MIX CHALLENGE - MC054 May 2019 - Winners announced

[Patrick@1master]

Hi all,

First time here. Forgive the newb if I don't get all rules right. I tried to find and read it all (phew!), so we'll see how this goes. ;-)

mp3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8s1w1al442r6 ... r.mp3?dl=0

wav: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rulqsuxzxak5u ... r.wav?dl=0

This is a catchy song and it really grew on me as I worked with it. ALL great musicians! I know this is a mixing contest, so I left everything off the stereo buss to be safe. I really wanted to get tastefully creative with some production/mixing, as you can hear. Given that these are bounced sub-group stems and not the raw recordings, I assume that's what was wanted? Tried to not over do it, though.

Also, I set the Intergrated Loudness by tweaking master fader (no automation riding either), playing song start to end and repeat. I would have just set the ceiling on a brickwall limiter, but I consider that pre-mastering so I didn't. Maybe that would be ok, though?

Vocals:
Great performance! No pitch issues that I can hear and phrasing was spot on. I noticed mine are a bit wetter than other mixes you guys did. I tried taking some away, but then I missed it so I put back. We'll see. Standard EQ and LIGHTcompression with la-23. A little automation to level out some parts. I did some fun stuff with delays and some grit. If they hate it, I can always bypass it. lol

Drums:
I really wanted to just replace the K and S, but I read the rules and just EQ'd and did quite a bit of aggressive parallel comp with 1176 to try and get some body in the snare. I really want to hear some pick-up hits before the 1.1. I did the reverse snare trick, but I'm not sold on it. HH and snare intro fill would be uber-cool, but that's just my opinion and I didn't want to mess with it too much.

Organ:
Sounded really flat and lifeless to me so I did some spatial stuff and widened the image. rolled off LP at 110 Hz. Expanded to get some dynamis back. Couple small bumps at 1.5 and 5k.

Guitar: Not much more than some stock EQ and panning. send some to room verb

Horns: Loved them! EQ'd with Pultec 1a and found a nice conv verb which gave it that empty jazz club feel. large jazz club I guess (lol)

2 buss: Absolutely nothing! Plenty of dynamic range left to get it sounding sweet and loud.

Tons of fun and really liked several other mixes that I heard so far. Thanks!

Patrick Woehl
<email addresses removed>



[moderate="Mister Fox"]I've removed the mail addressed from this post. This is a public forum - please use the user control panel and update your profile if you want to share your personal information. But please do not do that in the thread.[/moderate]

[3ee]

Hi everyone,

here's my entry..

wav: https://app.box.com/s/d7px6crz44z2yikm0k172i3fszhwf1qw
mp3: https://app.box.com/s/z8k8bbtjgwlpnvt9cr494sy9exbl5opw

Mix isn't really finished yet... didn't have time to work in the mix but I'll be happy to work some more if I'll be selected for the next round.

Some info about my mix...

Electric piano has a nice pan modulation.
Some of the drum tracks are introduced in gradually for a sense of build-up, the snare got some extra treatment to sound nice.. have some sends to pitch shifting processing doing -5st and filtered -12st

Drum bus pushed a bit more into tape than I do for a more 'vintage' vibe.

Bass got a mid to high freq exciter that also sends to a chorus for a bit more presence and stereo image.
Panned the Sax and Trumpet to opposed sides, Trumpet Solo center a bit to the right to go well with the gtr.

Some short delays to various elements for a nice sense of space instead of using loads of reverb.

Still plenty to do on the mix... like cleaning some more tracks, fine-tuning mix and automation is one other important thing!

[DimitrisPalantzas]

Really enjoyed this one!

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PvfwzP ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17h6MEA ... sp=sharing


Screenshots

Drums: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1joKZf- ... sp=sharing
Instruments: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PrkVl8 ... sp=sharing
Vox, sends: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O5RMO6 ... sp=sharing
Session: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UaW1Mg ... sp=sharing

[Michael Schneider]

Hey there,

heres my mix! Hope you enjoy it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/osfi9dn6pxr2a ... 1.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gn2gjlqirdjlw ... 1.wav?dl=0

Its a great song to work on and its a good groove in it. Thanks to UprightJoe for this opportunity to practice.

Here are Pics from my Mix!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/be1or1k24p32 ... DLqXa?dl=0

[Franz]

Hi everybody !

Thank you UprightJoe and Mister Fox for this beautiful title that offers us many opportunities for musical expression.
It contains all the ingredients of a recording with lots of good things but also with many defects too.

Do not forget also that the mixes of the time (the 70s) were made on analog consoles and that the final
result of the mix was the master !

Quick turn of the question:

The voice I like a lot is quite uneven throughout the title (except the choirs that are correct): we hear that some parts
were recorded at different times or even over several days since we clearly hear differences in levels and especially
differences in tones (inevitable if we record a singer during 4 hours, his voice will be different between the beginning
of the recording session and the end). Examples at 1 mn 45 s or 2 mn 57 s (in the section from 1 mn 33 s to 2 mn 3s
there is a difference in level and color of voice between the 4 verses). Delicate to take care of all this
but it's a human voice so let's take it as it is.

The guitar and brass have no particular problem as well as the bass and keyboard.
When the drums, the it is complicated singularly: it is more than certain that it is an acoustic drum:
the level variations between the different attacks is huge and moreover all the microphones (except the OH)
captures more than 30% of the other pieces around. It is therefore absolutely necessary to rebuild the drum kit
while keeping its "acoustic" side.
So I started to clean the snare tracks manually (no noise-gate works correctly for these tracks), also the toms,
soften the violent levels of the OH track, clean the track of the kick (noise gate OK), find the toms missing (!!)
on their tracks: at 3 minutes 11 seconds up to 3 minutes 14 seconds, you have to look for them on the OH track ....

I come back on the brass: mixing the sax and trumpet on one track is tricky: first the tonal balance between
the two instruments and the absolute accuracy that is not always there and that brings an phasing effect
at certain times when you mix in mono the two different tracks of the brass.

In short there was something to have fun.

That said, let's talk about the artistic side: it determines the corrections and the sound colors that we want
to give to the title. I opted for a side rather "pop" than "rock".
So I chose a sound that was both warm, clear and still punchy and do not forget that you have to hear everything.

Technical side: Samplitude Pro X3 and my Tascam DM 4800 console to finalize the mix.
No samples and no replacements.

Drums : snare: equa + delay; kick: noise gate + comp; OH: equa+comp (NI Solid Bus Comp) + Side Widener (Boz);
Hihat: equa; toms: little equa
Bass : equa + comp
Keybord : equa + reverb (Lexicon 300 )+ Side Widener (Boz)
Trumpet + Sax : no equa only reverb (EMT 224 by PSP)
Solo Trumpet : only soft equa, no effect
Guitar : no equa only delay (EMT 225)
Voice : equa (ozone 8) + eFx_Desser (Samplitude) + Reverb (Reverberate)
The choir : triplet of tracks: delay (EMT 224) + Side Widener (Boz) then reduction to a new stereo track.

I have to say I have taken a lot of pleasure and time to work on this excellent title because it
represents a very good example in the complex path of a mix on the technical point but also in the artistic angle
(this last point being very often underestimated for the benefit of all technical - have a thousand plugins so
it can only be good but I may also have ears (do you think that ?! LOL)-.

And now we listen to this here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mg1q1crta2res ... v.wav?dl=0

Cheers

Franz

[iMax]

Hi,

First, I have to agree with some of the previous posts that this was one of the most enjoyable songs to mix. Thank you very much for that.
So here is my version of it:

WAV
MP3

Drums: Waves SSL E channel for gating, EQ and compression where deemed necessary. I also added Waves L1 limiter to keep the peaks from poking through. I used the Airwindows ButterComp2 for a slight compression on the Drum buss and Waves SSL G Buss compressor for parallel compression

Bass: iZotope Neuron 2 used for EQ and compression, also the dynamic EQ function was used to get rid of some unwanted noises

Guitar: Scheps Omni Channel to tune the guitar sound a bit

Keys: Neutron 2 for EQ and compression and Waves PS22 for some spread

Brass: smartEQ2 for tuning the sound, Neutron 2 or TR5 Black 76 for compression, Ozone 8 vintage limiter to tame the peaks

Vox: smartEQ2 again for some adjustments, Scheps Omni Channel on the lead and Airwindows Pop to add a bit of grit, Rcompressor and Lindell TE-100 EQ on the Vox buss, Little Plate for a bit of reverb

2buss: Waves SSL G Comp, Airwindows Spiral and ToTape5 for some saturation, Elysia Museq to balance and Ozone 8 Imager for stereo spread

Cheers!

[jetwolf]

Thanks for the music, Upright Joe. I love the diversity this forum brings. Very cool, indeed.

Mixed in Pro Tools

DRUMS: All drums phase aligned
Kicks split
Kick 1: EQ - Gate - FET Comp - Harmonic Distortion - SSL G Channel to shape - Transient Shaper - Arouser - Limiter
Kick 2 : EQ Gate - SieQ - Tape - Tubetech Cl1b - Transient Shaper
Snare Top: EQ - Gate - TG12345 - MJUC Comp - Transient Shaper - Eventide Room Reverb
Snare Bottom - EQ - Tape - Transient Shaper - Sheps 73 - Clariphonic
Toms: EQ - Gate - ProC2
Overheads- EQ - MJUC - UBK1 - Scheps73 - Clariphonic
Room - EQ - MJUC
Bass - (split)
Bass 1 - Tape EQ - ST Harmonics
Bass 2- EQ - REDDI - ProC2 sidechained to Kick Trident A Range Tubetech CL1B
Keys: EQ - FET Comp - Weiss Comp in parallel - Trident A Range
Guitar: EQ - API 550A; Tg12345
Horns: EQ - FET Comp - Weiss Comp in parallel - Scheps 73 : plate reverb on some
Lead Vox: EQ - Vocal Rider - 1176 - Harmonics - Spectral Enhancer - Scheps 73 - Fairchild -
BG Vox: EQ - LA2A - a hair of H910 - Harmonics - Scheps 73 - Clariphonic
Master Bus: API 2500 and general EQ with generic boom and fizz

Some plate and tube slap sprinkled throughout

For me I would see the biggest challenge was cleaning up the low mids and get them to do what I wanted. Especially important since I think the bass drives this song. I made progress but ran out of time, so that is one area I would try to continue to improve if I am lucky enough to see round 2.

Good luck to all.

Cheers!


JETWOLF WAV FILE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UEpaa9 ... sp=sharing

JETWOLF MP3 FILE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/177AbrD ... sp=sharing

[Piranha]

Here's my take on this song:
WAV:
https://campuen-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g ... A?e=j9fH7d
MP3:
https://campuen-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g ... Q?e=DlWWv8

I think that the most important part of the mix was to make mid-centric instruments and vocals to occupy their part of the mix and to work well together. I was after a overall funky feel.
Drums: dynamics where crazy here, gating and compression was the most important part. Big shaping on kick, the rest was just to let the natural voice of shells and cymbals speak out.
Bass: Compression and saturation to make the bass as full as possible.
Guitar: mid focused eq and snappy 1176 compression.
Keys: opened up and compressed a bit.
Horns: cleaning and sweeting eq/compression work
Vocals: removing nasty resonances and shaping to fit in the song. Choir where eq/compressed to stay to the back of the lead one.
A couple of reverbs here and there.

[GB Real]

Here is my submission:

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YaL7eE ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J0ChAV ... sp=sharing

Had a great time working on this. Used plugins from airwindows, TDR, Reaper, Melda. Done on Sennheiser HD650s and Yamaha HS8. Used a lot of parallel processing including some sidechained sine signals on the drums (Snare at Bb2 and Kick at Eb0) to get them as tight as possible. My main approach to the mix was to gate the bleeding drums and create a warm yet punchy groove that the other instruments could sit into. Aimed to push it close to the Steely Dan and Billy Joel references, and am excited about how the vocals and horns sound!

[canese]

Hello!

Here it's my first upload. Hope I make it to the challenge. Had a great time mixing this song with awsome vibe.

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