MIX CHALLENGE - MC070 October 2020 - Winners announced

[gaurav.talreja]

Hello Folks,
I certainly had fun mixing this one and kindly consider this to be my rendition for this months challenge.Mr Fox kudos to you and your team!

Guitars - panned everything evenly so that the energies are equally distributed.After which increased the width accordingly using the widener.Amped out the guitars by grouping them.Used the super amps (clean) with MFX.Used Fab-R for ambience in a separate bus. Parallely used JJP guitars to get a little bit of the harmonics out of the guitars.

Drums- used binaural panning and got the best out of the kit.The processing consisted of eq balancing .Used fatmaker to fatten the snare and kick for more depth.Used Maserati drums for the grouped drum track and got it beefed up.I wanted to give it the system of a down feel to it as this song certainly reminded me of a little of evanasence and lonely day by SOAD.However still going with the reference tracki managed to bring the best out of the kit.Used logic inbuilt delays and platinum reverb.

Vocals - Used C1 for lead vocals to cut down the low mids and mids dynamically and followed by izotope nektar.Used optical compressor and slight saturation of the tube and parallely used the ambience in it to process the desser.Used vocal rider to finish off the job.
Used CLA vocals for the backing vocals.

Bass used logic pr inbuilt bass amps along with the ribbon mic ivk up.Used slight eq and subtle ambience.

The master bus compressor consisted of the U-he presswerk

lufs - longterm -17 Lufs (24/48)

WAV :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gw2b39 ... sp=sharing

[Oba Ozai]

MC070 Report

Greetings to all readers.

This is an amateur mix. I use an old Mac Pro, Cubase 10 and software plugins, no outboard gear.


Front center is the lead vox with the harmonies on the sides. Guitar is stronger to the left, I tried to blend all the tracks as to make it sound like a single track performance, same with the bass (a bit more center/right) with the drum kit set back and panned from left to right. Great sounding lead voice, im glad I could hear and feel her emotions.

Lead vox and some of the harmonies had some sibilance, I tried to correct that. Hardest for me was to give the harmonies their own space in the spectrum, some sounded like in the same tonality of the bass.

The Drum Kit I tried to distribute around the balance pans, but mostly at the back and center to make space for the rest of the instruments and the voices. Lots of compression and eq to try to reach a level that could make the sound clear but at the same time not to be too invasive. Im not a fan of super loud drum/base mixes.

Bass was a bit of a challenge to try to have a clear and loud enough sound without interfering with the voice and the kit set. The kick and bass where always on the one of each bar. In reference to the rest of the stems is a bit tucked center/right and behind to open the space for the lead and voice harmonies.

Guitars the regular eq, balance and compression dance. Tried to make all tracks sound as a single guitar player on a stage. They panned a bit to the left. 

As for the kinds of plugins I use (im no expert with any of them) there are photos of the mixers (at some stage in time and space).

This is about as technical I can get with my “mix report” without showing everyone I hardly know what im doing.

Mix Link: Wave File 48 KHz 24 Bits
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wh6a_V ... sp=sharing

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

Thanks for reading and listening, comments welcomed.

[IbanezoO]

Hi all,

thank you for providing this great production!

The biggest challenge for me was figuring out which tracks to use, which to remove and which to replace my the DI tracks. For the most tracks I used Slate VMR with the VCC, SSL EQ and various compressors.

Drums:

• Created subgroups for kick, snare, toms, overheads and room

• kick: gate, EQ cut at 200hz to kill resonance, comp 3:1 slow attack & medium release, transient shaper, send to reverb

• snare: gate, EQ boost at 240hz, 5.2k and high shelf at 7.5k, comp 4:1 slow attack & faster release, send to reverb

• overheads: hi-hat panned right, ride and crash overdubs panned left, heavy compression with medium attack and slow release at 33% mix, boost 80hz, 2.4k and high shelf

• toms: gate, EQ boost 130hz, cut 560hz, boost 6.5k, comp 4:1 slow attack fast release at 60%mix

• room: EQ boost 95hz, cut 600hz, boost 5k, comp 20:1 fast attack fast release, de-esser

• drum buss: boost 150hz, cut 215hz, high shelf 7.5k, de-esser, TDR Kotelnikov a the buss compressor with 4:1 ratio, fast attack and medium release

Bass:

• DI: Mercuriall TSC 1.1 to get more gain, Blue Cat Audio Chorus, bussed together with unprocessed SM57, removed AKG

• bass buss: boost 250hz, 3k and high shelf 7.5k, comp 4:1, slow attack medium release at 50% mix

Guitar:

• created subgroups for intro, verse, arp, hvy and dirty

• used DI for hvy and dirty, for all other I used the printed tracks

• intro: panned 70% L, removed some mids around 500hz

• verse: panned 70% L, removed mids, high shelf

• arp: panned hard L

• hvy: panned hard L/R, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier with different settings for the sides via Overload TH-U

• dirty: Overload TH-U with overdrive pedal, phaser pedal, Marshall JCM 800

• guitar buss: just a little 4:1 compression with slow attack and fast release

Vocals:

• all vocals slightly tuned with ReaTune

• harmony: added flanger FX

• vocal buss: cut low mids, high sehlf 7.5k, comp 4:1 slow attack faster release, de-esser, sends to plate, 1/8 and 1/4 delay

mix buss

• Slate Virtual Mixbuss, Air EQ and Earth EQ

• VBC FG-Red compressor with 1:5 ratio, faster attack and auto release

• Virtual Tape Machine

Loudness:

• -17.0 LUFS

• -1.4 dB true max peak

• measured with Youlean Loudness Meter

File link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IagkU3 ... sp=sharing

Good luck to all participants!

[javiramallo]

Hi friends.

Thanks to the Band and ADY. Also to Mister Fox.

Was fany try to get a juicy mix. I hope I got it.

MIX >> http://bit.ly/MC070-javiramallo
Explanatory video >> http://bit.ly/explanatoryvideoMC70javiramallo

Best for all.

javiramallo.

[cluster]

Hi,

Thanks for this nice mixing opportunity.
This is my entry for the challenge:

MC070_Cheap_Flights_Waterfall_Jeff_Hennico

Best,
Jeff

[Lieto]

Hello Ady,
thanks for the audio material and the great song. Here is my mix or my interpretation. I hope you like it.

I will try to briefly explain what I did. First of all I chose the tracks that sounded best in my opinion. I didn't use the DI tracks because reamping wasn't necessary. My next step is always to get everything in phase and remove the resonances especially from the drums. I often use narrow-band eqs here. Next I corrected the pitch of the vocals slidely, creating some fancy subgroups and cut the soundfiles. Now you have a clean session and you can start adding some mojo. I personally use different Saturation plugins here (Tapes, Preamps, Tubes etc.). It depends on the instrument which one and how intensively. And for the clean soundshaping of course EQs. When I have the approximate direction ready it is time for effects. Some chorus on the guitars and of course reverb. When the sounds are right I start looking for a mix balance. I always use Pro Tools clip gain before I use compression to get things right. But of course it's rock and you will need compression but most times only as effect. My last step is always to put a good compressor on the master to glue everything together and a good baxandall eq for general Soundshaping. After listening to the song 99 times and correcting and removing things, I'm done.

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nWkGKa ... sp=sharing
Pics: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[dadomachado]

Hi all,

Thanks for providing this song for the contest. Very fun and challenging song to mix.

I have added Brainwork SSL Console 4000 E to most of the tracks to give it a vintage feel.

Drums:

Created subgroups for kick, snare, hihats, toms, overheads and room
Then I used Slate Virtual Mix Rack for EQ (FG-N, FG-S and Lift) to shape the drums sound and get rid of some boxiness.
Used the VCA compressor on some of the tracks to make it consistent.
Sent some of the tracks to a room reverb (valhalla)
Added an API-2500 compressor to the Drum Buss to glue it up

Bass:

Did a reamp (GK Amplification) on the DI track
Added some distortion (Elysia Phil Cascade + Decapitatos) to the AKG one and blended it up
Also used some of the SM57

Guitar:

Created some subgroup to organize the tracks
Then I spent some time chossing which tracks to used. Ended up using all DI tracks with som processing and reamp (Waves PRS supermodels)
Panned most of the pair tracks for some width
Added a spring reverb to some tracks and delay on the intro guitars.
Some small EQ (API-550A) and compression (CLA-3A) on the guitar buss

Vocals:

Some tuning using Melodyne
Lead Vox - Added some compresion (vComp + PuigChild) / A little EQ using FG-N - Sent it to a slap, plates reverb and then sent some delay to the plates to give it a dreammy vibe
BG Vox - Similar to the lead vox but less processing, do delay and no predelay on the plates

mix buss

SSL Compressor (2:1) slow attack and fast release
Kramer Tape for light saturation
Brainworx solo to open it up

File link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6v86do8ko1u4 ... o.wav?dl=0

Good luck to all participants!

Cheers from Brazil !

[CantusPro]

Hi All,

Here’s my submission:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6w5glt5rcyb9u ... o.wav?dl=0

Here are my plugins:
Original drum tracks – MAutoAlign and Q1 (for HPF and trim)
Drum subgroups – Kramer Drums, Neutron and VEQ3
Original bass tracks – MautoAlign and Q1 (for HPF and trim)
Bass subgroup – Bass rider, GTR, Kramer Bass, Neutron and VEQ3
Original vox track – Q1 (for HPF and trim), Vocal Rider and Kramer Vocals (with less spatial effects through the verses)
Vox subgroup – Nectar and VEQ3
Original background tracks – Q1 (for HPF and trim)
Background subgroup – Kramer vocals, MChorusMB, Neutron and VEQ3
Original partial guitar tracks – Q1 (for HPF and trim) with GTR on the DI
Guitar 1 subgroup – Kramer guitar
Original full guitar tracks – Q1 (for HPF and trim) with TH-U on the DI
Guitar 2 subgroup – Kramer guitar

Here is my note:
The only files that I did not use were the GTR.HVY.RGT series.

Thank you,
-Cantus

[kirurg]

Hello everyone,

Thank you Ady and the band and mr. Fox for the challenge.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/760655vk08nu0 ... g.wav?dl=0

Vocals:
Main and background vocals compressed separately (Tubetech CL1B) and some EQ cutting used, then all routed to one
group and Acustica Audio El-Rey compressor added. There is a plate style reverb on all vocals (UVI Plate). The Main vocal
has also variable amount of delay (SoundToys Echoboy). Some volume automation as well. Decided to add some
discrete tuning to the vocals but yet to avoid any artifacts.
Bass:
I did use the DI track only. Added Waves RBass, UAD Culture vulture and moderate chorus effect by UAD Roland Dimension D.
Then one compressor as typical and another one by kick side chained. Limiter and EQ as well.
Drums:
Four drumtracks (06,09,14,15) not used. The kick and the snare got pretty much EQ, mostly narrow Q cutting.
The kick has no compression itself but transient designer Eventide Fission is used. There is multi band comp in
OH and Room. Drums grouped together going to Black Box HG2 saturation plugin and SSL type compression as well.
Guitars:
About 20 guitar tracks used. None of DI tracks used. My idea was that there could be one chorus, one mono centered and
two monos panned L/R for every part of the song. The 3 dirty guitar tracks (panned C,L,R) are volume automated and
present during the entire song. One small addition for the center dirty guitar is that it has sidechain compression
triggered by the main vocal. Added a small amount of UAD EMT-250 short reverb for couple mono guitar tracks. There is
some (mostly narrow cut) EQ on every guitar track. UAD bx_refinement is on top of the guitars bus/group to reduce some harshness.
There is Slate Digital Virtual console plugin on almost every single track or group.
Main bus:
In addition to Virtual Console plugin there is Acustica Audio Sand3 ssl style compressor, Celestial MB for
saturation and small amount of EQ.

[jeffssoloband]

Dear Ady and the Mix Challenge community,

Please find my submission for MC070: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uurvgrxjo6l8h ... d.wav?dl=0

My mix was done completely ITB (Logic Pro X). Full disclosure: All tracks were used, however I opted to use the Directional Mixer plugin in LPX to decode the M/S room tracks, so the phase-flipped track was muted.

My first step was to get organized. I created four main folders, and then stacks within those folders:

• Drums: Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Toms, Booms, OH, Room, Overdubs

• Bass: no stack

• Guitars: Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Guitar, 3, Guitar, 4, Guitar 5, Guitar 6

• Vox: Lead vox track, Vox BG

Drums: The reference for drums was pretty in-your-face. I let the Booms, OH, and Room tracks do most of the heavy lifting. And then I gated the Kick, snare, & toms to focus on the transients. Everything was EQ'd, then blended, and hit with reverb (NB: I had to flip the phase on the Snare Top track). The whole thing was then bussed to an aux track, and hit with tape saturation, a vintage-style limiter, further EQ, and compression in parallel. So yeah, I threw the kitchen sink at it.
Bass: This reference reminded me of The Cure's bass sound, so I Googled Simon Gallup's pedal board, and tried to recreate it. Most of the effects are on the DI track. The mic'd tracks got re-amped. The three were blended and bussed to an aux track with an imager to center the low frequencies, while letting the higher frequencies move about. I also used a transient shaper to control the attack and sustain. The whole thing hit with a crazy shimmer reverb, and EQ'd to boost the high frequencies, while maintaining a warm bottom end.
Guitars: I didn't do a whole lot aside from basic EQ, panning, and reverb of each part. The tracks in all six stacks are panned like this: DI and room mic up the middle, Rivera 57 & Mejdej 419 hard left, and Rivera 609 & MejdejD112 hard right. Then the stacks are panned to varying degrees of left an right.
Vocals: Again, nothing crazy here. I did some basic clean-up to get rid of some noises, and to attenuate breaths. So again, basic EQ, panning (of the BG tracks), compression, and reverb. For the lead vocals, I used a vocal doubler effect, and automated it swell in and out on certain phrases.

The Stereo Out track has a bit of saturation, EQ, and light compression to hold it all together.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you for listening, and for your consideration.

Kind regards,
Jeff (jeffssoloband)