MIX CHALLENGE - MC072 December 2020 - Winners announced

[Cadence Soundlabs]

Hey everybody!

This is the link to my mix for MC072 "Grita" from Vanagloria.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/snuzag7gbnmzh ... s.wav?dl=0

I had a blast working on it. I went pretty straight forward with it, partly due to time and partly due to it being a pretty darn good recording! Lol. Good job to the musicians and the people who helped produced it.

To start, my process was to slap Waves SSL E-channel plugin on everything and gain stage down to -20-ish (enough to push the needle past -20 on a VU meter at the loud parts). Then, I created my send FX pathways. I've got 4 reverbs that I use on the "ambient mics" of the drum kit, and then I blended them to taste. I have a similar approach with vocals. I setup a tape slapback, stereo echo, a quarter note throw delay, and a weird "bouncy" delay. Some of my delays are then fed into a vocal reverb. All of that is blended to taste.

Then, I went back into the SSL channel and tweaked EQ and compression all to taste. I low passed everything. EQ and compression was applied to a lot of the tracks but nothing too dramatic or crazy. I usually keep my compressors down to 3-6 db of gain reduction at the loudest of parts. I also used an additional compressor on the bass and vocals to help even things out more.

I also have a DBX 266XS compressor that I use as a buss compressor. I like using the overeasy and the auto attack/release features on the compressor. Again, nothing aggressive. Just a db or so of gain reduction.

I also wrote automation on my vocal quarter note throw delay to fill in some of the gaps between phrases, etc.

Thank you!

[satchboogie]

Hi !

Thank you very much for the opportunity. to get things rolling takes quite a bit of work: thank you Mister Fox and Javier. A nice song to mix. Here is my breakdown.
Approach: A pop song with many percussive elements. I didnt want the snare take it all but leave space for the microrhytmic elements (esp. brushes, guitar strums, egg). Snare in my approach mostly ephasizes beat. All the rhytmic elements give the drive. Vocals front.
Process: I did only subtractive eq on all cahnnels to make a balanced intrument without annoying freqs. Then i used other graphic eq-s to musically emphasize ranges. This method applies to all my tracks.
Since there were a lot of stereo tracks i got lost in panning. Hope it make sense.
A few tracks i would talk about:
1.,Organ's place was hard to find but finally i tried to make itt to emphasize back vocals
2., Lead vox- i created a double track. I normalized the double and tried to mix in with the normal to decrease too wide dynamic range.
3, Bvocals needed a lot ot tweaking to get the harmony levels right throughout the whole mix. Still can be improved.
4, Acoustic guitars and piano give the core of the song musical and dont forget about the egg :PP, electrics widen the mix and give some drive.
5., I inreased the brush pan between verses and choruses.
After making a rough mix everything sounded nice, but lifeless.
Plugins used on rough mix in the entire project:
Channel strips: Neutron 3-all tracks, Nectar 3-vocals
EQ: bx_digital V3, Maag EQ4, Dangerous BAX eq
Dynamics: Purple Audio MC77, bx_townhouse, ACME Opticom XLA3, UAD Manley passive EQ, UAD Fairchild 670
Preamp: UAD UA 610-B - on all acoustics
Saturation: Softube Tape, HG2-BlackBox, elysia karacter, elysia Phil’s Cascade
Delay: BABY Audio Comeback Kid
Chorus: Cubase stock
Reverb: sonible Smart:reverb
Masterbus: bx_townhouse, Tape, SPL Iron (all for glue and -1 dB comp to round bass side)
Here is my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OOACkR ... sp=sharing

Thank you for your time and feed back when available.

satch

[leslingle]

Hello everyone. Thanks again for another great song for us to sharpen are skills on
https://www.dropbox.com/s/698ttoqptplfs ... e.wav?dl=0

I enjoyed the drums on this I used waves version of the SSL G Series on all drum tracks to get nice fat tones then added the IK Multimedia DYNA MU to the d-Buss. I used the Softube console One set on SSL E Series for filtering on all guitars and background vocals. I then bussed all BGV,s through a Slate Virtual Rack to glue them together nice and tight. Did all automation on VCA's to level out the mix. For Piano and Organ I used both the Milliena EQ and Compressors from Plugin Alliance.

[jetwolf]

Javier,

Here is my mix. Thank you so much for sharing. I enjoyed mixing the song!

Very cool chord structure in the song. I also loved the harmonies and tried to make them sound as big and lush as I could with delays and harmonic enhancing.

I used SSL channel strips throughout all channels.

I usually split the bass, but this time just used the single track.

Drums were SSL and some Distressor blended in.

Studio Room reverb on all mixed in and plate added for LV and snare.

Very lighlty touched up tuning in a couple spots.

I ended up using the first vocal mixed back spread slightly to double the LV. Second LV was primary.
Used the new RS124 on the LVs.

Very nice keys and guitars, too. You guys can play and craft a song.

Hope you enjoy!

Jetwolf

HERE IS THE LINK:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10GpIgJ ... sp=sharing

[ArneB]

Hi Javier,

thanks for this nice song and this mixing opportunity, enjoyed this song very much!
Here is my mix, mixed in the box in Pro Tools: WAV

What I did:

Vocals (which were the most difficult part, as already predicted):
First of all, I used the second version of the vocals. In both versions of the vocals I found some strange resonances between 1 and 3k, but they were much heavier in the 1st version. I didn't want to cut out too much in that area, so I used the 2nd version, but still I applied two deep notches at 1 and 3k.
Used 2 different compressors in series. For the deesser I was not quite sure, usually I would use a bit more, but I guess the Spanish language needs a bit more "s". Still, I'm not a native Spanish speaker, so I may have used too much or too little and would really like to get some feedback on this matter.

Drums:
I wasnt used to the Recorder man technique, but with the tutorials I found that one was quite ok for me. Used my usual workflow for the single drum channels, with basic EQing, compressors and a bit of decapitor on snare and kick, but still found it a bit difficult to make the kick sound right.

Guitars:
A bit of reverb to almost all the guitars, especially to the solo. A bit of automation on one particular catchy guitar fill.

Keys: Nothing special.
At the end I put in a compressor on guitars and keys busses with a side chain of the vocals to compress only the mids and leave a bit more room for the vocals.

Used Plugins:
EQ: Fabfilter Q3
Compressors: FabFilter C2 and Avid BF-76
DeEsser: FabFilter DS
Soundtoys Decapitator
Reverb: FabFilter Pro-R

Hope you enjoy my mix!

Good luck everyone.

Cheers,
Arne

[diegoneryproducoes]

This is my first valid mix. I chose to put the guitar in stereo. I compressed each instrument around 3dB. I did automations I used Vertigo on the master, saturation and analog channel. I also tuned the base guitars with the melodyne. I need to send the link to participate, if you are interested in the mix I will get more details soon. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations to the composers.
My Mix:
https://mega.nz/file/DEVwFRzA#pDsT20CN4 ... b51fM2ZfYY

[Franz]

Hi all,

This time, I'm going out through the front door: I'm going to disqualify myself and avoid this work
for Mister Fox who "triple checks" everything and so I myself chose my "triple discalification":

1) my mix is ​​in fact a master according to the dreaded laws of Mister Fox.
2) no documentation: tiring and very little general interest and in addition half of my work was done on my analog equipment ...
3) I changed the structure of the song: I modified the end of the title to make it more musical. But no samples or replacements.

Why all this: considering that when listening to a piece of music (either on CD or Internet), it must follow a number of criteria,
the most important of which is its sound volume.
Either in the other "mixing" contests offered on the Net, or by listening to titles on audio platforms,
WHO has dared to send his music to a level of -16 Lufs ?

Anyway, these levels are automatically set to standards (CD or streaming).

In practice this is what happens: I first performed my "mix" at a level of - 17 Lufs. The sound is flat and of no great interest
(note that I still do not understand why ask to make a mix when the reference of the songprovider is completely mastered).

Then I build the "stems" which will serve as a basis for the mastering process. This is finished at a level of - 9.4 Lufs.

So a difference of more than 7 dB. Do you have any idea what that represents? An increase of 3 dB doubles the sound level, you see the rest ...

Anything that can be done in mastering within these 7 dB is STRICTLY impossible to achieve in the "base" mix.

The result: once mastered the song "sounds" !!!........

So mixing competition, YES, but left at this stage, without follow-up, what exactly does that represent ?

The master here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ez8v958favvbz ... z.wav?dl=0

Why it interests the original mix here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9bd9b4qqfdisp ... z.wav?dl=0

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

And good luck to all and especially for Mix Challenge.

And above all take care of yourself !

Farewell

Franz

[TonnoBass]

MIX CHALLENGE MC 072

Hi to everyone here, I’m happy to enter this December mix contest!

Here’s my link to the audio:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HF6LEg ... sp=sharing
Some screen:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vK_qVP ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kp8DmU ... sp=sharing

Here’s some fast info regarding my mix:

After gain staging every tracks, I grouped the tracks for “Family”, so I created the Folder tracks for:
Percussion, drums, piano, organ, vox, cori.

I also created the Bus for every tracks, including the Bass (didn’t create the folder tracks for it, just for one track).

After reached an equilibrium for a mix without any plugins, I started working on every tracks.
Cutted the rumble bass for almost every tracks, to give a more clean final mix.

I aways worked with Sonarworks reference on for my headphones.


Percussion:
only ProQ low cut 130hz on snares, 800hz for triangle, 1khz for eggs.
Bus: Only Satin, to get more air in the upper frequencies, and get the high frequencies more up front.

Drums:
I gave a shape with ProQ on every single track, put the 2 kicks in one track, then gated to get a cleaner sound, tape, compress, and another ProQ eq.
Snare eq, gated, NLS from Waves, dbx 160a to compress. Send to a LX480.
Parallel compression for many drum’s tracks.
Bus: NLS, SSL comp, API2500.

Bass:
Tape J37, NLS, ProQ, cla-3a. Send to a saturated track to give more presence.
Bus: NLS, ProQ, SSL comp, API2500.

Piano:
ProQ, cla76, Satin.
Bus: cla 3a, SSL comp.

Organ:
NLS, ProQ, CLA76, Satin.
Bus: NLS, SSL comp.

Guitars:
Maaaaany differences here.
Bus: NLS, SSL comp, Tape j37, ProQ.

Vox:
I kept the first take, except for some little parts.
ProQ, J37, NLS, CLA76, R-Vox, Ozone Exciter, R De-Esser, Tubetech PE1C.
Bus: NLS, SSL comp, J37.

Cori:
No process. Out into a bus total left, with a send in a total right with a little delay. Out of both into the Bus.
Bus: ProQ, NLS, CLA76, Ozone Exciter, SSL comp

Stereo Out:
ProQ, Req2, J37, SSL comp, API2500, FC70, Puigtec.

-21,7LUFS.
-6.4 Peak Max.

48000, 24bit.

Hope You will enjoy it.

TonnoBass.

[Pemberley]

Hi all,

Here's my submission this month:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KtITxE ... sp=sharing

Thanks to the song provider for a really fun project, and to the organizers for running the show. For this mix, I tried to be conservative with my use of effects like reverb and saturation, though they did creep in as I iterated. Per-instrument:

Drums: Kush Silika and Foote P3S for a bit of glue and some saturation. 4:1 on the Kush, just 2:1 on the Foote. Output transformers in Foote pushed into gentle saturation. Lindell 345E on overheads in NUKE mode for some VIBE, bx_subsynth on kick, but otherwise pretty clean.

Vocals: Lead chain was de-ess -> Black Rooster VPre-73 -> VLA-FET -> VLA-2A -> Soundtoys MicroShift. Microshift automated to get drier in the verses and wetter in the choruses. Backing vocals also had Microshift, and the lowest voice had a quietly-mixed lower octave, but were otherwise dry.

Bass: Klanghelm SDRR in "desk" mode -> Boz Hoser -> Boz The Wall -> Pro-C keyed from kick

Piano: RoyalCompressor, which I'm really growing to love

Organ: Just a little compression with ReaComp. Mixed low for more harmonic support than melody.

All guitars: bx_townhouse. Also sent from guitars variously to RSP Saturator in mid/side configuration. REALLY like how this can distort a guitar under the right circumstances, and I think this was one of them.

Acoustic guitar: Lindell 80 channel with a little compression/vibe.

Reverb: Exponential Audio Nimbus in "warm pushed studio" mode. Looking for a small club vibe with an upfront vocal overall, and I think this helped achieve it.

Any feedback welcome!

[GB Real]

Enjoyed working on your track! Great, unique vocal. I focused on giving the vocals a lot of weight, made sure that the vocal was doubled and thickened out on the big moments for the drums and distorted guitar. I also love Spanish Spanish, haha. Much Love!

wav: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dtFYDX ... sp=sharing
mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z570pc ... sp=sharing
capture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18EO_eD ... sp=sharing