MIX CHALLENGE - MC069 September 2020 - Winners announced

[Franz]

Hi hjchjc, hi everyone,

Very interesting challenge and a little confusing all the same with nearly half a hundred tracks.
So you first need a lot of rigor, although being in an artistic domain.

First group the tracks to create sub-groups. Then listen to all the tracks individually to detect
possible problems. There were still a lot of them.

The longest was to "process" the vocal tracks. A "manual" cleaning of the tracks was necessary
(breathing, end of word, background noise etc ...). Then a big treatment by a very selective equalization
followed by a voice processing plugin (eFX_VocalStrip from Magix) with highpass, gate, deEsser, compression
and tone which made it possible to make the voices intelligible.
Then a sort of "pre-mix" of the vocal tracks to try to understand how to mix (choice of reverb,
stereo placement, special effects).

Then the percussion part which did not pose any particular problem.

Then the instrumental part which was really difficult to organize because in many parts there were
conflicts between the guitars and the pads and even with the bass. So taking into account all these elements
we can finally approach the mixing part with the following concept: we start from two lines, the percussions
and the voices and we "embroider" around with such or such instrument according to the artistic result
that the we want to get. The possibilities are immense.

Maybe too much.

And now the result can be listened to here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hpu7an0vacerp ... z.wav?dl=0

Cheers

Franz

[mixedbypeter]

Hello!

Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xq22g2 ... sp=sharing

So many interesting elements in this track.

I used a combination of plugins and an outboard 4000G Bus Comp.

I focused on creating a strong 'center' for fundamental bass frequencies and compressed the sub frequencies gently.
As for most of the hand percussion I used filters with different slopes from one another, basic parametric EQ and some panning automation here and there.
Some of the vocals were quite dark and I did shelf EQ some of them to help them stick out a little in the top.
Volume automation was used throughout the lead vocals and most BV's. I also pushed and pulled volume of some sections of the loops and reverb sends to enhance the dynamic feel of the song.

Great track!
Cheers.

[Optoslam]

Hi!
As the mix notes say, it looks to be simpler than it actually is. A lot of things competing for attention. Great song though!

Little about mix decisions:
- heavier than usual vocal eq to keep it clean but still warm
- tiny bit of tuning some notes on main vocals, mainly to smooth some autotune artifacts
- getting the percussion and drums working together and with the song needed a fair bit of eq, but nothing too crazy. Some compression, saturation and reverb on drumbus Some parallel action in the end featuring 160 comp and omega saturation.
- overall just usual eq, compression, saturation, reverb

Check out some screenshots as well:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Wav:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18cCH9A ... sp=sharing

[E.C.Miraldo]

Hey!

More than listing what I did or didn't do I thought it would be nice to describe my process in this mix.

When i first listened to the preview I thought "Ohh okay, this needs some work, but shouldn't be too complicated", boy was I mistaken.

I spent two days completely lost on the project, I would hear something that was bothering me but wouldn't know what track; I would want to get a bit more warmth but it would just muddy; I tried to get more brightness but it would get thin. Then I took the brave decision: I only kept my edits and deleted all the plugins I had used so far, I was very close to giving up but I thought to myself "Man, I just have to make this the best I can do, no more". Needlessly to say, 2 hours later I had everything but the vocals sitting on the right place.

With edits I mean I had to edit the drum/percussion tracks so they would be in the same tempo because it proved virtually impossible to get a solid, tight drum like we have in the references we were given. I also did minor tempo adjustment and cuts in the vocals in certain plosives or sibiliances that would naturally come with the recording.
One very hard part of mixing these drums was that they had so many details it was very difficult to separate what would be details and what would be the "lead" drumms. I think I was able to find a nice rythm going on but I would have been much more comfortable if I was working directly with Joshua when executing his idea for the song.

After all that it was the "hard mixing" part of it. I did a bunch of automations so the song can have this movement to it. Of course the most important part is the vocals and that's where I focused the most. I saw I couldn't just push the low end of the vocals or else it would just get muddy so I used some very fast delay just to give the fundamental frequency a bit more time to stay on top of the mix. I also used a shimmer effect that I have noticed has been getting a lot of attention lately for the reverb

Well, I hope you all can have a nice time listening to it.

Link to screenshots/wav: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Link to wav only: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19qyYbg ... sp=sharing

P.S. Just listened to some other mixes and the one that absolutely jumps out is optoslam, fantastic vocals mate!

[bond158]

Hi, everyone!

This is the Google link for my mix and screenshots of my session https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

First of all, it was a great song and I enjoyed mixing it!
As I started listening to the materials, I found that the challenge of this song is how to arrange all the tracks in order for them not to clash with one another.
My focus was on EQing each track. I made the bass the foundation of the song with drums and percussions on top of it because I think the transient should be emphasised. As for the mid range, I tried to use panning together with dipping around 2-3 dB at 1kHz on some instrument tracks so that the vocal didn't sink and gluing them together with reverbs.

I also put in some special FX on the percussion loop1 at the beginning of the song to brighten it up a little bit while keeping the vocal intimate. Reverse FX has been added to the the bridge which led to the last part of the song to emphasise the song is nearing its end.

I tried to make the mix sounds full while keeping the non robotic feeling. Hope you enjoy it. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you
Bond

[Iriebill]

A miminalist mix, with haunting and plaintive reading inspiration.

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Fell_From_The_Tree

Summary mix notes and screenshots to follow.
Running up against the deadline in these crazy times,
Iriebill

[jetwolf]

Here is my mix of Fell From the Tree.

Joshua, thank you for the song. It is very unique, cool vibe and has a nice peak.

Percussion - ProQ 2 throughout for first cuts. I just got the Brainworx SSL plugins, so I used those throughout for futher shaping and comp. Getting used to it but like it better than my Waves so far. Also used Saturation, FET Comp on the snare. API 550A for boosts on a few percussion tracks and some LA2A. Lots of tracks to manage for the percussion. Used EQ to try to get as much punch and clarity as I could.

Bass - ProQ2 to cut and shape to try to add focus. Also used Saturn for some distortion and a harmonics plugin to get some grit.

Guitars - EQ each to try to get some contrasting midrange between tracks and add some light marshall-type overdrive to shape.

Keys - EQd piano to cut a bit of low end and add some bit to cut.
Added some motion to the synth ebow.

Vocals -

ProQ2 to clean up sound on all tracks.
Cleaned up tuning on a few tracks.
Added saturation to a few for texture.
Doubling adding on a few of the vox tracks and harmonies.
Some Ox Inflator, LA2A, FET comps sprinkled throughout

I used Izotope declick to clean up the pops on the paranoid vox.

Effects: Added busses for Room Reverb (mixed in for most tracks), Plate for vocals, Hall for a few special effects (distorted vox), and some slap.
Some phase used in intro/1st verse.

Mixed into SSL type mix bus comp and 2500 - 2:1.

Cheers; good luck to all.

Jetwolf


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

[rvalle]

Hi, fellow ppl!

Thanks @hjchjc for the song.

Some explanation about my work here:

DAW: Reaper
Plugins: can be checked in the prints.

The mix:

Initially, everything was organized in groups, color-coded; the silence parts of the stems were cleaned; I balanced amplitude and panorama;

In the Ambience group I put reverbs, a delay and an original file with parallel process. The delay has a time of 1/8, with few repetitions. The reverbs are: a mono chamber, a plate for the vocals and an effect process for vocals too; a long reverb and a room simulation for drums.

In the percussion group, I did a lot of automation for volume and sends; some subgroups were created, according to the timbre and characteristics of the elements; basically equalization and compression on the tracks; The biggest processing was in the group channel, with a lot of series compression and a little bit of harmonic saturation and equalization. To complement the low frequency region and also improve the groove, I duplicated the "percussion loop2" channel and simulated a kick with the low end of the loop. I also cleaned a noise on that stem, using Izotope's RX7.

In the Bass group, basic processing. I used Trackspacer from Wavesfactory to filter the sub-lows at the moment the "simulated kick" hits. I also made some cuts and fader edits to the files to remove some clicks.

On keys, synths and guitars and just equalization.

Vocals: I made small adjustments in pitch and tempo in Lead Vox and Vocal Double. Lead Vox has been split into two stems for better dynamic processing. I also made some changes (comping) between Lead Voz and Double, since, in some parts, the taking of the latter stem was better. The dynamics regulation started with volume automations, going through several compression stages, with different tools and settings. Some equalization have also been applied.

On the master buss, only a tape simulator and a compressor bus.

I recorded an L / R signal in the Print channel, loaded it in a new instance of Reaper. There, another compressor bus and an analog pre-amp simulator (UAD610-B) were used to add character and to adjust loudness.

Links:
Music:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UP0-OS ... sp=sharing

Prints and Gif:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[PenguinJon]

Tracks organised and labelled, each section roughed together, worked on the vocals, got some sparkle, tried to get the percussion lines to drive as much as possible and felt I wanted to pull the slap bass out as a lead at the end.

Mainly used the PA Neve Channel strips to look after channel eps, a couple of l1s to catch overs on the bass and percussion lines, instead of squashing the life out of them, and a sound toys little plate for the vocal fx. Didn't do a whole lot, just a bit of space making eq, and some sparkle to the the vocals, and some tidying the the other instruments. Most of the mix was level balance for me, and removing bits of tone that got in the way. With a lot going on I think too much compression would have made everything a blurry mess..

2 Track

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jqwlqg5ip3v0a ... n.wav?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qsuyppk4wwrm3 ... w.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ihah9ftd3x2h1 ... w.pdf?dl=0

[mattim]

Hi this is my mix
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xzo7aehnmtix ... m.wav?dl=0

Kick comp and eq
Snare comp and eq
I used more comp parallel for the drum and percussion
Guitar eq and reverb
Synth eq and reverb
For the vox i used eq comp and 2 reverb
And automazioni