on headphones.

Cheers,

Sergio

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

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dmIzk5 ... sp=sharing

[Dodgingrain]

Here's my attempt on this one.
mp3: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrjOdgpNylEat2Vgkp6A
wav: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrjOdhYc6hfz6eXNyTHQ

As far as what was done there is some volume automation to increase the excitement in the choruses. Other than that there is a lot of eq settings, quite a bit of compression especially on the vocals, some panning work to try and bring out the vocal doubles. The vocals also have a slap delay and a slightly longer delay. The guitar track was doubled up to try and widen things out. The keys have a chorus added for interest. There is quite a bit of side chain compression to try and make room for everything. The kick is a sidechain input for the bass, the snare is a side chain input to the horns, the vocals are a side chain input to the rest of the track using m/s to give the vocals room in the middle via eq. The tops have some heavy saturation/distortion to try and bring them out.
Panning was used to try and seperate the horns and the guitar and move one of the vocal tracks off to the side and make it pop out.

[davidpaulpaige]

heller ther,
I really enjoyed doing this mix, not only did I spend more than the usual one hour, post utilitarian duties i.e. gain staging, harsh frequencies, dialing things for my current template ect.
This mix started with elements that needed the most attention and for me that was the toms. Toms are notoriously difficult to get in the can really well. I can't count the times a group did an amazing pass and the toms got red marks. So I did have some experience that helped this aspect and some subtractive eq made it happen. Didn't want a hyped kit but still wanted a modern sounding compression that didn't flatten the dynamics but still dug in pretty deep. I noticed on the original mix the snare was really brittle, crunchy and hard. Betting this was enhanced greatly by the mastering. So I did my best to find a place where it was a nice compromise and had a similar presence to the provided mix.
The group Cake has always held a special meaning for me, so much of my inspiration came from that place.
I included screenshots from the tracks that were using eq compression ect. I buss all of these tracks to my current template so there is also eq and maybe some light compression going on there as well. There is no compression on the 2buss, not just for this competition but I have recently abandoned this because there seems to be a more textural feel to my mixes without it. The drums buss also has no eq or compression because this I feel style does not require that tone to be successful.
Overall I tried not to hype out anything in the mix and kept things organic and open. I did clamp down the kick, snare and main vocals with some parallel compression but there is no eq on any of the tracks which I did not include a screen shot for (sax, trumpet, any of the vox ect.). I did include screen shots of the oh and bass buss but these did not receive any pre buss eq. Personally Im not afraid to leave a track in its original state if nothing is required.
There is a considerable amount of automation going on, as you might guess because of no "catcher" or 2buss compression. It took some time to get familiar with but... Best thing I have done recently to help my mixes get cleaner and more tangible. And when they want it louder or more crunchy it's super easy.
Thanks to the provider and Mix Challenge, I really had some fun with this one.

mp3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2bill8s8aj92 ... e.mp3?dl=0
wav:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufqyd5j7tiron ... e.wav?dl=0

Screen shots of track settings
Bass buss:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qo4qxj3iyl8g0 ... q.png?dl=0
gtr:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvec8dzztd04n ... q.png?dl=0
kick:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n0wudh1zros8d ... q.png?dl=0
oh buss:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pp3xfvvxfapl3 ... q.png?dl=0
room:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdvxb3m9bi9m2 ... q.png?dl=0
snare bot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1zxhvp660vfj ... q.png?dl=0
snare top:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rv4ap5ihb8qcq ... q.png?dl=0
toms:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vvv0hwnba27ms ... q.png?dl=0
trumpet lead:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q08pozvlbqqvt ... q.png?dl=0

[Green-Dog]

Hello everyone!

Great song! I enjoyed this challenge so much!

Mp3
Wav

All my additing chains are pretty standard. Almost every track have some EQ and compression. Working with drums first I alignment the phase and than gating, copressing and EQ. But before that I remove cliping artifakts with Izotop RX. A bit of delays and reverbs on vocal. On master Bus gentle tape saturation and console simulation.
Wan anyone had a questions please asking.

Good luck everyone!

[Mister Fox]

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