MIX CHALLENGE - MC065 May 2020 - Winners announced

[RockSteadyEddie]

Hello, Here is my submission.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hcjbo71q541wh ... l.wav?dl=0
DAW-Logic pro x
Plugins- Abbey road TG12311 and NLS summer set to TG1234 console, Abbey road chambers for verbs and Soundtoys echoboy for delay,Tape simulation Abbey road J37.

Thought of Beatles / Electric light orchestra and tried to bring that vibe to the mix.

Hope you enjoy it.

Eddie.

[bluesation]

Editing is one thing! Mixing another one as Master another one...
The songs for contests should be provided already with vocals tuned and instruments in time , here i can feel literally the typical situation, (we solve in the mix later) sorry im out if i have to spend 2 hours just for tuning the singer... and put in time the instruments...

+1
From my point of view mixing is not a repair job. Mixing is a creative work. Vocal and instrument tuning is a routine piece of work. I am not willing to spent my free-time with such things. I am out for this challenge.

[pedroruca]

Here is my submission: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vstsl247b5a1 ... GaZsa?dl=0

I tried to go with Toto sound but they way it's recorded feels more modern. I also focused on not using many plugins, but some tracks needed more processing than usual (kick, snare mainly).

I started with getting the feel for Drums + Bass + Vocals. Loved the room track so I mixed the drums focusing on that mic and went for a more roomy feel. This way drums are more in the background for the groove and shakers/tambourine a bit more in front since I saw in the preview mix they were louder. Didn't use the Hat track since there's more than needed coming through the snare mic.

For the bass I only used the DI with a little distorsion to get more high frequencies and went for a tiny little chorusy effect like in bands like Parcels since the bass is very rythmic.

For the vocals I tried some 'beatles-like' effect on the verses since they felt less powerful than the choruses. Also tried to tune the verses since they were very out of tune, but are not tuned 100% since the artist didn't want it to be noticeable. I used slap delay to get a more classic sound and for the background vocals I used some alterboy with 20%mix to get a richer harmony (5ths and -12st).

Then guitars, I compressed them so they are not as dynamic and can be heard more even throughout the song. The solo I used a subtle fluttery effect like old recordings, used lots of distortion (from compression, tube distortion and neve console) to make it sound fuller and used a widener so it's not only in the center. Also a pingpong delay to have more movement and reverb with some drive to make it more realistic.

The pianos I just compressed them to get more tail sound and a bit of a subtle pumping effect and the Sax is processed the same way as the solo guitar but with a different reverb.

Arrangement-wise, I took everything just before the 2nd chorus because the transition wasn't feeling right, I think this way is stronger. I also changed the drums before the solo, it took me out of the song that the drummer changed from ride to hihat while the singer is finishing the verse, so now the drums change to hihat only for that period of no singing before the solo hits, making it feel more like a transition. Of course, I'm sorry I took the initiative to change this, and if the artist doesn't like it it always can be reverted since it's his decision.

Finally in the master bus I just used a tape emulation and a limiter with 0 gain to get any possible peak and make sure I'm not overpassing the loudness requirement.

[ManuC]

Hi everyone.

There is my submission for these challenge.

Personally, I don't find that the song needed a lot of editing.
It took me 15 min during the flattening. (readjust guitars and piano, and help the voice for a more correct intonation)

I imported the track file at 1 p.m., it is 3:15 p.m. and my first static mix is ​​finished. I don't think it's insurmountable.

From my point of view editing is also part of mixing, in the sense that it is not uncommon to cut certain parts of tracks, shift certain things, to go where creativity takes us.

Admittedly, setting up guitars is not a passion, but I think that 3 clicks to do it is not "unworthy for a mix guy"

That said, let's move on to what interests us here.

After the flattening and the corrections, I looked at the eq.
Fabfilter Q2

Some CLA2A for vocals, to keep more natural than a CLA76.

limiter on guitars, and the sax.

I used 2 reverbs, a TC VSS3 room reverb for a natural rendering, and a Spring, to thicken the voice a bit.

Here are two screenshots and the link.

Good day everyone and I hope you have as much fun as I do.

Thank you and musical greetings.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0moj2yxmg592c ... 5.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jabla3b7neqbj ... 9.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyfmlz8rbfg28 ... C.wav?dl=0

[cdj1000]

Editing is one thing! Mixing another one as Master another one...
The songs for contests should be provided already with vocals tuned and instruments in time , here i can feel literally the typical situation, (we solve in the mix later) sorry im out if i have to spend 2 hours just for tuning the singer... and put in time the instruments...

+1
From my point of view mixing is not a repair job. Mixing is a creative work. Vocal and instrument tuning is a routine piece of work. I am not willing to spent my free-time with such things. I am out for this challenge.

I think this kind of discussion is a lack of respect fot the autor's job. Sometime In real life you can't have any action on the record session and so you must work with materials (audio tracks) that artist gave you for mixing.

[paperthin]

Hey fellow mixers!

Quite an enjoyable song this time around, I got some 'Guardians of the Galaxy' vibes straight away. And a remarkable fact that it was written for a friend going through a breakup, man I wish I had a friend who would write me a song! Awesome.

Let's get to business. Yes, the tuning and timing adjustments can be a pain sometimes, but to me it's part of the journey. Once the fixing was done, things went smoothly. Mixing notes:

Drums: I used a gating trick I learned from Andrew Zeleno (side-chaining the gate to the copy of the track which is put slightly ahead of time, you can find it on youtube).

Bass: I only used the DI, the mics didn't contribute much and I ended up with a similar tone anyways. My favorite sound-design tools for bass are CLA-bass and FF-Saturn (smooth amp setting), and I used both for this track.

Keys: slight stereo tremolo effect and a bit of EQ.

Piano: a healthy dose of hi-freq excitation and some timing fixes.

Vocals: tuned manually with Autotune EVO, followed by the usual treatment – compression, EQ, de-essing, volume and send automation.

Guitars and sax were only slightly touched by EQ and automated. A rare case where instruments just worked great together, even though individually they could have issues. I quite like it when a mix sounds good without feeling perfect to the point of being sterile. Thanks for this month's challenge. More please!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hzr577ex0p1r ... n.wav?dl=0

[Nonlinear]

Link to my mix here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kVcKIk ... sp=sharing

Mixed in Pro Tools 2020. Attached screenshot of mix session (partial page) and example of EQ I used to pull out the bark and bite of the snare sound.

I began the mix with cleanup, mostly on the vocals using Melodyne for pitch and Revoice Pro to tighten alignment. I would have liked to make the verse vocals - especially the second verse - tighter but it became too processed-sounding so I backed off. Also used Izotope RX7 to clean up some noises I heard in the vocal tracks and various other places. I fattened up the "Ooos" vocal tracks with a light detune spread using Eventide's Quadravox.

I tempo mapped the drums (which are a little loose) and aligned tambourine and shakers to that track for a bit tighter rhythm section. Other tracks could be tightened as well (bass and rhythm guitars) but, again, I didn't want it to become too "slick".

Really nice guitar and sax solos!

All other tracks were lightly seasoned with EQ and compression where needed (IMO).

Pro Tools session screenshot
Snare EQ

[ciaranchrisoshea]

Hey Everyone,

This is the link to my submission, and a link to DAW screenshots

Song: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19KKXw ... m-upMCem8f

Screenshots: https://drive.google.com/open?id=17XXRu ... 5cweUrtB59

Love the vibe of this track, has a great 70's feel to it. Wouldn't be out of place on my driving playlist

Sound-wise I went for the 70's feel. Got a strong Neil Young vibe off the vocals, Fleetwood Mac and America vibe from the music, so kind of went in that direction.

Some editing was done before mixing, the drums were loose in some areas, small adjustments were made to keep the track driving, but it wasn't too much as i didn't want to lose the groove and soul of the song and make it inhuman. Vocals were a little pitchey in the verses, used Waves Tune to manually tune, but as natural as possible and tried to be very transparent. That was it for the editing really.

Drums: I found the tracks that needed the most processing on the song were the kick and snare. I used a gate on both and some Eq with the Pultec to get that sound. I also found the snare to be very dynamic so there was a fair bit of compression to level out the performance. Other that that some high passing, high shelfs on the other instruments. API 2500 applied to Drum Bus for a little smack and a small scoop on the bus at around 400Hz to take out some mud

Bass: I used a blend of the three bass tracks. I Low Passed the DI track at around 250, just so i could purely use it as my low end, this then compressed with 1176s to keep consistent lows. The RE27 was high passed at 250 and i brought some of the mid range out on this to round off the bass tone . The Ribbon was used to complete the picture then the Bass bus has a small amount of EQ and a transient designer doing a tiny amount.

Guitars: I only used the DI tracks on the Rhythm Guitar, which i printed out through the UAD Marshall Plexi plugin that I felt had the tone I was going for. I then panned them LR and each went to a mono Reverb panned opposite to give them some glue and cohesion. LA2A after this on the bus for tone but also to level out the performance.

Solo: Didn't do much here, sounded great already. I just added a little tape saturation to make it sit back a little and sent it to a tape slapback delay to give it some width and make it more interesting.

Sax: Again not much processing sounded great already. I parallel processed it with a Tape Saturator to bring out some low end harmonics and make it more full. Also sent to Some stereo Verb and the Slapback the guitar went to.

Piano &Keys: Piano hadn't much processing. Just some sidechain compression to make it get out of the way of the vocals, and a mono reverb panned opposite to give it some room and depth. A little timing work had to be done here also in the editing stage. The rhode i kept stereo but EQ'd a lot of the mid range from just the Mid Signal to keep it out of the way of the vocals and to give it more width.

Vocals: Eq'd to brighten up the voice, and a little low end bump to give it some body. The vocals were all ran through the LA2A for that rounded tone and to level out dynamics. All the vocals were sent to a Stereo Verb (H-Verb) and the Tape Slapback to beef them up a bit. I did have to do some tiny adjustments to the double tracks themselves in places where the sibilances were not aligned as this gets very noticeable when doubled. Also had to take out some of the breaths, as the two tracks gave an odd comb filtering effect when both happened. Other than that just some Saturation on the double vocals to make them sit behind the main a little better.

Master has a little saturation and a tiny bit of glue verb, and thats about that!

Thanks again for the chance to mix this and i hope you like.
Cheers
Ciaran

[Elver]

Hello,
This is my mix, here is what I'm using
DAW: Protools
Soundcard: Apogee Element
Monitor: Genelec 8330a
by the way, it is a great song!

MIX VERSION:https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cnnjK ... FFkXT1rwNs

PRE MASTER VERSION:https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LtHoZ ... wwRih6JLQv

[Mister Fox]

Sorry, but I'm stepping in.



As per the Rules and Guidelines for the mix participants:

This is a mix challenge, NOT a mixing and (pre)mastering challenge. The main focus of the game is is to create a balanced mix, which can later be used for a possible mastering process You only submit one mix, not several.

Submitting several "versions" only confuses the song provider. This will result in an instant disqualification.


Furthermore:
It is mandatory to document the mix/production. At bar minimum, focus on one particular "sound" you have enjoyed creating, and how you went there. You can also provide screenshots, but they should show of your mix console and your used insert. You can go as detailed as you like



Please get a refresher of the Rules and Guidelines