MIX CHALLENGE - MC072 December 2020 - Winners announced

[SuC76]

Hi everybody,


really nice song.
Thanks Mix Challenge, Javier Ramallo.


Here's my mix:

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




KICKS Coles and AKGD112 - subbed into 2 tracks, AKG used as subkick, stock eq, little of room reverb

SNARE TOP, BOTTOM - subbed into one track , 1176, stock eq, room reverb

Kick and Snare - parallel comp., stock eq lo and hi boost

Percussions - subbed into one track, stock eq, room reverb

BASS - split into 3 tracks, sub, amp, dist, la3a, stock eq

Piano and Organ - subbed into one group, little bit of single eq and group eq, room rev. and some delays

VOCALS - split into 4 tracks, added little distortion, chorus, downpitch and automation




DAW: Ableton Live 9



Mixbus:
VTM Brit-N, UAD-Pultec, VTM

[mitjak]

Link to my mix:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9ck5hx5q009b ... k.wav?dl=1

Congrats to the author and the team who recorded it.
It is my first contest on this platform, so hopefully I did not miss some of rule.
About processing, I will gladly share my PT session, and all information if someone is indeed interested. It is just too much to write, beside in reality it is just a feeling. It is not the just the tool.., So what is going on - Well A LOT so I am posting screenshots, It would take hours to write it down.
Exception is bass. Its track doubled. On double track it is high-passed and added sonnox transmod to get a detailed pick.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sgx480sf7i2ix ... 2.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7l5s2ibzel5g ... 1.png?dl=0

Ambient and pan: All important instruments are in single 3D room in Viritual Sound Stage and just carefully paned.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7yhi6fi4e8rv1 ... 7.png?dl=0

Bee cool, stay healty!
Mitja

[Clueless]

https://mega.nz/file/Dw9D0QTY#TCPC8NH3a ... RtIEqSj6cY


hopefully this is the best mix by me this year, a lot of reading online forums and some tips by MC contestant
just got levels together. then set about panning, used AO compression eq and levelling
Vocal De ess using tdr nova and AO devices
drums Parallel compression
Snare Compression and short echo
all sent to reverb, Dragonfly plate and diffusion
Guitars eq and some AW fx

[vintage]

Hello,
Thank you for this great opportunity to mix with acoustic instruments and vocals.

What I have done:

Listen carefully to the different tracks in solo mode.

Cleaning and correction of troublesome frequencies with EQ MAAT ORANGE (linear phase eq) of the different tracks.

Phasing of the different elements that use 2 microphones / lines such as: BD, SN, OH, ACC GT etc ... (Melda - MAutoAlign) for perfect alignment and maximum punch.

De-ess voice (Weiss softube), Tune voice etc ...

All BUS GROUPS and MIX BUS I used an Acustica Audio N4 / ALEXB-R88 console (Neve emulation)

For the drum tracks I used the Acustica Audio - CAMEL PRE on each track to add the analog side and the 3D.

I also used the following plugins a lot, AA- EL REY, AA- DIAMONT EQ3, AA - ERIN EQ, Sonible SMART COMP & EQ, Melda -MBanPass, Waves RVOX ...

No pre-mastering, no dynamics or EQ on the Mix bus, ready for Mastering.

I deliver this mix in 24bits / 48kz at -18db RMS | TPL -3.19db | DR 12.21

LINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17u8LOZ ... sp=sharing

If I am selected for the second round, I will be happy to modify it according to the wishes of the supplier of the song.

Happy New Year everyone and may the music fill your hearts!

Thank you for your possible comments...

Greetings from Brussels

[jvrdiez]

Hi, thanks for the great song!

Nice vibe, good arrangements, musicians, recording...everything!

Well, the way i "fight" this mix is simple:

-Listen the overall "sound" to get the feeling with the song
-Clean some noises in SOlO (from Lead Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, etc)
-Check Drums and Guitars mics
-Gain Staging
-Automate
-Add some Parallel processes in Kick, Snare, Bass, etc
-Side Chain process with fighting frequencies/instruments
-Make buses (Drums, Guitar, Instruments, Vocals, FXs, Mix Bus etc)
-Tape Saturation and Harmonics on buses (nice to round peaks and use less compression and gain some RMS)
-Add Reverb/Delay sends
-EQ some individual tracks and buses (always check gain staging)
-Comp some individual tracks and buses (always check gain staging)
-Add Saturation, eq and comp on Mix Bus
-Check levels and some final automation

Plugins that I use:

Shadow Hill Mastering Comp Class A
Bax EQ
Chandler Curve Bender
Chandler Zener Limiter
Chandler Germanium Comp
Apogee FX Rack (Pultec, LA3A mainly)
API 550s
API 560
API 2500
Tape
Harmonics
Clariphonic MKII
Hammer DSP
REDDI
True Iron
Burnley 73
Echoboy
Apogee Spaces
EMT 250
TC Electronic ML2n
Voxengo Span
Klanghelm VUMTdeluxe

Loudness Levels:

Program Loudness (I) -16 LUFS
Max Momentary (M) -13 LUFS
Loudness Range (LRA) 6.3 LU
True-Peak Max -5.4 dBFS
PLR 10.7 dB

Mix delivered at 48 khz/24 bits


I hope you like it!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s5Viml ... sp=sharing

Cheers

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're within the final 24 hours of submitting your mix

[ivizzjohn]

HI, Thank you for this well produced song. Really enjoyed working on it.
Since the recording by itself was good, i tried not to color the sounds too much with EQ.

What i did mostly:
-DeEss the Voice (FabFilter Pro DS)
-Tuned the voices.
-Added Valhalla Reverb to the voice
-Create the space for Backing Voice and the Guitars
-Removed Unwanted Frequencies using FabFiler Pro Q3
-Applied Compressor and EQ for the Glue on the Summing Bus
-Put a gate on the Kick and Snare Tracks

Other Plugins Used - Softube - Saturation Knob, Acustica Audio - Neo, SPL Vitalizer, SPL Vertigo, Maag EQ4, Waves PuigChild 670, PuigTec EQP1A, FabFilter Saturn 2.

I tried not to alter the sounds dramatically. Do let me know what you think. Merry Christmas to all. Stay Safe.

DAW - Avid ProTools 12

Mix - https://drive.google.com/file/d/14SC8eo ... sp=sharing

Screenshot - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tr6nHW ... sp=sharing

[IbanezoO]

Hi all,

so here's my submission for this one.

drums/percussion:

• kick: Pultec trick to enhance subs, all around EQ tone shaping between 50 and 200hz, LA-2A compressor

• snare: lifts a 200hz, 800hz, 3k and 12.8k (API EQ), LA-2A cranked up but blended in with 60% mix

• toms: only used tom 1 cut down to the part where it actually plays

• overheads: LCR panned, cranked 50hz, 5k and 10k and to get out some kick and high end sizzle, upwards compression (MV2 like) to enhance the crash cymbals

• percussion: put into drum group, just LCR panned

• drum buss: lifted lows and high mids, reduced mids around 400hz, some parallel compression, saturation, send to a chamber reverb

bass:

• bass amp blended with DI

• lifts for high mids and high end, LA-2A compressor blended with 80% mix, high end saturation

guitar:

• duplicated track 29, 30 and the slide guitar to pan one track to one site and the other track with 100% wet reverb on the other site

• stereo guitars: lifted 7.5k and 300hz, added low end through automation for the choruses

• acoustic guitars: lifted 200hz, 600hz, 3k and 10k, 1176 compression (4:1, slowest attack, fastest release), plate reverb, high end saturation

• solo: CLA Echosphere to add space to it

piano/organ:

• piano panned around 55% L/R, organ around 65% L/R

• added some top end for piano and some high mids for the organ

vocals:

• I used mainly lead 1, lead 2 only underlaid in the chorus

• lead: serial compression (LA-2A into 1176), boosts at 5.3k and 7.5k

• backing vocals: some stereo spread through a slightly chorus effect, lift at 200hz and 7.5k, LA-2A compressor

• vocal buss: CLA Echosphere (slap delay into plate), saturation, a little touch of Slate Fresh Air

Mix Buss:

• low cut, SSL console emulation, tiny EQ moves to enhance low/high end and remove some muddiness, Focusrite Red compressor with 1-2 dB gain reduction, fastest attack, auto release but HPF at 70hz to not affect the kick, Virtual Tape Machine

loudness:

• LUFSi: -16.1

• true peak max: -1.8 dB

file download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s8Yu4C ... sp=sharing

Happy Holiday everyone!

[Green-Dog]

Here is my submission for this month: Mix

Hi guys,
Nobody are interested in some specific element, so let it be lead Vocal.

First of all, I did some basic Eq. Then I added 610 preamps and after that goes deessing and more deessing.

After I did some basic EQing, I send vocal to the parallel bus with 1176 compressor where I compress the Vocal really hard and blend it with no compressed track. After that, I group them together, and subsequent processing takes place on the vocal group.

The group is processed according to the following logic:
- a little bit of Opto compression ( in this case I put two compressors. each of them does just a bit of compression)
- added a bit brightness and warmness
- a bit more deessing again
- some dynamic eq to control even more the frequency
- and finally, tape emulation to add some warmness to the vocal

Here is some screenshot where you can see all vocal processing: Screenshots

Cheers,
Andrejs

[cpsmusic]

Hi Everyone,

Here's my entry for Challenge 72.

Firstly, thanks to the song provider. I've been curious about mixing different drum recording approaches so getting a chance to have a play with the Weathervane method was great.

I tried something a bit different this time in that I pre-processed some of the tracks using my outboard recording chain (details below). The reason for doing this was to see whether it made any difference in terms of the sound - at this stage I'm not sure! It certainly makes things take longer but it does force you to commit to "a sound" early on.

There were a couple of things I wanted to improve on from my previous Challenge entries - reduce the overall sense of "phasiness" and also to create a better sense of space without turning the mix into mush! This meant that I tried to reduce the number of parallel channels, and also to keep the spatial effects to two for each bus (delay and reverb).

Overall routing was pretty straightforward with seven bussses - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Keyboards, Guitars, Lead Vocal, Backing Vocals.

One problem I had was getting the bass to sound bright enough - that's why there's two "grit" channels for the bass.

Also, I struggled with the lead guitar tone, which I found hard to change due to the baked-in distortion.

I was hoping to run the song stems through a little passive summing mixer that I made recently however I ran out of time. I was also hoping to use my two hardware reverbs (SRV-330, SPX990) although time was against me so I'll have to do that next time.

Thanks to the competition organizers and good luck to all entrants!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X1cUib ... sp=sharing


File Specifications:
48.0kHz, 24-Bit
-18.8 LUFS (Int.)
-1.8 dBTP


Track Pre-Processing:

Bass:

WA273-EQ - HPF@50Hz, Cut@10kHz
Compellor - All controls @12 o'Clock


Lead Vocal:

Compellor - All controls @12 o'Clock
DBX162SL - 3:1 Ratio, Auto A/R, OverEasy
WA273-EQ - HPF@50Hz, Boost@110 (2oclock), Cut@1600 (10oclock), Cut@10kHz (10 oclock)


Backing Vocal:

Compellor - All controls @12 o'Clock
DBX162SL - 3:1 Ratio, Auto A/R
DBX162SL - 2:1 Ratio, OverEasy, Medium A, Fast R
WA273-EQ - HPF@50Hz, Boost@110, Boost@1.6kHz

================================================

Track Processing:

Drums:

Close mics were aligned with MAutoAlign. OHs were aligned with each other. Tried to then align close mics with OHs but sounded phasey so decided not to.

Kick: Flux Epure, Overtone DYN4000M, Little Clipper
Snare: Flux Epure, Overtone DYN4000M, TwinTube, Little Clipper, Fresh Air
Brushes: Flux Epure, Softube Transient Shaper
HH: Nothing
Toms: Not used - Plenty of toms in the OHs
OH Bus: TB Equalizer 4, SSL G Bus Compressor (to glue the three OHs together)
All Drums Bus: SSL G Bus Compressor (glue all drums together), Fresh Air (bring out cymbals)
Snare Verb: Overtone RVB500 - Tonal thickening
Drum Verb: Arturia REV Plate-140


Percussion:

No individual processing
Percussion Bus: Audiority LDC2
Percussion Verb: Overtone RVB500

Bass: Flux Epure, bx_subfilter, Audiority LDC2, AmpegSVTR, IHeartNY, Softube Transient Shaper, VPRE-73, Little Clipper
Bass Grit 1: Black Rooster CypressTT, Syntorus
Bass Grit 2: Flux Epure, RedLightDistortion, SaturationKnob, Softube Transient Shaper, Overtone DYN4000M


Keyboards:

Piano: Flux Epure, Softube Transient Shaper - tried to enhance the attack to make the part more rhythmic
Organ: Flux Epure
Keyboard Bus: Audiority LDC2


Guitars:

Arp Guitar: Flux Epure, Audiority LDC2
Trem Guitar: Flux Epure, Audiority LDC2
Guitar 1 L/R: Fuse F59, Flux Epure
Guitar 2 L/R: Fuse F59, Flux Epure
Lead Guitar: Acme Opticom, Flux Epure, Softube Tape, TwinTube, Unfiltered Audio Instant Delay, Black Rooster VEQ-1P
Slide Guitar: Flux Epure
Acoustic Guitar DI/Mic:
Acoustic Guitar Bus: Nova GE, Flux Epure, Syrah, Audiority Deleight, AudioThing Type A
Guitar Plate: Transatlantic Plate
Guitar Delay: Black Rooster Bucket-500 - note that some delay was sent to the Guitar Plate


Lead Vocal:

Lead vocal was comped. Most of the comp came from the alternate take as this had a smoother tone which I preferred.
Processing: Waves Tune Real-Time, Nova GE, Black Rooster VEQ-5, Black Rooster VEQ-1P, Audiority LDC2, Black76, TwinTube, Fresh Air, Waves Sibilance
Vocal 1/4-Note Delay: Unfiltered Audio Instant Delay - note that some delay was sent to the Vocal Plate
Vocal Plate: Transatlantic Plate - Before the plate was TB Sibalance and after it was SPL Vitalizer


Backing Vocal:

Backing Vocals: Waves Tune Real-Time, Klanghelm DC1A3
Backing Vocal Bus: Black Rooster VEQ-5, VHL-3C, Audiority LDC2, SPL Vitalizer


Music was ducked with Lead Vocal using TB Equalizer 4
Music was ducked with Solo Guitar using TB Equalizer 4

Lindell80 Bus was used on all busses - default setting but TMT was used for each bus - not sure how much difference this made.


Mixbus:

Softube Tape - soften digital harshness
Flux Syrah - glue compression
Lindell80 Channel - saturation, small amount of high end boost, gentle peak compression
TB Equalizer 4 - high end widening, low end narrowing, gentle low/mid movement
Vertigo VSM-3 - "HiFi Your Mix" preset
Fresh Air - small amount of additional brightness


Metering: MTM Reference, YouLean Loudness Meter, Voxengo SPAN
Headphone Monitoring: TB Morphit