MIX CHALLENGE - MC42 April 2018 - Winners announced

[isaac yom]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pp410dikssn2o ... m.wav?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h4x80ay60oai0 ... m.mp3?dl=0

loved the brass.
in the beginning, i would have thought should i lean towards guitar or brass, and ended up with more brass.
i thought the lead vocal was a little harsh during the chorus, so i tried to tame it, but it wasn't enough,
then i realized that the background vocals were harsh as well so i worked on those but still it wasn't working,
then i realized that i had to tame those frequencies from the brass then it all came together.
i learned a lot from mixing this song. so i want to say thank you.
to give a little bump on the chorus, i automated the drum bus compressor's mix knob just a notch,
and i smashed the room track and leakage track and used room only during the chorus, automated the fader of leakage track.
and to give some creative bit, i automated the flanger during the breakdown? section,
i first put it on the mix bus, then just made an aux track to treat it more specifically, and fed every tracks into it.
it's a thing that i just ripped of from tom lord flangey.

[isaac yom]

by the way it's always frustrating in first several hours when the rough mix or the original mix sounds too good.

[Nige]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pp410dikssn2o ... m.wav?dl=0

loved the brass.
in the beginning, i would have thought should i lean towards guitar or brass, and ended up with more brass.
i thought the lead vocal was a little harsh during the chorus, so i tried to tame it, but it wasn't enough,
then i realized that the background vocals were harsh as well so i worked on those but still it wasn't working,
then i realized that i had to tame those frequencies from the brass then it all came together.
i learned a lot from mixing this song. so i want to say thank you.
to give a little bump on the chorus, i automated the drum bus compressor's mix knob just a notch,
and i smashed the room track and leakage track and used room only during the chorus, automated the fader of leakage track.
and to give some creative bit, i automated the flanger during the breakdown? section,
i first put it on the mix bus, then just made an aux track to treat it more specifically, and fed every tracks into it.
it's a thing that i just ripped of from tom lord flangey.

I like this mix Isaac, I think you've worked out a nice balance between all the elements and a good sense of space. The vocals stand out to me in particular, they've got a really sweet bottom end and cut through the mix up top without being abrasive, with just the right amount of verb.
I could see where you were aiming with the phase effect in the breakdown but I think the execution/production let you down somewhat, it just goes on far too long into the build up (last chorus).
The snare is killing the buzz for me, it's harsh, dominant and quite "rock n roll" for this type of track. I think you could have tamed the attack somewhat so it fit more within the style and mood.

[isaac yom]

thank you nige for the comments. it's very refreshing to have other mixer's perspective.

[Mister Fox]

I'll say this once - and only once:
Although this production has a certain critical undertone (and it's not the first one for the Mix Challenge), I don't want to turn this into a political debate and/or "what is real and what not". In fact, I don't want anything of that here on this forum.

Take the production as is, a story based upon real events - like David Bowie's "Heroes" (for example). Then make up your own mind about it. But discussing the "extended arms"of this, especially in this very thread, is just the wrong place.

So I removed Nige's post...

If that particular topic flames up again, I'll remove everything without further warning and issue account warnings on top.

[Henrik Hjortnaes]

This song is quite special and it certainly also grew on me during mixing. Very good song, David. As a guitarist, I immediately "got" your intro and pictured the scene with horror. The transisiton from the noise to the song is beautiful. As is the people-noise part.

On my maiden listen to the song, I planned immediately to keep every audio track panned dead center or as close to center as possible, and let effects provide the needed spread. I wanted the "mono" challenge, I wanted a strong center, but I also think the song benefit from it, resulting in a calm, focused stereo image with punch, clarity and dynamics.

I kept the brass low. I think it clouds the sonic picture, puts a blanket over everything and flattens the dynamics, especially when playing sustained notes as in this song. Clarity and dynamics was my main goal - also when listening on headphones. Despite being low, the brass is easily heard throughout the song, even panned center like the rest.

I fought the vocals hard for harshness (4-6 kHz range) during the choruses and settled on a compromise. I am not happy with it. I am not good enough at it, but I have to let it go now and submit my mix. The high notes (main vocal) sounds like they are sung with the throat very compressed, letting only a very pointy tone through and the result is quite a challenge to mix and not very pleasant to my ear. Think compressed air.

I edited the vocal tracks to minimize peaks/clicks when singing G- and K-words. The song being called "Keep On" there are a few to address, heh.

Lots of sidechaining of tracks to make the all-center-pan thing work.

I kept the DI tremolo guitar track open to help the amped version in the low end.

Keep On.wav
Keep On.mp3

[MOA22]

I feel very lucky to have the chance to share my multitrack with you all !
The only thing I would say is : you definitely rock !

Don't be shy and post if you think you are ready, I will try to write a feedback text
to every contestants, and it will be a huge work for my poor english level !

Soon
David

[Thelace43]

Hi there, I am short on time, but I spent a while today on this lovely song and would like to submit my mix. I hope I didn't miss something in the rules; namely adding a callback delay near the end. I can provide a WAV file too. I used Sonar X3 with some EQ here and there, as well as your standard effects, and an amp modeler. I made the start more of a 'bang' than a fade. Cheers.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrs3f7l1b8xdf ... e.mp3?dl=0

(I'm new to this forum, as well as dropbox, so let me know if there are any problems)

-Mike

[Dodgingrain]

Greetings,
mp3: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJriaA8ouM82RuN2HqRxQ
wav: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJriaA90aaFFyXpZF7nlQ

I enjoyed the song. For mix notes.... lets see...
Lots of work on the vocals, I preferred more of a group singing sound vs. a solo vocal. Also lots of automation to bring out certain phrases, reverb and some delay here and there. There is quite a bit of work on the horns with some doubling and panning to try and soften the sound but not lose them. I used an amp sim on the bass. Also quite a bit of eq, compression, and dynamic eq to get everything to fit together.

Less effects than I normally use.

Thanks,

[Jarouse]

Hi,

I'm happy to join this contest!
Long to explain what I used, but basically it was parallel compressors, different sizes of reverberations. Nothing on the master bus.

WAV - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FEeKi ... BfkRDO4QM-
MP3 - https://drive.google.com/open?id=15GOsT ... 7aLMbg52cA

Thanks!