Mix Challenge

Hi all,

The task was to make the track less repetitive. I tried to follow this without muting parts too much or to change the style of the track too much. So here is what I did:

Drums: I made two versions for the kick and snare. One more punchy and loud and one more softer and thinner in sound. This softer drums are used in the bridges and for the outro. So I get a dynamic in the drums by two different sounds.
Bass: here I used the Bass Professor II by Sonic Anomaly to get a dirtier sound.
Chords mono: ReaEQ, Acon Multiply and MidSideMangler two make the sound wide in stereo. A lot of volume automation to avoid the same level over the whole track.
Pad: ReaEQ and some ReaDelay to enhance stereo
S&H Pad: ReaEQ and some ReaDelay to enhance stereo
Melo Seq: ReaEQ, Classic Chorus, MidSideMangler to enhance side channels
Transit Arp: ReaEQ and panorama automation to let the sound go from one side to the other
CH80sKeys: ReaEQ, Transpire to get more attack. I shaped the sound close to a dulcimer
Chorus Lead: GreenEugen for satturation, Transpire for more attack, ReaEQ and NastyDLA for an additional delay on each end of the parts
Pre CH EP: GreenEugen for satturation, Transpire for less attack, ReaEQ

Master: ReaEQ for LowPass-Automation, MQ57, Presswerk, Satin
Reverb: TAL Reverb III, Uhbik-A

Mixed in Reaper v5.51

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5snw4q3osk0c ... c.mp3?dl=1
WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qjlfdj3z1odep ... c.wav?dl=1

Greetings!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qdzYcd ... sp=sharing MP3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ojUP7a ... sp=sharing Waves

DAW used to mix Harrison Mixbus32C plugin Compressor UA Fairchild. EQ the builtin Comp and Dynamic EQ from Waves. Delay from waves and builtin Harrison. Reverb from Soundtoys, Seventh heaven pro, builtin ardour, saturation and tape from waves, hornet, and UAD, plus Harrison builtin.

On the bus I have no treatment I have used. On the two bus again there is no a single plugin there either.

Time to rest my ears
Good luck!

WAV: https://mega.nz/#!BTQhFLDQ!uIIhvXlM8KMj ... 5z367yjtR4

MP3: https://mega.nz/#!JPAmWaqC!2shT-UUKoBlg ... JqpQLiK0_4


Firstly thanks 3ee for the song! It was quite laid back to mix, and left a lot of room to play and experiment with. I'm going for loud mixes nowadays, so I used that approach on this one as well.

The mix has plenty of parallel distortion, mostly bitcrush-like (SDRR2 from Klanghelm) on the synths, kick and snare.
There's another bus with a DBX160 compressoor (very punchy) for bass, kick and snare, in parallel.

To add body to specific synths, I mixed in some of them processed one octave down and with some distortion (Soundtoys Little Alter Boy). I'm using this lately when I want to add body and presence to something in the mix and plain EQ doesn't cut it. It can be used subtly (very nice in lead voices) or to modify the tone of a synth. For example, in this song is used in the quieter part to add weight to the pads that play the chords and "fill up the space".

Since this mix has very few elements, most of the processing is on the buses and the main bus. Here, there's EQ, a compressor to glue, some widening and different types of saturation (console, tape...), and a limiter catching the peaks.

See my entry below after some notes.

Some highlights:
1. Used a reverse reverb to on the snare in addition to the normal reverb in addition to a slow LFO filter to add some variation to the relatively static snare.
2. Lots more reverb than I normally use.
3. Used a plugin that emulated a late 80's compressor that adds a lot of character.
4. Used a little distortion on the bass to bring it out more.
5. Loads of delays on lots of parts.
6. I ran a reverb into a compressor on a few parts to try and create a bigger wash.
7. A little bit of mid/side processing on a few parts to create a bigger stereo image.
8. Also doubled some mono tracks and panned L/R to create wider sound.
9. A little bit of panning effects.
10. Lots of EQ work to try and create space and seperate the instruments.

mp3: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJriZp9AvUes51AGqMi3w
wav: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJriZp-Us_u8ODasUrxOw

I didn't do any mix bus effects other than a small amount of glue compression that I use on every mix.

Hi All,

Mostly a dark warm mix, but I let some transients from the drums and percussion poke through. 90% of this mix was delay, multiple reverbs, and the free Blue Cat's Flanger. It was tricky to fill the empty spaces with reverb without turning the whole mix to mud, so I did some parallel compression on the entire mix, as well as some strategic delay to stretch out those short notes. This song was the perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite effects, a delayed reverb on the snare which I thought worked out nice.

MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P6NNSE ... sp=sharing
WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rgmXum ... sp=sharing

3ee wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:38 CET

davemcisaac wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:36 CET

Special Add-On Rules:
...No rearrangement or pitch shifting of the song structure...

The kick & bass are not synced through parts of the progression. To me, it throws the groove off and feels like it stumbles. I would really like to get the kick & bass in the same groove to tighten it up. Is that allowed?

Hi Dave,

hmm... not sure how it doesn't feel 'synced' to you but anyway, if you plan to nudge the bass track away a bit from the kick I think that it's a totally fair move (it's just like applying some delay to one track/part but 100% wet and no dry )

When the bass & kick first come in, the 2nd kick hit is on the beat but 1/16 note before the bass note. It does that twice each progression. The bass & kick are playing a bit of a stutter beat against each other. It just threw me off. I understand it's a bit of intended syncopation and I am fine leaving it alone.

When the bass & kick first come in, the 2nd kick hit is on the beat but 1/16 note before the bass note. It does that twice each progression. The bass & kick are playing a bit of a stutter beat against each other. It just threw me off.

The bass isn't intended to fall on that kick hit, and why would it want to?
By aligning those notes would instantly make this a more boring track.
It's called 'groove' bro.

^ ^ Yep, played with some groove... found some interesting grooves in Reaper using the SWS extension ... it was a DMX groove IIRC that sounded pretty interesting as it disconnected the bass from the beat a bit more ... just as we seem to be disconnected from time these days and oh boy, does time seem to pass differently!

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your edit

Nige wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 15, 2018 08:25 CET

When the bass & kick first come in, the 2nd kick hit is on the beat but 1/16 note before the bass note. It does that twice each progression. The bass & kick are playing a bit of a stutter beat against each other. It just threw me off.

The bass isn't intended to fall on that kick hit, and why would it want to?
By aligning those notes would instantly make this a more boring track.
It's called 'groove' bro.

I started with Kick & Bass only and there it sounds off. I got the "off" sound stuck in my head. After not listening for a week and with the other elements added back in, I get the "groove" you're going for.

FYI - There have been thousands of songs in the past that had plenty of "groove" even though the kick & bass landed on the same beat.