MIX CHALLENGE - MC070 October 2020 - Winners announced

[letsmix]

We would love to post all 3 mixes from the Winner on Cheap Flights and my social Media, so please upload those tracks on Soundcloud and send me the link in a Private Message incl. any social media / webpage from you

And the Winner @letsmix get's invited to the next round of Mix Off Mondays, congrats!

@Los_ady Thanks again. I'll PM you the SoundCloud link.

I did an in-the-box mastering job to 14.0 LUFS-I, 1.0 dbTP and uploaded to Sound Cloud as requested.

https://soundcloud.com/mat-keller-67528 ... 70-letsmix

@White Punk OD I bumped the lows a bit on the master, I hope you dig it! I realized my sub level was boosted and I was therefore making my mix a little bass shy to compensate.

[letsmix]

Yikes, Sound Cloud really ruins the quality.... Here's the 24 bit wav if anyone wants to hear it mastered: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v03xdq7zo20yr ... d.wav?dl=0

[White Punk OD]

Thanks White Punk OD! It was a db or two lighter in the sub region than I usually do. I'm not sure why I went that direction other than I was on a mission to make it as clean, clear and wide as I could and that's where I ended up. In the past I've really struggled with things building up / masking /
fighting in the low region and now I'm on a mission to clear that stuff out I guess.

A Regarding glitches and clicks: I chose to pull most of them out and leave in breaths since they have drama.

B Regarding the vocals I found a smoother compressor, notched 2 or 3 frequencies that were bugging me, and did some multiband to pull out some harsh frequencies when they happened.

C I hate hi hat bleed. I ended up using a gate on the snare and pulling some harsh frequencies out of the overheads and rooms.

D The room mics really interacted with the snare sound. Little changes to the room mic levels dramatically changed the snare sound to my ears.

E I remember a few harsh mics on the guitars. I quickly found those and put them under the others and then pulled them up until they poked and snarled in a way I thought helped but didn't detract. When I built up the ending I leaned on some of those mics to bring the heat.

I realized later I did nothing with the DI tracks. The mic'ed up amps got me where I wanted to go so I didn't do anything with the DI tracks. In retrospect I could have done some cool swirly things on the guitar!

Thanks for answering, I'm glad that we seem to agree about a lot here, though we did deliver very different mixes!
A - hope I caught enough of these, as my ears are getting old. Breaths can live, but depends on the compression.
B - did Nova GE twice, 1. ringing frequencies and room modes, with "intelligent" modus; 2. as a multiband tuned to the type of voice
C - did something similar plus de-esser, still it's a bit much and could afford a more HQ sound in the mid-range
D - totally agree, in general I found out that many good recordings give me the power to change snare and kick sounds strongly (using room), but it becomes a challenge to fine-tune this.
E - agree, so in my last version I boosted one mic of the interlude solo at 10k, with the bx SSL G which I like best for old-style rock guitars. And guess, it was the 57!


About Soundcloud, yeah pretty bad, but I found out with a 100 uploads, that it degrades the sound a bit less when the mix is good.
So to say, bass, sub and treble on the surface should be like a radio version, and levels and dynamics also within a certain range. Uploading 24bit is being rewarded with a "HQ" tag.
I found out a nice hack, I just let the Ozone 8 autopilot suggest some EQ correction on the master, then perhaps I make it a bit softer (potentially it might work against the sound that I wanted to create, but it warns me this way that I am leaving common ground, regarding compatibility/accessibility), and the Ozone and Soundcloud "intelligences" seem to like each other.

To me, your upload sounds ok = in the ballpark, including bass. Eventually, there is so much stuff online there, with wide spectral differences, so when within a certain range, other factors in acceptance and ratings become much more relevant than that.

But now, when it sounds very modern, with loud vocals, the question of tuning comes up. I used a freeware preset tuner, but switched it off for the finale.

[White Punk OD]

Oh what a nice surprise. thanks Ady, Piotr and the unknown rest of the band. I really enjoyed mixing your great song. In the mid-80s, I was pretty active drumming in a dark wave band. Your song reminded me of this music, hence the 80s vibes ;-).

Congrats, I like what you did there, I tried to mince it with some kind of "psychedelic underground" which is probably not too far from these dark wave 80ies styles.
So, you came closer to that, with better perfection.

[m_tree]

Congrats to the winners! Very nice mixes.

I compared them with my mix and immediately could learn something. Lately I mainly mixed experimental and instrumental stuff, sometimes with basses that played a leading part. And I definitely missed the goal here a bit ...

Also in comparison with the other 'top 11' mixes I definitely was going a special way: I mixed the bass very present and loud (technical clean indeed, but artistically inappropriate I think by now...) and mixed the dry (backing) guitar very quiet and far in the background later in my mix-process. Furthermore the lead-vocal wasn't 'big' enough and truly lacked some energy because of my 'battle against harshness' ...

I tried to fix all of this in a quick mix-session and changed a couple of things. I'd love to get some feedback!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ngzxuptfj2jz ... 3.wav?dl=0

Thanks.

[TomImmon]

Congrats, I like what you did there, I tried to mince it with some kind of "psychedelic underground" which is probably not too far from these dark wave 80ies styles.
So, you came closer to that, with better perfection.

Thanks a lot @White Punk OD , yes, this mix was a bit like coming home, haha.
I just saw that you made a nice comment on my mix beforehand. Sorry, I'm only reacting now. I've been very busy the last few days / weeks. In general, kudos to you, I think it's great how you keep this forum alive through your dedicated contributions. I usually just read along, but I am always happy about the lively exchange that arises as a result. Thumps up!
Cheers,
Tom

[TomImmon]

Hey!

This is Piotr, guitarist from Cheap Flights.
...
TomImmon Your mix was really standing out in terms of style. Amazing sound, you really made it sounding different than the others, different than our original mix and different than we would normally expect - it was really refreshing to hear this different version of ourselves.

...
Piotr and rest of Cheap Flights.

hey Piotr,
thanks for this additional nice feedback. Makes me very happy. Well yes, i tried to mix your song as a kind of a psychedelic underground pop song. Hypnotic vocals, enough "pop" to be played in the radio, but also enough "dirt" to keep it away form any "mainstream" touch. I hope you understand what i mean ;-).
On weekend i will prepare an optimized soundcloud version and send you the link.
Greetings from Berlin/Brandenburg
Tom

[javiramallo]

Hey folks!! Congrats to the winners! Very nice mixes.

Very big thanks to Ady and the Band for so many many detaled feedbacks. Those are gold.

The song was amazing and I enjoyed a lot of mixing it.

Also I learned a lot listend and comparing.

Thanks to Mister Fox as always.

Cheers from Spain!

Javi.

[Los_ady]

Yo whats up everybody?

Ahhhh you are all too kind, @White Punk OD I will come back to your questions maybe by tomorrow and post the rest of the feedback, yesterday I couldn't enter the page and today I did 2 new tutorials and one artist interview for a new show that will start in December on the Produce Like A Pro Channel

So I'm too tired now to post the rest feedback in a correct, clear way

I'm so happy about all those positives replies here, really good vibes haha take it easy, hear you tomorrow!

[Los_ady]

So here we go, first of all, I received a interesting message that my mix & some others would be considered in "the top music producer" World to be "Bedroom Producer quality" and I want to share one more, last lesson here:

I know the big world of top class producers and there is a lot of Ego, often just waiting to give someone else the final judgement of "this person is a bedroom producer" haha

If you get a comment like this, ask for feedback what could be improved and don't take it personally - also see what is behind this comment: Is it frustration, the need for self confirmation or real help on your path to become better.

The beauty of music is its versatility & creativity and we should not forget that we, as the producer, serve the artist and are there to enhance their musical vision, not ours, in a professional quality.

And this is my tip:

The beauty is that I accepted that we all have a ego, not getting rid of it - just get it out of my own way

I'm not doing this job to "be the best" among other producers because I don't need this confirmation: I decide about my happiness, my sadness and don't live a life that is ruled by the judgement of others - and this lifestyle liberates my mind and keeps me open minded for my work as a producer.

My reward are happy & returning artists and to make a positive contribution in this world.

Alright, finally, last feedback for the other top 8!

it was tricky so small details & a personal touch made the final decision!

Thank you all for participating!

@m_tree

Everything great, especially the small details like the automated kick punching in the chest when it comes to the guitar bridge
Bass is a bit too cloudy and the backing vocals are too loud
Before second verse volume drop, a bit too much
The Low end have to be tighter, clean and defined

@javiramallo
Good, some metallic reverb in vocals but rest is pretty good - on second listen, the low end is a bit too much and sound a bit artificial compared to the others

@kirurg

Great balance, good vocals just too loud at the beginning, probably kick a littl bit too loud at the beginning

Some last automation was missing, great balance but some excitement was missing compared to the top 3, mix is great!

@nicores

Own style, round fat warm full clear dynamic, Annia wasn't happy with the double voice
Compared to top 3 we were missing some wideness and depth in the track but by no means it's bad man, congrats!!!

@dnlptn

Pretty busy mix, probably a bit too compressed
min 3:14 - 3:16 something strange is happening

@White Punk OD

Same here, great power at the beginning but we felt it's a bit too compressed what takes the lifting open feel of the track

@Piranha
Completely different approach to the others that couldn't convince us in the second round

@rvalle
This was rather a Heavy metal kick for Piotr & also very busy, compressed mix
Very Loud and Compressed, it was important to leave space for dynamics


And that's it! Was a lot of fun, let's do it again

Take it easy and have a good time mixing!

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Ady