MIX CHALLENGE - MC065 May 2020 - Winners announced

[nealgiedd]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18-qHPk ... sp=sharing

Hello! My name is Neal Giedd. I am in the process of switching from Pro Tools LE 8.0.5 to Reaper 6.10. This is the first mix I've done on Reaper, so this was a pleasant opportunity!

I'm happy to provide more documentation later, but for now I'll say that I spent a lot of time learning the DAW. I wanted to hear the different stock plugins and see how well I could work with them. I also downloaded several free "character" compressors and a few colorful eqs. I also attempted to implement some Brauerizing on the vocals. I did this for a few reasons. One, I love what he does to vocals. Two, the songwriter mentioned his love for big vocals.

I tried to implement longer reverb tails than more modern rock music. I was inspired by Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac. I think I captured some of that sound on the vocals, and I tried to get a fat and long snare plate. I believe I ended up with a tiled room (from the Bricasti M7 IRs) in the stock convolution reverb plugin.

I'm looking forward to the results! Cheers!

[spandex_ballet]

post deleted

[Mister Fox]

It is the 22nd May 2020, 05:00 UTC+2/CEST - the first Mix Round has officially ended

Another very warm welcome to all new participants. A huge thank you to everyone that is spreading the word about the Mix Challenge. Please help get the Songwriting Competition as popular (1 submission as of the moment of this time-stamp, and 3 days left).


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 00 submissions this month (will be updated shortly)
• We have 1 submission after the deadline
• We have plenty of entries that have barely to no documentation (once more: please take note of the official Rules and Guidelines

I now open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however.


Please watch this spot for the client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.

Good luck to all participants.





The Songwriting Competition 32 (SWC33) is still in full swing.
The deadline is 24th May 2020, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST.

Please spread the word!

[cwschoemann]

It's probably too late to enter. I just found out about this last night and banged this one out!

Pro Tools / UAD
Spring Verb / Ping Pong Delay on Vocals for the throwback sound. Everything else pretty straight forward considering the time period!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cgvuhhu5iorf ... SX7ha?dl=0

Chris

[Cameron]

Thank you to everyone who mixed my song. I have been watching and listening and I really have appreciated most of the feedback! I will continue to listen to your submissions and want to give each one a full listen and provide some notes if I can. (And you thought YOU had the chorus stuck in your head!) I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy during this crazy time. There’s a love of music that’s got us all in this industry and I remember that every time I read through your posts. It’s really awesome. Here’s to you!

Cheers,
Cameron Crowson

[Erich]

Hi, all. Amazed by the sheer amount of quality/creativity/diversity in these mixes. This mix challenge is one for the ages.
I know I'm beyond the deadline, but I'd like to share my mix of this gem of a song.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WlvoE ... pXZQaoXKS4

Mixed in Reaper.
Every track: Voxengo PrimeEQ; Soft-knee compression as needed
Keys: Stereo tape delay
Vox and solos: Voxengo CRTIV Reverb 2
Master bus: Soft-clipper (Similar to GClip @ 50% softness).

Anyway, thanks.
-Erich

[Cameron]

Round 1

This has been a welcome learning experience for me. I wish I could sit down with each of you to talk about the session and get your thoughts about the tracks. As you know from reading the introduction post, this is my first full scale music endeavor of my own material. doing everything from writing the song, arranging parts in a MIDI skeleton session, engineering recording sessions, (off-key) singing, hiring musicians, booking studio time, coordinating schedules, managing a tight budget and even playing some of the instruments. There was also a significant time investment by me to edit and comp many of the parts. So you can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the editing was yet still in need of timing adjustments. I guess in my excitement, I had become accustomed to hearing them so many times that they slipped through the cracks. I apologize to those that felt it necessary to bow out of the competition. To those that put forth energy and time, I am very grateful. I especially enjoyed several people’s shared vision of driving down the road on a nice day with this song playing!

I’m aware that my singing was difficult to tune but honestly that was one of the main things I was looking for out of this. Who can tune!!

Here are my notes for the round 1 winners. There were around 75 entries and I listened to every single one of them.

Round 1 Winners:

-Drumwizard: rhodes should not be panned to one side. I like the BGV mix. Vocal tuning and effect sound nice! The sax could come up and be a little more of a feature. Great Fade at the end!

Armenelli: I dont like the count- in, just let the sound start. The drums have a great punchy quality that I wasnt expecting someone to acheive! The rhodes could come down just a little in the verse. Tambo is a little loud. It sounds like there is quite bit of compression going on. let it breathe a little. the instruments are playing well together and this mix makes me want to dance! The vocals at the end by themselves are a little weird.

MellowBrowne: This mix will do well after a matering engineer touches it. there’s a very nice blend here. The vocal tone is slightly honky and could use sweetening, but only a very little bit. The Gtr and SAX solos could come up to be more fun features, It sounds like they are just sitting low with the band. Great Fade!

AdrielSantos:I like the big low bass tone you got. I wish the BGV were louder and a little warmer. there are a few very noticeable breaths in the vocal that could be edited out. The rhodes is slightly too loud in the verse. If possible, there are a few spots where the lead vocal needs to be tuned. I love the sound you got on the guitar solo but its eclipsing the rest of the song and doesnt sit right. maybe try just bringing the level down.

Alexvanmixland: Nice kick drum sound!! Try editing out the vocal grunting at the beginning. the vocal tuning is a little loose. I really cannot hear the BGV “oooohs”. overall I think you could have given the vocal more attention but the instruments sound nice and tight!

Luca: The drums sound awesome but they are slightly loud. The chorus on piano is interesting and I like it but maybe just make it less intense because it sounds a little honky tonk. You did a nice job tuning for the most part. there were a few notes that were difficult no matter what, I know. I wish all vocals were slightly louder in the chorus. GTR and SAX solos need to come up a bit.

ManuC: Take out the count-in. The grunting at the beginning of the vocal track should be taken out. The vocal sits nicely and has a nice warm tone. The BGV sits nicely!! You did a good job getting the rthm gtrs to sound cool. I wish the bass had a bigger bottom end. Can you edit the fadeout so that it ends before the drums stop?

Akira Callea: You have a pretty nice balance here. The vocal slap-back is a little bit heavy and I would have liked the tuning to be a little tighter. The snare sounds pretty thin and the drums are kind of dark and narrow. The guitar and sax solo are the perfect volume!

Nicores: Bass could come up. maybe just bring in some more of the low frequencies on it. tambourine down. The vocal sounds a little nasal in tone but I like the delay and verb. your BGV is sitting very nicely. The effect on the guitar solo is fantastic, It matches what the guitar player was going for!

OlliH:The bass is a little overpowering But has a great tone. the piano should be a stereo spread of the two mics, and I provided two rthm guitar tracks for wide even panning purposes. The vocal is nice and present, however it does not have the “doubled” effect that I wanted.

Maxoverdrive: Awesome mix my dude. The BGV’s are not sitting exactly right, a very subtle change will fix it . I LOVE the doubled vocal, you really got what I was going for. Tuning could be a litlte better. Your fadeout was great. right on the money.


cheers,
Cameron Crowson

[Mister Fox]

Thank you for handling the evaluation, Cameron.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us kick off Mix Round 2, which will end on Monday, 01-JUN-2020 23:59 UTC+2/CEST


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN available to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)



The following 11 participants go into Round 2 (alphabetical order)
(new forum feature, all Mix Round 2 participants should have been pinged)

@Adriel Santos
@akira callea
@Alex Van mixland
@Armenelli
@Drumwizard
@Luca
@ManuC
@maxovrdrive
@Mellow Browne
@nicores
@Olli H


The feedback to the productions can be found here:
https://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtop ... 7841#p7841


If you are unsure what to do exactly with your mix, reach out to the song provider and engage in a conversation here on the forum.
And please keep the Rules and Guidelines in mind regarding submitting your entry.



A thank you to everyone, and good luck for Round 2

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,
I'm very happy to be in round 2.
Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qEwOoD ... sp=sharing

What i added for round 2:
- Vocals are now more in tune and BV(OOHS) more controled and a little bit louder.
- Also BV had some unwanted noise from recording between phrases and i also cuted it.
- Intro is cleaned.


Thank you,
Cheers!

[Luca]

Hi Cameron,

Thanks for your feedback. I have a couple of questions:

1. Loud drums. Is this the shells, the cymbals or both?
2. Vocal tuning. Are there notes that still don't sound right to you? Anything that you feel needs addressing?

Luca