MIX CHALLENGE - MC055 June 2019 - Winners announced

[EatMe]

I will review all the participants.

Below are reviews for the first 29 participants in my list. I will post more reviews later.

mix by 3ee
** pros: Very nice drum sounds, Vocals treated really well. Solidly glued mix.
** cons: Not much, except maybe the longer delay playing out over the vocals
A very solid entry. Tough competition to begin with. Good listen.

mix by Al B.
** pros: Lots of effect added (much reverb on the vocals and drums and guitar)
** cons: A little muddy mix because of all the reverb, maybe decrease their wet out, maybe a little too much low mid body in the snare
A very treated mix. Lots of changes happened in this edit. Well made, I have enjoyed your mix.

mix by AlexP93
** pros: Maybe a con, maybe a pro, the tape processing gives a unique sound to this mix. The drum solo has a remarkable snare drum sound.
** cons: The drum tape processing makes the mix sound less glued together.
Very much processing has been done to the tracks, which in some points don't make it, but at other points sound good. Quite a good listen.

mix by AlperBilican
** pros: Good use of effects on the guitar and bass tracks.
** cons: A little too much (wet out of) bathroom reverb to be heard.
The reverb on this track is overwhelming and maybe a little too much. There is a good level for each track in the mix. Pretty decent.

mix by AnalogDomain
** pros: The music is mixed very well, and frequencies have been treated to sound optimal.
** cons: The track is drowning in reverb
There is a good overall mix going on in this track, but there is so much reverb on the track! Could have been less reverb, for a good listen.

mix by anto
** pros: Pretty decent mix of guitar, bass and drums.
** cons: The vocals are laying behind their effected room layer.
The vocals are missing clarity in the pronounciation because of a big effected room layer, topping over the vocals. Quite alright, improve by learning.

mix by ArneB
** pros: Very decent guitar treatment.
** cons: Drums may be a little low on level, and the vocal seems a little distorted somewhat here and there.
A pretty solid mix, good to listen to. A little punch from the low level of drums is missing. A very enjoyable mix.

mix by Arthur Labus
** pros: A really warm, solidly glued mix.
** cons: Not really a con, but the drums have gotten a lot of tape processing, beyond the original sound.
A very good mix, a super decent entry. Good work, you can hear the professional approach in this mix.

mix by BentLangerak
** pros: A good mix in levels for each of the tracks.
** cons: A lot of reverb on the vocals make the track a little flooded with reverb.
Pretty decent mix, the listen is pretty alright, but there is a lot of reverb on the vocals, too much perhaps. A good listen.

mix by bluesation
** pros: In this mix a very well made use of the vocals can be found.
** cons: a lot of tracks sound muffled away..
The mix sounds like I have a bunch of cloth over my speaker at some points.. The vocals, however, have been excellently processed and initially mixed. Not too bad, this sounds like an analogue mixing schematic.

mix by canese:
** pros: A very clear mix. Very subtle processing of all frequencies and parts has been done.
** cons: The snare sounds a little out of the mix its sound color.
A quite decent take on the mix. The overall sound sounds a little gated and the mix is not that solid together. Good to hear though, enjoyed.

mix by ChristianLay:
** pros: This mix gives much of the resemblance of an on-stage band.
** cons: The guitar has a lot of mid range and distortion going around in that section.
This mix is a little loud on the ears, but absolutely sounds like a live band is playing. Quite decent.

mix by Clueless
** pros: The bass and guitar have a unique recognizable sound in this mix.
** cons: The mix is not really providing clarity for each track, a lot of overlapping sounds.
This really has that hillbilly guitar track fronted up, a unique take on the project. The mix isn't that magically clear. Pretty alright to listen to.

mix by ColinChilds:
** pros: The guitar tracks have been excellently processed.
** cons: A little too much (additive) equalizing makes certain areas peak, and the mix less naturally sounding.
A good take on the mix, but the equalizing over each track has its effect on the overall sound of the total mix. Still a quite decent listen.

mix by Dave McIsaac
** pros: The drum sounds have a clear punch.
** cons: The mix isn't that tight, the drums sound a little too equalized and in a different sound color than the rest of the mix.
A pretty decent go, although the sound color of each drum track does not really fit in with a total glued mix feel. It does somehow work for the snare drum, and it is still a very comfortable listen.

mix by David Paul Paige
** pros: The drum break sounds really nice.
** cons: a lot of midrange on guitar and vocal makes this track a little hard on the ear, also in combination with the reverb in the vocal section.
This track is a little high in the midrange. As many people making music have done before, please cut the midrange. Smile

mix by dobebon
** pros: A good mix per level of each track.
** cons: A little too much room layered over the vocals.
A decent take on the mix. There is a well glued mix, but there may stil be a little too much echoing / reverb on the vocals. Quite alright.

mix by Dodgingrain
** pros: Very nice subtle delay on the vocals.
** cons: Not such a dynamic mix, all is really on a low / together level.
I had to turn up the volume, this is an alright take with a good sound color. I am yet missing most of the original dynamics. Enjoyed, though.

mix by Drumwizard
** pros: A superb mix. All sounds are glued together very professionally.
** cons: There are some syllables peaking out in the vocals, still.
A very, very good effort made with this mix. Superb sound color, a really good sounding mix. Very enjoyed.

mix by EatMe
** pros: The drums have a sweet set of effect. Well done on the mix.
** cons: I can hear the backing vocal has been treated with some kind of computer. Maybe mix the backing vocals more low.
A very decent take on the mix. Absolutely satisfactionary.

mix by eccentric
** pros: The mix is solid, has a good together 'this is a mix' feel.
** cons: The drums sound a little low and muffled away, especially the snare, at some points.
This mix is pretty decent. Has a well glued-together sound and feels like a finished mix. Well done.

mix by EchoOread fMix
** pros: The drums sound really tape-processed. May be a con, though.
** cons: Not much, except for the tape-processed drums may fall out of the regular band music concept.
Pretty alright mix here. A good sound color and a nice set of levels for each part in the mix, well treated. Enjoyed.

mix by EzekielTiran
** pros: The drums have a good sound color in the mix.
** cons: A lot of tracks in the mix sound mixed oversaturated and a little softly distorted.
This mix has much saturation going on in all the different tracks. A good approach with the mix, pretty good to listen.

mix by Fender19
** pros: Levels are set right for all the elements in the mix.
** cons: A lot of distortion gives this track a little noisy sound color and make it a little hard on the ear.
A decent go, the mix is good, but there is a noisy resemblance in the overall mix. Quite ok.

mix by finnishcharm:
** pros: The automation (especially on the vocals) is done very nicely. The mix is very decent and had a solid, glued finish.
** cons: Not much, really not much to notice here.
This is an excellent take on the mix. A very good sound, a lot of work done on the elements in this track. Top work!

mix by Franklin99
** pros: A very good mix in levels. Very nice overtones brought to the front in the guitar section.
** cons: The track is missing a little body in the low mid, a very "empty" mix in the presence.
A pretty decent mix. With some details that got the right attention. Pretty enjoyed.

mix by Franz
** pros: A good mix in levels for each track. A good sound color on the mix.
** cons: The drums sound too compressed, especially the snare/hihat combination.
A little too much popping going on in the compression. This may be due to (too) short release times on the compressor(s). Get the compression release longer, so that the mix does not pump that much. Still a good listen.

mix by gloukin
** pros: A very well treated guitar section. A good sound color in the overall mix.
** cons: The drums sound like they are seperated from the rest of the track. The mix is a little broad in solidness.
Pretty good sounding take on the mix. Although everything still sounds a little seperated from each other. This may be solved with groups of tracks / sum track equalizing and other effects. A good listen.

mix by Green-Dog
** pros: A good clear mix.
** cons: There is a little much reverb on the vocals.
The mix is good in levels and setting, all together in the settlement of tracks. The reverb on the vocals is a little overwhelming at some points. Good approach, though, pretty okay.

I will return later with more reviewing work. Woohoo!
Thanks everybody for participating.

[3ee]

mix by 3ee
** pros: Very nice drum sounds, Vocals treated really well. Solidly glued mix.
** cons: Not much, except maybe the longer delay playing out over the vocals
A very solid entry. Tough competition to begin with. Good listen.

thanks!
about the vocal delay... it's only present in the chorus (and pre-chorus to some extent with automation)
The mix needed that extra "push" and other things I've tried, like longer reverbs didn't quite work...

I took care to filter, contain the stereo image and side-chain compress the delay not to get in the way. Is it that bad? or ... maybe the delay level kinda tricked you into thinking it's louder because of when the vocal was not singing due to the ducking effect. Maybe something else is crowding the mix.. but what?

[Clueless]

mix by Clueless
** pros: The bass and guitar have a unique recognizable sound in this mix.
** cons: The mix is not really providing clarity for each track, a lot of overlapping sounds.
This really has that hillbilly guitar track fronted up, a unique take on the project. The mix isn't that magically clear. Pretty alright to listen to.

Many thanks Eatme for the feedback, I still have a lot to learn in terms of process.
Hillbilly

[EatMe]

More reviewing on its way:
The first 29 participants are reviewed in this post.
Below are the next 9, review 30 to 38 of 79.

mix by iMax
** pros: A really good punch in the drums. A solid glued mix, overall everything blends in together rock solid.
** cons: The compression is pumping a little too much on the toms in the drum break. Not much other cons.
A very good work shown in this mix. Good expressive drum section and well mixed. Very well done! Enjoyed a lot.

mix by jeffsoloband
** pros: The drum roll of snares in the drum break is great.
** cons: The snare sounds really different (a little dull). The mix sounds distorted and is missing clarity.
I'm not a fan of the distorted mix, as most tracks in this mix seem to have distortion. This requires a lot of filtering and equalizing after the distortion, normally, to only let a part of the range sparkle. Thanks for the effort.

mix by Jerze:
** pros: The right sound on each track and on the overall mix.
** cons: The vocals have a tad too much bath room effect on them, still this is a good track.
This is a very good mix. Very well done! Although a little too much of reverb is present on the vocals. Good to listen.

mix by Jesco:
** pros: A very solidly glued together final mix.
** cons: A little too much reverb (maybe) on the vocals.
A very fine mix. Great effort. Maybe a little too much reverb on the (backing?) vocals.

mix by Jonssin Musiikki
** pros: Very good effect work on the guitar sections.
** cons: The drums sound really flattened by their compression and are a little broad in sound color out of the mix. The vocals are hard to hear.
Quite alright, although the drums really plop and pop a lot out of the mix, and the vocals reside at lower volume. Pretty okay to listen.

mix by JulienMeirone
** pros: Good mixing and effecting on the drums, the guitar and the vocals.
** cons: A little too much low mid body in the snare and kick drum and toms, although it can do..
A very decent mix. The little too much low mid tracks may be a matter of taste to some likings. Very enjoyed.

mix by JUNE SSIX
** pros: Punchy kick drum.
** cons: The vocals are "a little alone" in the mix, misses a glued solid mix feel. The drum break is at really low volume.
Overall pretty decent sound, the together formed mix is not that much of a 'this is a mix' feel. Pretty alright to listen.

mix by Kirurg
** pros: A very well processed set of tracks. A well balanced mix in volume levels.
** cons: Maybe the guitar is mixed in a little loud at the midrange. Although it can do.
A well made mix of the tune. There has been made a lot of effort to make this mix sound very alright.

mix by loupi
** pros: May be a con, the drums sound really tape-processed. The other sounds as well.
** cons: Not really a con, perhaps a little off for a pop rock song to use so much tape saturation.
Overall an alright mix. Good set of levels in the overall mix. Not bad, pretty enjoyed.

[EatMe]

mix by Clueless
** pros: The bass and guitar have a unique recognizable sound in this mix.
** cons: The mix is not really providing clarity for each track, a lot of overlapping sounds.
This really has that hillbilly guitar track fronted up, a unique take on the project. The mix isn't that magically clear. Pretty alright to listen to.

Many thanks Eatme for the feedback, I still have a lot to learn in terms of process.
Hillbilly

For a good mix, give each track a place in their frequency ranges:
- high pass everything at a medium low frequency when that sound has no needed low and just rumbles
- low pass everything that has too much high at a high frequency so that the noise range is cut off
- equalize (best substractive) on sound accent region (bass, low mid (whooooommm presence, 300-850Hz), loud hearable mid (1000-3000Hz), sparkle (5000 or 8000 Hz), top high)
- move different ranges per track more fronted in volume per frequency range per track

[Clueless]

For a good mix, give each track a place in their frequency ranges:

Thanks, for the info, I'll try and do a better mix next month
Edit
Also I would like to comment on your track but I have problems with mega, both DL and listen back on chrome or Firefox

[loupi]

thx for your feedback eatme. i agree with the drums being a little too saturated and actually a little too boomy. the idea was to go for a more rockmix than pop. i left the poppy topend for the vocals.
i'll return the favor: your balance is quite good. your mix sound nicely in control. drums sound maybe a bit a cartboardboxy to me. i miss the guitars in the verses and feel they could be a little more present in the prechorus/chorus. maybe spreading them out a little could have made them stand out easier. great basssound!

[White Punk OD]

meanwhile, a short one,
I very much liked the contributions from Japan and India, quite a different, and entertaining perspective each.
...
A few mixes sound great and very perfect and professional. I would be eager to learn how it was done.
...
Some other mixes have excellent instrumental work and depth, but I am shocked about the horrible LF hum and other artifacts, that they could not get rid of, and it's really a show breaker.
Some mixes created quite a nice vocal sound with suitable effect, but how could it be they produce drop-outs like a dirty and broken tape machine, and this is the lead track?
...
The higher we reach for brilliant modern vocal sound, the more certain artifacts and inconsistencies become audible, it really becomes a trade-off or cat-and-mouse hunt.
I was lucky to catch that Subspace reverb (which is broken itself but I don't care for now) and it fills some holes quite smoothly.
(Since the upload, I found ways to reduce even more artifacts, and found another DeEsser that makes the vocals sound a bit rounder.)
...
Some mixes had brilliant ideas about all kinds of effect, but the poison is in the dosage. It is easy to overdo something that we suddenly discover, and it takes a lot of discipline. The main question is always: "why at all?" It must come so naturally, that we think this song is entertaining, without noticing any distracting detail.
3ee - I love that effect, which starts the drum solo! but some cave echoes between some song segments seemed a bit much, and also some other freeze-like sounds that were kind of hanging out. First voc verse is a bit boomy. Still one of my favs.
Another fav is Satoshi-san. A hell of a great snare sound, pristine vocals, huge dynamics and beautiful flow.
...
It is not really a rock song, though we have distorted guitars and drums hitting hard. Therefor, I found some mixes did put the vocals way too low in the balance. At least for me, best usage is radio pop with vocals upfront. This, a wider audience probably would love a lot!
...
Drums for this genre need not sound too natural (though it's a good thing when they do), but can be any sound that supports the song, and has a suitable spectrum of frequencies that maintain energy and groove. My choice was to make the drum sound a bit more contemporary and artificial, not snappy at all, but maintain some 3D.

[anto]

mix by anto
** pros: Pretty decent mix of guitar, bass and drums.
** cons: The vocals are laying behind their effected room layer.
The vocals are missing clarity in the pronounciation because of a big effected room layer, topping over the vocals. Quite alright, improve by learning.

Thanks for the feedback EatMe.
Just out of curiosity, did you level match the submissions before critiquing them? If not, I would recommend doing so.
Your opinions may change somewhat, particularly with mixes that have a large dynamic range.

Given that this felt like more of a rock song than a pop one, I wanted to get the feeling of a band performing in the same space.
So I used a short ambient reverb (RT 0.5 s) and a short time-synced delay and adjusted the levels of the sends from various tracks to these "ambient" reverbs + delays to help do this. The consequence of doing this is that the vocals don't sound so dry or upfront.

Just to clarify, this is a conscious stylistic choice, not a case of keeping or emphasizing the "room sound" of the original recorded vocals.
(For this "de-verbing" task, I used TDR Proximity, a SPL Transient designer and TDR Nova to de-resonate the vocals to make the original recordings, recorded in different spaces (and times?), sound more similar).
For the drums though, I tried to preserve more of the "room" sound (e.g. the overheads and room mics) and match them with the "ambient" reverb.

Typically in rock songs, the lead vocals are sitting a bit further back in the mix (e.g. Green Day, Garbage) and have a lot of compression applied.
In my mix, the vocals were level automated and there's parallel compression too (1176 (ratio 2:1, 3-5 db GR) + LA2A (1-2 dB GR) chained.
There's also some short delays on the vocals too that are used to thicken up her voice and some distortion (UAD 610B) applied to the lead vocals to add some "grit" and power in some places.

Getting the vocal to sit just right can be quite a pain: too loud and the rest of the band can sound small, too soft and the vocal gets inevitably buried.
Maybe there are are some adjustments to be made but I'm not too concerned about where the ended up, given the direction that I wanted to head.

I'd also be quite interested in hearing the opinions of others and in particular, identifying the problems that they encountered and/or spent a lot of time on for this mix?
(Although this is a competition and it's tempting to keep your cards close to your chest before the Round 1 finalists are decided by the client, I think increased transparency would also help us all learn more from the experience )

Cheers,
Anto

[EatMe]

For a good mix, give each track a place in their frequency ranges:

Also I would like to comment on your track but I have problems with mega, both DL and listen back on chrome or Firefox

The download is working fine here. For the download in Chrome: Allow to store files. What problem are you having in Chrome? The preview is not completely working.

thx for your feedback eatme. i agree with the drums being a little too saturated and actually a little too boomy. the idea was to go for a more rockmix than pop. i left the poppy topend for the vocals.
i'll return the favor: your balance is quite good. your mix sound nicely in control. drums sound maybe a bit a cartboardboxy to me. i miss the guitars in the verses and feel they could be a little more present in the prechorus/chorus. maybe spreading them out a little could have made them stand out easier. great basssound!

Thank you too!
The drum sound in my own mix is pretty much done on purpose, provided what I had to mix with. The guitars are indeed more low per volume in the mix to make room for the vocals and to let it remain pop/rock music. They could have done with spreading (or chorus), although this sometimes sounds too much attention holding in the mid in a mix for me, bringing the total span of the mix to the guitar too much. I used a High Pass Filter to cut their bass a little and gave them a little more punch per compression.