MIX CHALLENGE - MC073 February 2021 - Winners announced

[Dodgingrain]

I don't work in this style so this one was tough but there are some really cool moments in the song itself.
Here's mine: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrkJIuSBC ... w?e=a5bz7q

I tried to use some big reverbs to try and create some space. I think it worked out well in the verses but the chorus was kind of busy and the original arrangement didn't lift very much going into the chorus so that was tough to maintain and it was tough to try and improve the transition going into the choruses. With the snare/clap that starts in the beginning the pitch was a little off in the individual track vs the combined. I used melodyne to bring it closer and then routed through a 10 second plate reverb (little plate). The reverb is also compressed to bring out that long hazy tale sound. The keep it clean there is some pre-delay on that reverb as well, about 8msec. A similar reverb is applied to the Jembe tracks with some automation to bring in in and out between parts. The lead guitars have a similar but more subtle reverb treatment to try and put them in a large space. Most of the rhythm guitars have some micropitch work done to try and widen them out a little bit. I also did some eq work on the guitars to try and brighten them up some in the chorus. There is some level automation of the guitars as well to bring out some of the parts that get lost a little bit in the verses.

I did some automation work on the transitions between parts to try and increase the emotion. This was mostly level automation. Then ending has level automation as well to give it a little bit of that old school fade out. Drums also have some volume automation going on between sections.

Beyond that there was the standard compression and eq and most tracks and some distortion/saturation.

[Pingafuego]

My submission:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kclm5s ... sp=sharing


First of all, I’d like to thank Treeeye for the opportunity to mix this very nice song, and for MixcChalenge.com for the competition!

For this song I used SSL Native channel strip for all the tracks, for general eq and track compression, summed into SSL Bus Compressor, classic mixbus setting (auto release, 10 ms attack, ratio 4, and threshold to get between 2 and for db of gain reduction, followed by Softube Tape for a bit of saturation, since the SSL strip is very punchy and clean.

I treated the song parts separately - verse and chorus - following the audio files provided, and created a drum bus for each part, using BX Townhouse and SSL Bus compressors.

A little ambience for drums using Lexicon LXP Room plugin (small space, hard tile setting) and snare plate (again LXP plugin, Medium Plate, Blue Plate 3 setting).

The verse drums got some Softube Plate for a little saturation and high end taming.

I tried to create a wide mix, using hard pan for guitars (with little delay) and Eventide H910 stereo harmonizer plugin, and for percussion (jembes).

For the bass I duplicated the tracks, and used separate mix settings for verse and chorus, using a little more saturation on verses. Two bass tracks for each part for the song, one with Ampeg amp simulation and one DI track.

Mastering the Mix Expose app was used afterwards to check for competition rules.

And those are the points I would like to address.

Thanks!

[SuC76]

Hi,

All the best to everyone this year !


Here's my mix:

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




VERSE, BRIDGE LOOPS - , stock eq, little of room reverb, slightly added parallel compression

GTR RHY - subbed into one group, stock eq, little of room reverb

GTR SOLO - subbed into one group, stock eq, little of chorus, little of room reverb

BASS - split into 3 tracks, la3a, stock eq

JEMBE - subbed into one group, stock eq, little of chorus, little of room reverb

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

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




DAW: Ableton Live 10



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

[RB310]

The one sound that I was proud of working on (and also gave me the most trouble) was the guitars on the chorus. It was extremely challenging trying to get them to sound the way I wanted them to. My goal for the guitars were to make them sound powerful, but also full and aggressive without them drowning out the drums. What I did was I split the guitars up by mic (SM / AT) and I grouped them into a bus of their specific mic. Depending on if they were in bus SM or AT, they were eq'd differently. For starters, I ended up using Slate Digital's FG-S eq on both busses.

In order to bring out that growl in the guitars, I boosted the upper midrange: 3.0Hz --> 4dB, 2.0Hz --> 7dB
Next, I wanted to add some presence at the top. I boosted 7.50Hz --> 4dB
Finally, I brought the fullness out by boosting the low end: 240Hz shelf --> 15dB
I used very wide Qs!

Next step was further eq'ing the AT guitars. To remove the boxiness from the guitars, I scooped 5dB at 500Hz. After that, I removed the ringing with a 6dB cut at 1kHz. From what you can see, the chorus guitars needed LOTS of shaping. I believe I accomplished a pretty good, natural sound from the guitars. This is because I made sure to use wide Qs to boost and carve, which kept the sound of the guitars clean and natural. Hope you guys like the mix.


Submission Upload:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kcBs-0 ... sp=sharing

[Blang]

Hi all,

Mixing instrumental music really has its own set of challenges. I definitely picked up some new approaches during this mix.

Here's the link to my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11HpLsW ... sp=sharing

What I noticed in the original mix and what turned out to be the biggest challenge, was that the energy / excitement of the chorus rhythm guitar felt higher than the drums. Blending ‘organic’ instruments with electronic drums can often be be a bit more difficult, but in the verses they work together without too much effort.

To get more attack and punch out of the chorus kick, I put on a Soundtoys Devil-Loc compressor, which also adds some harmonics. The echos became too loud, so I put a gate before the comp to reduce their level. By blending the unaltered kick in with reversed polarity, the punch got even tighter.

To make the snare impact more like a drumkit snare, I duplicated it twice and pitched those down 7 and 12 semitones. Then, I cut the echos off these two tracks and smacked them with an UAD 1176revE for extra sustain.

The bass has an bx_opto comp > parallel distortion > Ampeg SVT-VR (plugin Alliance)

To enhance the contrast between verse (= mellow) and chorus (= epic), I only used a single rhythm guitar for the verses; 1 for verse 1, 2 for verse 2. It felt more intimate. Both mics are used; the AT room mic is delayed with 112 samples. By doing this, I didn’t need any EQ; just a tad of Waves Puigchild compression, a plate and a spring.

The bridge guitar has some spacey Echoboy to… uhhh, bridge the gap towards the chorus. the feedback and level are highly automated.

The gtr solo4 (in the chorus) could use some special sauce to set it apart from all other guitars. The primary culprits for the added mojo are Valhalla Supermassive (gemini mode) and Soundtoys’ Crystallizer (fast octave up delay).

I ended the track like this to highlight the synth hook and since we already had quite some time with the wailing solo guitars.

Volume automation is something I used a lot to spotlight certain events and guide you through this journey.

Hope you like it!

[Clueless]

I didn’t really get to finish the mix, as I would have wanted

So, I used Airwindows and Analog Obsession effects, together with other freeware, basically the same as December competition

https://www.dropbox.com/s/467kmdak9nv0x ... s.wav?dl=0

[ArneB]

Hi,

thanks to Treeeye for this mixing opportunity! Since I normally focus quite a lot on vocals, this was really a tough challenge for me...

So here is my submission: WAV

Mixed completely in the box in Pro Tools.
I focused mainly on the spaces and the placement of the instrument in the space. Used 5 different instances of FabFilters Pro-R for this.
For individual treatment I used the SSL E channel on some of the instruments and the G channel on the guitars bus.
On the bass and the synths I used a Pultec EQ emulation and the Bass got an additional Decapitator on top to make it cut better through the mix even on small speakers.
I hope you all enjoy my mix!

Regards,
Arne

[maurizio261]

Hi to everybody,
my name it's Maurizio, this is my firts mix for mix challenge and i'm very excited for that, i would thanks to all you guys.
Now, some word about my mix, i'm using Reaper, what i've done is a balance and phasing expecially for guitars that have multiple mics, a little bit of eq on some rhythm guitar (with Reaeq), a little bit of compression ( 1175 ) on Bass and Verse Solo Guitar (DD Compressor), i've not used the premixed drums kit but i've mixed by myself.
After that i've done 4 bus for Delays, 3 for chorus, 1 for flange that's has been repatched to 4 reverb and just for the flange to a CLA Echosphere (used only for the chorus gutars).
Delays are DD Delay and ReaDelay, same thing for Chorus that is even Chorus, OzzyfierChorus and a DD Chorus, Flange is a M Flanger and reverbs are DD Reverb and ReaVerbate.
That's to me make different flavors and make the song a little bit more deeper, that if i understand well it's the main theme of that song.
I hope you all will enjoy that, if it's possible i would like to please have a feedback in any case.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9qrw57uvmq1ss ... 1.wav?dl=0

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GyX7iz ... sp=sharing

Thanks again to you all to make this stuff possible every month.

[Pemberley]

Hi all,

My submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qy0hC1 ... sp=sharing

What a fun month! I really enjoyed this project; I'm not very familiar with post-rock, and this mix served as a great introduction. I think that the most challenging and enjoyable part of the process has been deciding how to manage contrast between the verses (3/4) and choruses (4/4). I'm pleased with how mine has turned out, and eager to get any feedback anyone is willing to share. Per instrument, here's what I did:

BASS:
Brainworx SVTVR Classic amp sim -- free from Plugin Alliance back in January; this was my first time using it on a project. Great tone, immediately produces "in a room with a big ol Ampeg" from the DI track. Also sidechain compression keyed by the kick.

VERSE PERCUSSION:
Pretty light touch here, going for an open, chill vibe with most of the dynamic range intact. A little EQ on the cymbals and shaker, VLA-2A on hi-hat, KH-COMP1 on the bus at ~3:1 bringing the groove together.

GUITARS:
Various different compression, saturation, EQ to taste, to get the parts locked together and bring out the unique tone of each. Saturn 2, RoyalCompressor, Lindell 80 Channel all make appearances. A tempo synced delay on solo4.

CHORUS PERCUSSION:
Clipped the hi-hats a touch. AnalogObsession FetSnap + FetDrive on snare. Some EQ here and there. But most important: my beloved Foote P3S in feed-forward nonlinear mode, hitting the output stage a bit too hard (attenuators before conversion to make this happen). I really like the respectfully smashed tone I'm able to get out of the unit for times like this, and think it contrasts nicely with the comparatively super clean verse percussion.

REVERB:
Soundtoys Little Plate, 2.5 second decay time. Variously hit by all instruments, tried not to overdo it.

MASTER BUS:
Just a touch of tube saturation with my dear RSP saturator, for darkening and some stereo control (mid/side configuration). TDR Kotelnikov not doing much (shaving off one or two dB at most) to help keep levels under control.

[stefanweith]

Howdy and Sveiki Folks,

here we go with my humble attempt mixing this lovely piece of music.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3plqok2gpvx68 ... h.wav?dl=0

Thank you "Treeeye" for this inspiring tune and Mister Fox for this great opportunity.

Now what were my thoughts, goals, steps and maybe challenges during the process?
The title is "Selga" or "deep, open sea". The ship left the coast and heads towards the great big Unknown.
First and foremost I wanted to create this deep, wide and open feeling. But with a firm and defined low end. A strong and convinced but controlled Kick and Bass. Like a rock of strength.
In contrast to floating-like, almost translucent guitar parts that swirl around and occasionally settle down in form of a rough wave front.
I know, I know! I hear you! I could also start writing down Compressor settings and EQ frequency and gain values now. That whole 'fancy' and crowded plugin list. But I don't think that would really help anybody. Instead, I'd like to briefly share with you guys my overall thoughts on the matter.
Okay, back on track. Actually, the biggest challenge was probably just that. To fabricate this deep, open feeling stuff...
What I started with (after a little bit of housekeeping, including small rhythmic corrections, phase alignment on some of the guitars....yes, there were some small thingys here and there;-)) is trying out several console emulations. I wanted to find a nice starting point. What kind of sound signature might be the best foundation for my vision?
My choice fell on the Plugin-Alliance Focusrite ISA 110/130 emulation for it's natural openness and clarity.
Put on all channels, I started mixing with just this and a little bit of Relab LX480 reverb and the 'RHALL' Setting as my main verb. Just because I know it and it gave me this instant depth and a little bit of "vintage vibe".
For an extra bit of 'deep-ness' and 'rich-ness' on some tracks I put the Acustica Pink API EQ and Compressor on the Kick Tracks, the Chorus Snare, the Bass and literally all Sub-Busses (Drum Bus, Percussion Bus and Guitar Main Bus).
My Drum Reverb is again the LX480 RHALL with a little bit of low and high cut. For the percussion group I've fell back on a Valhalla Vintage Verb with a little bit of low and high pass filtering as well. Just for the sake of integrity.
By the way, I've used all the "single" tracks regarding drums and percussions.
For the clean arpeggiated guitar part in the beginning I wanted, once again, to give them a kind of a 'wave-ish/swinging' feel. To achieve this I used a PSP L'otary which is a wonderful Leslie/Rotary Speaker emulation. For the clean Solo Guitar I did something similar with a little bit of Tremolo (Goodhertz Trem Control) and a quite big reverb (the main verb) and some Bucket Brigade Delay (McDSP EC300).
Furthermore, I put a Chorus Pedal (Plugin-Alliance bx_bluechorus2) on the Bass to give it just a small pinch of 80s magic :-).
Another 'star of the show' is probably the Compressor I used on the 'ALL GUITAR BUS'. A dual-diode type compressor (Kush Silika) with an absolutely gorgeous saturation stage (since it seems like there was apparently not already enough saturation for me in there :-)). But it gives the guitars just the right amount of glue and cohesiveness.
On the Mix Bus you finally find probably the 'usual' suspects. A bit of 'musical' EQing (in the form of Kush Hammer and Clariphonic), a bit of 'technical' EQing (FabFilter ProQ3) and a healthy amount of final Mix Bus Compression (SSLnative Bus Comp and Leapwing DynOne).
Last but not least, a tiny bit of Stereo enhancement with the lovely and absolutely clean Leapwing StageOne.
At this point I would like to mention that the Rough Mix was my reference all along. Besides the fact that I usually work like that, I also think that it has something to do with respect and that the artist MUST have thought of something when he or she made it ;-).
So this shall it be! My quick and dirty recap.
Now in case I bored somebody to death with all the Blabla, forgive me and I will only provide EQ and Compressor settings next time, I promise! :-)
Thanks a lot and looking forward to keep in touch!
Stay safe!

Cheers!