Mix Challenge

Hey everyone, here’s my submission for this month!

Regarding the theme of the competition (“Uncertain Future”), I wanted to create a concept throughout the song where, behind all the fog, uncertainty, and struggles along the way, the fog eventually clears, revealing the light. I hope you enjoy it! I absolutely loved working on this and being part of this month’s challenge, where the main goal is simply to make music and enjoy the process.

For the composition, I was inspired by the main contest image and used the bass to create that immersive atmosphere, simulating the ‘fog’ that covers the song (I used a 5-string Jazz Bass for this task). The song evolves through different variations, with the guitar acting as the main ‘adversary’ against the fog—it fights through the battle and eventually leads the way to the light (at least that’s how I see it hahaha). I used a Squier Telecaster for this. The drums remain fairly steady throughout the track, as I wanted them to represent the ‘determination in our journey.’ For this, I used VD-Legend by UJAM, combined with a snare from Addictive Drums. I split the MIDI sequences (overheads, kick, snare, and toms) into individual tracks for separate EQ and processing, aiming for the desired tone and color.

Technical Aspects

• Drums: Separate processing for MIDI tracks, applying EQ, compression, and tone shaping.
• Bass: Tonex amp simulation, EQ, compression, saturation, and overdrive.
• Guitar: Waves GTR Tools, EQ, saturation, compression, stereo expansion, and mid-side processing.
• Horns: Native MIDI samples from Logic Pro + processing (compression, EQ, reverb, etc.).
• Atmosphere: Used Alchemy from Logic Pro with basic processing.

For the mix, I used sidechain compression between certain instruments to avoid masking and relied heavily on volume automation to ensure everything blends cohesively. I used only three auxiliary buses—one for reverb, one for delay, and one for parallel compression. (Of course, I did a lot more, but these were the core elements I focused on.)

For the mastering, I focused on maintaining tonal balance without losing the immersive feel of the bass while enhancing cohesion through compression, harmonic saturation, and limiting to achieve the desired loudness.

It’s been a few tough but exciting days working on this project, and I’m really happy I was able to finish it on time (maybe even a little early!). I’m super excited to participate in this way!

here I leave the link to the official track with the name template https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fDMFPM ... sp=sharing


and here ill also leave the file (just for listening purpose) in my Soundcloud profile.



good luck for everyone, im excited to listen you.

(please if anything wrong with the file, name or audio just let me know to fix it on time, big thanks)

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 07 days left to submit your production.

So far, we have 02 entries.

We need 09 participants for a regular sized podium, and more than 15 for an extended one.



Now is the perfect time to post your entry!

If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within the next 3 to 4 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

To those sitting on the fence - please don't feel scared off and think "the bar is set too high, I will never make it" - set yourself a shorter private deadline. Just make music, submit your entry, join the conversation. See where this goes.

By joining, you're already a winner. The rest is bonus.

Hi everyone!

So, from the first impressions of the provided pictures I mostly took the more desolated looking ones, kinda going into the post-apocaliptic, where the world is so chaotic that everything is uncertain.
Also took some inspiration from Finalfix's Hope is lost EP as the artwork reminded me a bit of the image provided in the post.

Not so sure if I'm getting the concept well so far, made a quick test of the direction I may be going (private soundcloud link):
https://soundcloud.com/jruegg/swc090/s- ... al_sharing

Am I getting the idea right?

Also, I don't think I'll be able to get this below -14 LUFS, I tried many things and compared to other tunes and, I guess I'll take the hit later with the bonus points unless someone has some suggestions of how to make these kinds of music genres sound good and be in the suggested loudness level.

J.Ruegg wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2025 05:35 CET

Hi everyone!

So, from the first impressions of the provided pictures I mostly took the more desolated looking ones, kinda going into the post-apocaliptic, where the world is so chaotic that everything is uncertain.
Also took some inspiration from Finalfix's Hope is lost EP as the artwork reminded me a bit of the image provided in the post.

Not so sure if I'm getting the concept well so far, made a quick test of the direction I may be going (private soundcloud link):
https://soundcloud.com/jruegg/swc090/s- ... al_sharing

Am I getting the idea right?

Also, I don't think I'll be able to get this below -14 LUFS, I tried many things and compared to other tunes and, I guess I'll take the hit later with the bonus points unless someone has some suggestions of how to make these kinds of music genres sound good and be in the suggested loudness level.

Hi how many LUFS are you at now? If you want it below (-15,-16,-17) check your compression and gainstaging levels in the mix, making sure the master level is between -6db to -12db before any processing on the master bus balancing all the elements and levels. Then use parallel compression on the elements you want to bring to the front or give more punch. Once you are satisfied with the mix start the master process and at the end of your chain (limiter) just adjust until you get to -14 LUFS. You should also ensure the output levels of each plugin in the processing chain to control the gain of each element to avoid this. I hope this can help you.

Dear challenge partners and Mister Fox.

Here we go again.
Interesting challenge this month, with some suggestive images.
Musically, this month I was inspired by a song I heard at the theater. They were a male choir singing a melody of 4 notes in the first 4 bars and 4 notes (3 of the same as the previous one) in the following bars. When I heard it I thought it would be good for this month's challenge.
Well, based on these 4+4 notes I have developed what I present to you this month.

Well, I hope you like it or at least give me ideas to improve it or highlight what you would have done differently.

Thank you colleagues.

(translated with google)




Equipment:
DAW:
Reason 13.1d330

Reason Instruments:
Radical Piano Advanced Acoustic Piano
A List Electric Guitarist Power Chords
Polytone Dual-Layer Synthesizer
Friktion Modeled Strings
NN-XT Advanced Sampler
Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer
Algoritm FM Synthesizer
Grain Sample Manipulator
Thor Polysonic Synthesizer
Redrum Drum Computer

Reason Effects:
Reason Equalizer
Master Compressor
RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb
The Echo
MClass Maximizer
Ripley Space Delay
Master Bus Compressor
Sweeper Modulation Effect
Synchronous Effect Modulator
Audiomatic Retro Transformer
Channel EQ
Sidechain Tool
Pulveriser Demolition Unit
Softube Guitar Amp
MClass Equalizer
Quartet Chorus Ensemble
Stereo Tool
Alligator Triple Filter Gate
Rotor Rotary Speaker

Reason Players:
Scales & Chords
Dual Arpeggio
Note Tool

Reason Utilities:
Combinator
Mixer 14:2
Gain Tool

Reason Packs (like Presets) or Presets:
Underground Techno
00s NY Hip Hop
Industrial Power

Other instruments outside of Reason:
Native Instruments Kontakt v7.1

Other effects outside of Reason:
Valhalla Supermassive
Cableguys ShaperBox
Bedroom Producers Blog BPB Saturator

Kontakt/UVI Library:
8Dio Silka Choir

Other tools:
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet HarmoniQ
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet Sleek
iZotope Ozone 9 Standard
Plugin Alliance SPL HawkEye
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet VHS
IrcamLab The Snail
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet SongKey MK4

J.Ruegg wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2025 05:35 CET

Not so sure if I'm getting the concept well so far, made a quick test of the direction I may be going (private soundcloud link):
<link>

Am I getting the idea right?

I took a quick listen. To me, this sounds completely fine. The concept of songwriting games with a "picture theme", is to get inspired, and then create something from there. Whatever comes to mind.

I mean, so far we have a heavy metal track, something that goes more towards psychedelic rock, ambient/electronic... and you thought of a hard hitting DnB track. You all created music, interpreting "something" in your own way. There is no right or wrong.

J.Ruegg wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2025 05:35 CET

Also, I don't think I'll be able to get this below -14 LUFS, I tried many things and compared to other tunes and, I guess I'll take the hit later with the bonus points unless someone has some suggestions of how to make these kinds of music genres sound good and be in the suggested loudness level.

I don't want to be that guy, but...

Have you thought of maybe just lowering the output volume? Or... if you run into a compressor array (to get the genre typical "glue"), then turn down the output of that array before hitting the final safety limiter? Which in turn also means, more transients for the drums.

Aside from that... maybe "a tad more" kick (sustain?) would be nice. Else, the kick feels a bit "thin" on small speakers. On headphones it is mostly fine. Aggressive side-chaining could work here, also cutting the reese bass/sine bass a bit higher than intended (clearing up the low end). Plus, make the kick "louder" (and then sidechain the bass ever so slightly) so that the main 2-step beat (kick/snare) really cuts through everything.



Great work so far, everyone!
We have 4 entries. I'm curious what else will drop in

Thanks Hincore & Mister Fox for the suggestions.

I was at around -7 LUFS, but after pulling down 6 DBs from the channels into the master channel it went down to -14.1 LUFS, looking at the waveform I seem to have a more "spiky" waveform, as the drums have more transients as MisterFox said.
I usually mixed DnB by focusing on the drums and basses, would duck the bass to the kick & snare or sometimes use a dynamic EQ to just duck on the frequencies of the Kick & Snare, and then to have them as tight as possible use a clipper or something similar, sometimes to mantain equal power across the spectrum use a multiband compressor/expander. last time I got to around -4 LUFS with that and it sounded very thight, more or less on par with the reference tracks I used (although I didn't checked their LUFS, just the overall feeling when A/B).

I still have a long way to go with my track, but I may see how it ends if I keep it below -14 LUFS, which now seems possible, or I may try a more aggresive take on it as an alternative mix just to compare and see if it's worth to aim louder. Thanks guys!

Looks like you just disproved the age-old mantras of "just mix loud" or "genre ABC need a certain loudness" yourself, which IMHO are not true at all. Pull back on loudness, get back more transients and therefore a more enjoyable listening experience. And depending on how you mixed, it can sound just as aggressive.

You can still have a loud or dense/compact mix at -14 LUFS ILk. The trick is how you handle dynamics. And yes, summing glue works just as well at that "low" loudness. Else, outstanding songs/mixes from the 1960 to 1990s would be rendered invalid, no?


In your case... you could have just pulled back the volume after your summing compression. But you actually noticed "wait a minute, if I pull down every track and then threat the material slightly different, I actually get a better sound overall". I would say, you learned a lot today.


Really looking forward to your final mix.


With that said... including today, 04 more days, with currently 04 entries (yes, I already count your WIP entry, J.Ruegg).
I wonder if we see more than 10 entries this month

I'll be participating this month as well! I uploaded my mc102 mix and had some time left to write a song. I will be uploading a version asap, so that would make 5 entries I guess.

Cheers,

Jeroen

SWC090

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i5tql6v0 ... sqnve&dl=0

Last SWC I wrote that I wanted to make more music with real instruments….guitar, vocals etc. So this month I plugged my guitar into my BR80 micro studio (Boss 8-tracker) and recorded in like 10 minutes the guitarparts for this song. The bass part (I played guitar with the BR80 bass simulator) just follows these riffs because instead of a complex basspart I wanted to aim for thickness, high distorted guitarsound + distorded bassamp and more notes would only muddy the mix. I think it did the trick. Then I recorded my vocal also in the BR-80. Just a SM57 directly into the device…nothing fancy. I didn’t want to think to hard about everything….it was all about making music….follow the flow. For the lyrics I looked at the picture and came up with the concept of two persons in a world of destruction….well that is what the first picture reminded me of (I know it is a building under constrution..so actualy the opposite) and the thing is…it could also be about there relationship I like the double meaning of lyrics. And I like it when it is not too obvious what a song is about, so you can give it your own meaning.

I wanted to ask my 13 year old son to play the drumparts (he is an amazing drummer) but unfortunately I didn’t have the time to practice the song with him. So for the drums I programmed MT Powerdrumkit. Sounds great…but the real thing I would have prefered.

Actualy it would have been a nice experiment to do everything on the BR80 including mixing. I think that is possible because there is eq and reverb available. But the process was a bit frustrating on such a small device so I decided to do the mix in Reaper. Maybe next SWC.

I realize the bassguitar is very prominent in the mix, that is intentional, I think the sound is so cool, it should not be burried in the background but stand side by side with the guitars. I high pass filtered the guitars to make room for the bass guitar.

This is how I used to make music when I was a teenager, I had a tascam tape multitracker, a Dr. Rythm drumcomputer and some guitarpedals to record directly into the tapemachine. There was not much room for stacking tracks and punching in was not too easy. Just play the part from beginning to end. If it is not good enought play the whole part again….and the advantage of that is that you got time to learn the part….everytime you make a mistake you start all over again….and after a couple of takes you start playing more fluently and sometimes with more interesting variation.

I hope you enjoy the song as well as I did recording it.

Cheers,

Jeroen.

lyrics: