Hi fellow mixers
Here's my edit:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vuYR9w ... sp=sharing
In my opinion, the key in this mix was the automations. Volume, sends to reverbs and delays, dry/wet effects, etc, were automated in certain occasions. As the music is straight and has little variation in the elements, with the automations I tried to present some subtle changes that still reach the listener's perception, besides other more evident interventions, mainly in the transitions.
I felt an old school vibe in this tune and, thus, I tried to saturate some elements a bit. I wanted the result of that mixture of electronic sounds of the earlier samplers and drumboxes with tape recording.
I used all dry stems.
So that's the summary of the mix:
Kick Drums:
Kick 1 - Waves RBass for fattening and bx_cleansweep for high-pass filter automation;
Kick 2 - I split it up on different tracks; at that moment when it is the main track, I used a lot of equalization and saturation to find a balance with kick 1, since in the transition between one and the other, I thought they were quite different; when they act together, I gave preference to kick 1 and used the other one only with a layer; since they are out of phase with each other, I inverted the phase of kick 2 when it acts as a layer.
Some volume automations and edits in the transitions.
Drums:
Closed HiHat: EQ, LFOTool for a volume movement; Soundtoys Microshift for stereo imaging;
Snares were grouped; Snare Noise received only EQ for cleanup in the low region; Snare also had D16 Sigmund for a flip effect on certain parts, automating the dry/wet.
I automated the Open Hat Noise volume because it pushes the rhythm, i.e., the louder it is, the more excitement.
The drum bus was sent to a room reverb.
Bass:
Bass 1: saturation with the Decapitator; bx_stereomaker to create a stereo image in the mids; EQ with a small gain in the 500hz region.
Bass 2: I doubled the stem and, with the Neutron compressor, isolated two regions, one below and one above 415hz. Each region was on its own track. Thus, I was able to work on each of these regions separately. For the lower part, I used only the Wavesfactory Trackspacer to make room for the Bass 1. The interesting thing was the volume automations, which helped to change the groove in certain parts of the song. In the other resulting stem, where the highest region was, I used the free ValhallaSpaceModulator to create a very subtle pitch shift effect. I lowered the volume of this region a bit because I thought it was getting in the way of the melodic elements.
In the bass bus, I saturated it with UAD Oxide Tape and ducked it with LFOTool to make room in the lows for the kicks.
Synths:
E-piano: just EQ to clean up the higher frequencies and the 300hz region;
Lead: EQ for clean and a little gain on the high-mids; moderate saturation with True Iron; a little more aggressive character and compression with the Unfiltered Audio Lo Fi Af; I gave a little volume gain for a more apparent timbre.
I grouped the Piano and Synth on a bus; on both stems, I just equalized for cleanness, plus the LFOTool for a bit of movement; on the bus, I saturated with the Kush Omega TWK.
In another group, I put the Harp&Flute and the Piano-fortissimo because they act together; on the Harp, just EQ and on the Piano-fortissimo I used AudioDamage's excellent Dubstation 2 for a delay effect. On the bus, I also saturated with the Kush Omega TWK.
I printed a mixdown for a little more processing and also for loudness adjustment, as well as to save CPU processing. In this mixdown, I applied iZotope's Neutron compressor to work only in the bass region, below 215hz, in order to better level the punch of the kicks and the basses. I used the AMEK 200 for a subtle, but more colorful equalization, in order to give the last adjustments to the tonal balance. Then I saturated with the PRE module from the Acustica Audio Cream and also with the UAD Oxide, in which I boosted the signal input in order to also get some compression and glue from the tape emulation. Still in the Oxide, I adjusted the volume of the output signal in order to fit it into the loudness required by the rules.
That's it. Many thanks to
@EatMe for the opportunity to mix his tune.
I am doing this reminder early, to reiterate the following:
