Mix Challenge

More reviews below and coming soon..
The first 29 participants are reviewed in this post.
The next 9 in this post.
The next 13 in this post.
The next 9 reviews (60/79 reviews so far) are here:

mix by Optoslam
** pros: The drums are handled really well in this mix. The levels sit right for each part. A good mix.
** cons: Not much cons to notice in this mix, except maybe for a little fall-out in levels in the drum break.
A very well made mix. Well made, everything is just right. There is just a little loss of sound in the drum break. A very enjoyable listen!

mix by Florian Walther (Overflo)
** pros: A lot of effect on all seperate parts. A lot of work has been done to create this pretty balanced mix.
** cons: The flanger at the end of the drum break is questionable.
A good mix, a lot of work done on seperate parts. A really good overall sound in this mix. Listening was very enjoyable.

mix by paperthin
** pros: A good together sounding glued mix. Nice faded-in-reversed effect at the end of the drum break.
** cons: Some sounds are a little oversaturated in the mix. This works less good for the clarity of each part.
This is a good mix, has a, like many of the others, very good sounding composition of all parts. Good to listen!

mix by PaulArmbruster
** pros: Everything sits right in this mix, per sound color and per level. An excellent mix.
** cons: Not much cons about this mix, maybe the compression on the toms is a bit much in the drum break, but it can do.
Very professional mix is delivered here. Very good together sounding mixed parts. Another very enjoyable listen.

mix by Philip Lutz (Disco Stu)
** pros: The clarity of all sounds in this mix is good.
** cons: The sound color of this mix hangs a lot around an oversaturated loud midrange. A little hard on the ears.
This mix isn't too bad, but has a lot of (oversaturated) loud mid. The sound color of the mix is a little hard on the ears. Quite alright to listen.

mix by philk
** pros: A good balanced mix, everything part fits right in the mix. A good together sounding glued mix.
** cons: Drum triggering? Could be... The guitar maybe stands out of the mix a little much.
A very good mix, here, but the drum triggering used may be beyond the use scope of this contest.. Still a very good to listen mix.

mix by Photonic
** pros: The mix overall sounds pretty good!
** cons: Maybe a little too much compression after reverb on the snare.. The guitar sounds a little too fronted in the mix.
This mix is pretty well done, though the guitar still is a little much fronted in the mix. Overall a good to listen mix.

mix by Psymfonius
** pros: The drums sound handled really well in this mix. The drum break sounds really nice.
** cons: This mix is not that solidly glued together, a lot of sounds still sound a little individual.. Maybe because of all the diffent room/reverb going on.
Another quite good mix, although I'm missing where the sounds are linked together to one solidly glued 'together mix' feel. Still an enjoyable listen.

mix by QuentinHenry
** pros: The guitars are handled really well in this mix.
** cons: Levels are not that optimally balanced, and the vocals stand out too much in this mix, and have some kind of weird echo/delay/double on them that makes them sound less natural, a little nasal.
This mix isn't that glued together, still missing that solid 'this is a mix' idea, missing the right levels for some parts. Quite alright to listen.

More reviews coming soon...

I start off this post with a standing ovation to EatMe. What an amazing feat, incredible.

---
Next, the regular defence speach to my mix critique. Thanks for the mixnotes EatMe, the dropoff (in impact?) to the drumsolo, I didn´t think it dropped off that big, it did start off quite mellow played so... didn´t bother me enough to be adressed in the short time I had left. I did replace the last hits in the drumsolo with the same figure played later in the song. That one had some more force to it. Maybe the drummer was exhausted just at the end of the solo?

I started way back with some gainstaging, busing, organizing... forgot about it and got to it like 99 minutes before deadline. Just skipped all remaining tedious bs and ran through it, it´s now a bit of a mess:D

Since upload I have found things to fix, some I already have fixed and some that are waiting to be fixed. Don´t think I will put more effort to it without a second round or more important, being able to use the mix in my portfolio.
---

---
Now to the part that most skip, returning the favor.

EatMe
Drum sound, not enough meat. Expected them to expand as an effect somewhere in the song but no:( more deessing needed, guitars too low or lead too loud, b-vox too loud, especially the soprano.
---

---
Next I thought of commenting to those that had commented on others but couldn´t find any, sorry if I missed your comment. So I picked a handful at random, just typing as I listen so not that in depth.


WhitePunkOD
Kick farts a little, deessing is needed, audible distortion (if intended = not enough, if not intended = too much) , nice delay on prechorus, drum solo too much distortion/saturation. Nice balance between tracks, I cut down a bit on the highest b-vox, sounded too religious to me.

3ee
Nice drums, theres is an anoying resonance somewhere low mid. Nice spacing a tad too much for me, too much delays, good balance between tracks. Nice idea in to the drum solo, great mix minus some delays. the winner? p.s how´s those eggs cookin´?

Mork
Nice kick, snare good but not good enough for the kick. Very good balance, bass could be better, remember, standards is pretty high in this mix. A nice one, should come to round 2 i think.

davemcisac
nice smack in kick, too much saturation on snare or... its too obvious, lead comes in sounding dull, too distorted guitars, kick bass balance can be worked on. It feels like something is missing in the midlows and the highs. Kick seem the most fronted of all elements. Biggest advice here is to reference more, you have a reference plugin?

arthur labus
mix pumps and ducks, I would like the vocals slightly louder, mix feels a bit dull or bottom heavy, slightly loud kick, loud b-vox (to lead). didn´t like the choice of leadvox reverb.
---

---
Main suggestion is... reference, reference and reference. You don´t need a reference plugin, it helps but not neccessary. Wich one to choose. Not MagicAB. It´s not bad but i doubt it will get any more updates. MetricAB is the MagicAB 3.0. Unfortunately it´s rather pricey and rarely on sale, $49 is the lowest price i´ve seen.
Melda mcompare has some really nice extra features if you can cope with the GUI. On sale from time to time.
Reference from mastering the mix is the one I havn´t tried. I´ll get it when i see it on a decent sale.
---

---
I will do my best in returning any mix critique. Once again, standing ovation to EatMe

@Mange, thanks a lot,
you mean distortion in vocals? I happened to hit the Waves Valve a bit hot (it is absent for the first verse, which uses a different saturator), it's a capricious gadget, and then it got printed, but I should probably revisit. deessing under way, but I believe the sibilance needs also a little sound correction, so it becomes a matter of communication with the client. I am experimenting with setting the deessing work frequency quite high. then it reduces also the artifacts from the distortion.
I see the kick issue, but also I tried to mimick the sound of some mainstream pop productions in the German language space, where the kick sounds more like a wet parcel-box. never to get in the way of anything else, but give a non-neglectible thump.
personally, a stand-alone drum sound that fulfills highest standards tells me very little in context of this song, it just hijacks, so I simply decided to pervert it. like the solarized color games in pop-art graphics. (which I would use for the music video at the same point.) I will back down this a bit.

...
I like your mix a lot, and can return the pleasure of very good balances. you seem very fast. I took days.
for the intro, the drum reverb sounds long. it should end its tail already when the next drum hit appears (like the school is always telling).
drum sounds do compete the power of the vocals, which are clean and clear. if both carefully get stronger mid-range, this will discipline and narrow down the wide drums, and help the vocals.
first verse might still have a tad of artifacts or inconsistencies. very little, but maybe it distracts after listening many times. also, a possible glitch with a slap echo, but these issues can become a matter of taste and how much of "organic" stuff is still welcome.
bg voc yes, agree.
...
mastering this production might bear a surprise. of course depends on the engineer. DIY is easily ruining dynamics and balances.
(Zino in Berlin might be perfect)

how much editing that affects the music, is allowed?
I did none, and no samples, but a couple of other tricks.

Hi EatMe ! Thanks for the time you spent reviewing every one of our mixes, that's huge work and we all appreciate that.
About that muffled drums and bass of mine: I was trying a kind of top-down approach for the song (bussmixes first followed by individual track processing...). Looks like I forgot some detailed EQ work on the low-end during that process. Thanks for pointing that out !

White Punk OD wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 24, 2019 21:27 CEST

how much editing that affects the music, is allowed?
I did none, and no samples, but a couple of other tricks.

Ultimately, the song provider decides. You just have to go with your gut feeling and what our virtual client says in the "words by".





Let me please point out one important thing for everyone:

I appreciate the feedback given by users towards other users. This is what the community has been asking about for years, and I do appreciate the interaction.

However let me make clear that EatMe is not(!) this month's client. That is fajebru.

So unless the song provider comments on the 10 mixes he thinks that can go into Round 2, it is broad feedback from user to user. Not actual feedback that qualifies you (the participant, plural) to adjust a production for Round 2. I am sorry for this small inconvenience.

White Punk OD wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 23, 2019 01:53 CEST

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.
...

thanks!

yeah, on 2nd thought the delays can be a bit more subtle than they are... if I'll make it in the 2nd round will have a closer look at that 1st verse vocal too, will check for boomyness.. not sure on what the "freeze-like" sounds are.. maybe the delays on the mute gtr?

Mange wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 24, 2019 18:02 CEST

3ee
Nice drums, theres is an anoying resonance somewhere low mid. Nice spacing a tad too much for me, too much delays, good balance between tracks. Nice idea in to the drum solo, great mix minus some delays. the winner? p.s how´s those eggs cookin´?

about the low resonance on drums... it may be, I remember cutting on quite a bit of tracks in that area and maybe it's not enough or missed some... it seemed like some room modes or sympathetic vibration from other drums.. there was one very close to the snare's fundamental IIRC.

"nice spacing" ... do you mean the stereo image in general or the overall ambiance (reverb/delay/space) ?
Yeah some delay/reverb throws can be a bit too noticeable, can hide them a bit more.

MunroSonic Egg 150? ... they are pretty good I guess (definitely about two tiers over what I had before which were the Yamaha HS-80m ) .... been using them for a few years with no problems. They seem a tiny bit lacking in the very low end (under say: 40-50 Hz even though they are spec'ed at -|+ 3 dB down to 45Hz IIRC ) which isn't much of a surprise given the 6.5 inch woofer and the box isn't made to resonate much... it's good in a way cause the low-mid clarity would have suffered if the sub would have been more force I guess. Very nice clarity over the freq range, good neutral character... other than the sound, the hardware could have been better QC'd, some pots don't have full range, meaning the L/R balance is very off to the extremes, the L/R balance for the aux input is a bit off, the headphone amp could have been better in the lows... stuff like that

3ee
I see I typed some jidderish. Was probably talking about reverb but delays got out of hand. Got a bit quick just typing as I was listening.

Eggs, I too was over at crowdaudio RIP when you won them. Sad too hear about the bad knobs.

Thank you Eatme for the feedback! Also, thank you for going through reviewing everybody's submissions! Let me return the favor and give some feedback to others.

Franz: I really love the vibe of your mix. You and me made a lot of similar balance choices! One thing I would like is a bit more high end bite on the guitars during the chorus.

Mange: Love the kick and snare on your mix. Super punchy and great balance on them. Some parts the vocal stands out a bit too much maybe. Could use some spacial effects/compression to blend it in more maybe.

EatMe: Really interesting processing on the snare! I like it and I think it makes your mix really stand out. The lead vocal is balanced perfectly. One thing I might look at is lowering background vocals just a tiny bit and adding some more spatial effects to the background vocals when the come in.