MIX CHALLENGE - MC067 July 2020 - Winners announced

[Denzzony]

Greetings! Here's my mix, I'll add a description later.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FWC6Gv ... sp=sharing

[rvalle]

Hello. I'm submitting my mix.

DAWs: Reaper and Ableton Live
ITB process only.

Reference I used: Monbojó - Tudo vai mudar

First of all, I want to thank the band for the opportunity to mix such a cool song.

I had to make this mix in a rush. I wish I had worked better on the effects and looked for more risky results. But, with the lack of time for experimentation, the result ended up not being as I wished. But even so, I believe I got a very interesting sound.

Basically in every element I used basic equalizers and compressors for cleaning and the bx_console 4000 E for timbre and character.

On drums, the work went smoothly, with the exception of the toms, which were a challenge apart. Layering was very complicated. On the parallel compression bus I applied Soundtoys' Devil-lock.

In the main voice I did pre-fx volume automation and applied compression with UAD emulators. I also put a send for the delay D16 Sigmund, which gave a very nice result.

The guitars stayed with the original characteristics, taking only the basic processing.

The reverbs were Exponential Audio's R4, simulating room, and Lexicon MPX, for a long plate.

In the vocal fx, I put Izotope's VocalSynth to get a touch of vocoder and spatiality.

I edited some pieces of the main vocal on Ableton Live, using the M4L Granulator device to create a layered tremolo effect at the end of the song.

Everything was printed on a sum channel and this signal was processed with two bus compressors (for glue only) and a pre-amp simulator for coloring and final volume adjustment.

24bit / 48khz file, truepeak level around -7 dbFS, total RMS level around -17.7db

Thank you

Mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14uWAkX ... sp=sharing

[Lewshwa Music]

MC067 - LEWSHWA MUSIC

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynb9luenv2uds ... c.wav?dl=0

Wonderful tracks!! Really fun to mix. I felt like it didn't need much more than bringing out all the cool stuff that was already there. It's a dynamic arrangement and I tried to capitalize on that. I left the LOWVOX track as a mostly subtle addition to the vocal stack. I hope you like it! (I did add a fun delay to the keys towards the end, and there's a slap delay on the kit that I think makes it feel big.)

Mix Process (bird's eye view this time)

Tracks into my main template. Spent extra time getting stereo pairs to work in stereo and mono. (I solo'd and mono'd each pair and played with eq and saturation until the sound was full as I could get in mono. They really pop when stereo'd and they don't disappear in mono. I copied in a mono track to the main riff guitar and a mono reverb to the whole mix.)

Mixdown to stems with plenty of my template processing on everything. (all in the box)

Then with 6 stems, I used volume automation and complimentary eq (logic stock eq) moves to finish the mix. (all in the box)

Mix buss has Maag EQ 4 and Virtual Tape Machine. (I mixed into a limiter (The Wall) and turned it off to export. I feel this helped me get closer to a modern sound)

Referenced everything from Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Lorde to Katy Perry to Beck (and everything Serban G does that I can get my hands on. His balance of saturation and polish is to die for.) Really wanted to get the modern hi-fi sound for this, without losing too much of the grit and attitude. It's recorded so nicely and fits in that world. I also wanted to bring out a pleading feel of one last hurrah that the lyrical story describes. I brought more and more of the crunch in as the song goes along. There are emotional waves to the tracks that deserved to push forward to help tell the story. I hope I got close to these goals. Thank you for listening.


Lewshwa Music

[Mork]

Hi,

this was interesting and more challeging than I initially thought. I did so much I could write till dawn, but then I'd miss the deadlime

Mission was simple: let's put some energy into this place, as H.P. Baxxter would say. I tried my best to do exactly that. There is a lot going on in the arrangement and one has to be extremely careful where to put things and how much bandwidth they are allowed to claim. I used LOTS of reductive eq and then some more. A few honorable mentions:

I did a lot of nudging drums around and trying polarity flips to get rid of phase issues (at least some of it).

Pro-Q3 on almost everything. I used a lot of low pass filters, epecially on synths to push them back into the song. I also used the M/S mode to widen them. Carved out high mids and mids from the crunch guitars to get them forward without eating up everything else. I used a dynamic midrange boost on the Funk guitar, to make it poke through better.

I used Unfilter on OH, Room and Lead Vocal to filter out some room buildups. This thing rocks!

To help the Lead Vocal compete with the crunch guitars a parallel vocal crush comes in with the guitars. CLA-76, blacky, all buttons in

To be honest, I am not really a big fan of the low vocal. I tried to get it out of the way and not distract from the lv, but still have it add its thing, the artist obviously wanted it in there. I carved it our with Pro-Q3, spread it out with some stock Avid chorus I never used before, and hammered it with Devil-loc and Oxford dynamics to restrict its space.

My latest toy is used on bass for some hair: Saturn 2

Another new toy, I only bought to please Fox (joking ), is the tc clarity m. It says I am at -15.9 dbLUFS and -3dbTP. I am applying myself!

Don't hate me for the first HiHat! It is too loud and now it's late

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18B0a95 ... sp=sharing

Cheers
Mork

[Yves VDD]

Hi all!

First of all: very nice and catchy song! makes me think of Gossip (especially on vocals), which I actually referenced to during mixing.
I enjoyed the mix very much! I did everything entirely in the box (using Reaper).

My submission can be found/downloaded here:

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

My process:
- importing the files into my template and gain stage, where necessary;
- drums: obvious eq and phase matching + shaving of heavy transients by applying some saturation (through URS or Shattered Glass Audio) - triggered a kick and snare through superior drummer - panned the drumset drummerwise - sent out the dry tracks (slightly compressed) to: a snare and kick verb (denise - perfect room), a crushFX (dbx 160), a dirtFX (decapitator soundtoys) and simulated an additional room (via R1 Waves) - applied a smidgen of compression on the drum bus (puigchild 670) and ended on a limiter pro L2 (only shaving off 1 db maximum)
- bass: copied the bass for maximum control (sub/low - mid/high (divided around 220 hz); compressed both sub and mid/high track quite heavily (rcomp and MV2, both by waves), leveled things out through an a RBass and a bass rider (waves); also sent the dry tracks out to a dirt track (decapitator), and a very quiet chorus track (for which i applied Valhalla Modulator - Andy Wallace-ish)
- guitars: were recorded very nicely. I started out by balancing their respective volumes throughout the song; I used a little eq to beef/brighten where necessary (a mix or Renaissance EQ, Fabfilter and Kramer Waves); compressed the cleans slightly (through an RComp Waves); panned the guitars together with the keys; sent out the clean tracks to a reverb (valhalla vintage) and switched the width (the guitars on the right, have their verb on the left and vice versa); sent out the lead parts to a delay as well (HDelay) and applied a ping pong effect;
- Keys: cleaned up eq-wise (mainly high passing) and panned the parts together with the guitars; no need for verb or other ambiance to my taste; for the "pads" I applied an auto-pan effect (reaper's stock); I applied some automation on a few parts of the synths
- vocals:
LEAD
* high pass and high shelf eq (reaper stock); applied some RVox as well as a Vocal Rider (Waves); off course also de-essed the track (RDe-esser); balanced the vocal out with the soft and low variants (wasn't a huge fan of the low part however - have applied quite some high passing (stock) and a lot of saturation (SGA) to make this track a bit more interesting to my taste; also mixed in an overtone by adding an octave (reaper stock); also applied some automation to keep the low part out of the front)
* sent out the lead vocal (only the main track) to: a doubler (crystalizer by soundtoys); another doubler (by waves) which I specified per +/- 3 cents (3-6-9-12; panning the results left-right; e.g. +3 left, -3 right, -6 left, +6 right, etc); a morphoder by waves (for a whispering effect); a decapitator (dirt); a ping pong delay (echoboy), a slap back delay (echoboy), a short delay (echoboy), a short and a long verb (both denise perfect room; ended the verb chains with a (reaper stock) compressor sidechained from the clean vocal, to make the verb rise a little more by the end of phrases); (applied eq and de-essers to prevent harshness and to much highs/lows throughout the chains); mixed in the FX very subtle, and applied automation where necessary;
* applied some compression on the several buses (a mix of MV2, CLA2A and CLA76 (waves))
BACKINGS
* basic eq (Renaissance eq by waves; high pass around 250 hz); panning; some vocal riding an compression (rcomp)
* a little parallel verb (again denise, perfect room)

The music is sent out to a parallel exciter (aphex vintage - waves), after which the dry and excited tracks hit the "music mix bus".
There it's getting some slight puigchild (670) and ssl G compression + a DB of limiting (through the fabfilter pro L2)

The vocals are sent to the "vocal mix bus", were I only applied another vocal rider for some further leveling. This vocal rider is sidechained to the music bus, to make sure that quieter parts result in lower vocals and vice versa;

music and vocal mix bus hit my 2bus where I apply a tad of MS and LR widening through a scheps73 (waves) a proQ (fabfilter) and lastly a DRMS (slate), closed off by a compressor (api 2500) and a Limiter (proL2) shaving of the last excessive peaks.

for further details, shoot!

Have a nice evening everybody,

Greetings
Yves

[jetwolf]

Here is my entry under the wire. Short on time, so this was a bit of a speed mix but really glad I got to fit it in. Hope I get a chance to hone it further.

I really enjoyed the song. Great buildup. If this was the song on the fence for release, I would definitely like to hear the rest.

Good luck to all! It is so interesting to hear what everyone comes up with using the same tracks.

Here is the wave file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pZ936n ... sp=sharing

Jetwolf

Imported and translated tracks (my MADI system runs at 96) Gain staged all tracks

DRUMS:
Omega458a sims
ProQ3 for eq cuts
Kick In duped. FET on one. SSL on the other.
UBK1 paralleled on snare
Tried the CLA SSL Waves for the first time, and thought it sounded better than the older Waves SSL strips, but I may have gotten carried away with the low end eq . Would dial some eq choices back a bit in a remix, but I was shooting for a big sound. Also used an L1 on both, too, and some saturation on one Kick and Snare track.
Tried out Black Rooster LA2As on a few percussion tracks.
PIE comp on the crush room

BASS:
duped
LA2A > FET for one and added some saturation
FET > LA2A for the other

KEYS:
Tape Sim
ProQ3 for cuts
TG12345 for boost
Widener also used on the Rhodes

GUITARS:
ProQ3
API-550A
LA2A added on just one of the clean chorus tracks and liked the stereo image better
Funky Cab - FET Comp/API 550

LV:
Neve sim
ProQ3
SSL Channel for EQ
FET Comp
Puigchild
Oxford Inflator
Harmonic Distortion

Low LV: I had fun with this Low LV and tried to make it bark as much as I could. This part really propels the songs buildup in spots. Adjusted the room reverb to enhance width. It could be pulled back a bit if the artist wished, but I thought it was cool.

Crunch LV: I was using some other saturation and couldn't really get eq to sit right on it, so it is mixed back.

Soft LV and BGVs Ahhs all got invididual EQ and mixed some doubling in.

No vocal tuning. There were a couple minor touch ups that could be completed later, but she did a really nice job overall.

FX Busses:
Room Reverb
Plate on LV and a bit on the snare

Phase used in two spots when the mix is building up to a crescendo.

All tracks sent to summing and then to two bus. Mixed into bus comp and smiley eq on two bus.

Overall, wish I had a bit more time, but I really enjoyed working on the song. The band did a terrific job crafting the parts, and her singing was impressive.

[Lewshwa Music]

Hi,

I do not understand. Do new arrivals read the posts ?

In his post # 36 of July 10 (it was not long ago), Mister Fox made (again)
it clear that the max level should not exceed -16 LUFS and a True Peak at -1 dBTP .

Our friend "suC76" again made me jump when listening to his mix: it is - 12.8 LUFS and 0.0 dBTP.

I will no longer post, it is a waste of time, each doing what he wants.

Franz

agreed. my ears have been assaulted by master-level mixes at least four times in the ten mixes I've listened to. I worked to keep this mix under the required levels, and sacrificed things for that goal. If any of these punishingly loud mixes are in the next round, I will be disappointed.

[ICMix]

Hello Everyone! This is my submission for this contest. I'll add a detailed description later.

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bcEPxs ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZtDGSj ... sp=sharing
Capture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AWem8M ... sp=sharing

Thanks Mr Fox and Paint ME In Colour!

[Mister Fox]

...I worked to keep this mix under the required levels, and sacrificed things for that goal. If any of these punishingly loud mixes are in the next round, I will be disappointed.

This topic will be addressed in a follow-up post.


Other than that... and I speak from personal experience, you usually do not have to sacrifice anything if you mix with suitable reference levels. You can still create very creative punchy, but still "loud" mixes at the given loudness limits.

[Lewshwa Music]

" you usually do not have to sacrifice anything if you mix with suitable reference levels "

Totally, I meant sacrificed the benefit of a limiter cranking things to radio level!

Thanks for addressing this.

Lewshwa Music