Mix Challenge

Hi Rawkinon,
glad that you like what i did. After the drums and guitars were done the mix was a breeze. Thanx for that, liked the song.
You felt the same as i did. I do mix with a clipper/limiter combo on the bus. Hardly anyone listens to a mix today, you need
to bring the level up. Without that combo it changes the ballance a bit. I bumped the vocals up a dB and take care of two spots
where they need some extra level.
I would like some more glue too. Within the given -16LU there is not much room. I did it, but with some kind of mastering it will
come as a sideeffect.

cheers, tippy

https://c.gmx.net/@317237882228053658/_ ... BkeBCzty5A

Hey @Rawkinron Thanks for the opportunity to expand on the mix for round 2.
I read your initial feedback and intend to have that revised by mid-week. I will go back and tweak all vocal tracks, but are there more specific sections of this you would like to see addressed? Is it primarily lead, backgrounds, or both? Any additional feedback on this is appreciated.

Besides vocal levels, is there anything you would like to see improved and/or tweaked?

Thanks in advance.

LnMStudio wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 13:33 CET

Thank you for the opportunity to mix INFERNO, If you ever have a minute I would love some feedback. Are we allowed to use our version on SoundCloud even though we are out?

GOOD LUCK to everyone in Round 2!!!

As long as you say the bands name, that your version is not the official mix and it's your own version of it go nuts

tiptoe3 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 14:30 CET

Hi Rawkinon,
glad that you like what i did. After the drums and guitars were done the mix was a breeze. Thanx for that, liked the song.
You felt the same as i did. I do mix with a clipper/limiter combo on the bus. Hardly anyone listens to a mix today, you need
to bring the level up. Without that combo it changes the ballance a bit. I bumped the vocals up a dB and take care of two spots
where they need some extra level.
I would like some more glue too. Within the given -16LU there is not much room. I did it, but with some kind of mastering it will
come as a sideeffect.

cheers, tippy

https://c.gmx.net/@317237882228053658/_ ... BkeBCzty5A

Thanks Tippy, I will take that all into consideration for round two

itsmorefuntocompute wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 17:26 CET

Hey @Rawkinron Thanks for the opportunity to expand on the mix for round 2.
I read your initial feedback and intend to have that revised by mid-week. I will go back and tweak all vocal tracks, but are there more specific sections of this you would like to see addressed? Is it primarily lead, backgrounds, or both? Any additional feedback on this is appreciated.

Besides vocal levels, is there anything you would like to see improved and/or tweaked?

Thanks in advance.

No just the vocals. After the first verse they fall back into the mix. Both backups and main vocal. When it gets into the end of the song the main vocal seems to come back forward but the backups sound sound like they stay back. Other than that you have a solid mix. Make the vocals sound like they do at the beginning of the song and like I say you'll have a great sounding mix.

m_tree wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 16, 2023 13:54 CET

@Rawkinron
I know the main point is always taste - presupposed a certain (technical) quality of the mix, of course. And that's fine!

But I think there're some misunderstandings here. A 'capture of the original mix' would rather be a mastering of the original mix than a stand-alone mix from scratch with the rough multitrack (which includes DI-tracks as well). With a 'capture of the original mix' it wouldn't be possible to be creative at all.

Anyway ... thanks for the opportunity again and good luck to all R2 participants.

By saying capture of the original mix all I meant was it sounded close to the original mix. for going into round two all I was asking was to add your own flavour to it but still keeping the original vibe. Add something unique like some others have done who are heading into round two. You all have great mixes so what's going to stand out and take the competition are the mixes that made the song sound even better than the original moving forward. as mentioned before there was some miscommunication about what this site was about so anyone who wants extensive feedback please just send me a private message and tonight I will send the feedback as soon as possible.

Hmm. I think the most creative approach is to create an own mix according to taste from scratch (like I did). You wrote by yourself in the description 'The songs were mixed by me while I was finishing off my mixing course.' and there're actually some obvious mixing-mistakes like the distorting right channel on bassdrum-kicks.

I think 'capturing the original mix' and to be creative is contradictory. Just my opinion.
I'm not interested in feedback after I've read your feedback for the R2 mixes.

m_tree wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 17, 2023 15:17 CET

Hmm. I think the most creative approach is to create an own mix according to taste from scratch (like I did). You wrote by yourself in the description 'The songs were mixed by me while I was finishing off my mixing course.' and there're actually some obvious mixing-mistakes like the distorting right channel on bassdrum-kicks.

I think 'capturing the original mix' and to be creative is contradictory. Just my opinion.
I'm not interested in feedback after I've read your feedback for the R2 mixes.

I think what the song provider meant by capturing the original mix and being creative simply means - try to bring creative ideas into the music as much as you can while preserving the essence of the original. While it may seem contradictory, these have been the instructions for most of the mix challenges I've done here over the last 9 months. I believe that in music the artists often want this. They definitely don't want to 'lose their song', but they want it to be somehow enhanced/stretched to the limits of it's potential. It's difficult to communicate in words about music because words will never be accurate enough.

In learning about mixing, there is a vast amount of skill required, it is not to be underestimated. I've been trying to learn this for over 5 years now and it's been a series of rude awakenings frankly. I have to keep facing that my ears are not well trained enough yet to hear all the aspects and my knowledge of the processing is still inadequate. It is standard to make mistakes as you try to keep many new ideas in your head all at once. My advice is to focus on the next task, always dislike what you've done previously and work on what is wrong. Else I imagine you could be swimming in the mud indefinitely.

I wish I had more time for my mix (18 month old baby issues!) but I will do my best.

Cheers guys and don't forget we need new material for the mix challenge to be submitted urgently!

scottfitz wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 17, 2023 16:29 CET

In learning about mixing, there is a vast amount of skill required, it is not to be underestimated. I've been trying to learn this for over 5 years now and it's been a series of rude awakenings frankly. I have to keep facing that my ears are not well trained enough yet to hear all the aspects and my knowledge of the processing is still inadequate.

I know. I started learning and practicing mixing and mastering 10 years ago and began to be happy with my results not till 5 years ago. Then I began to do this semi-professional occasionally for clients. Over the last years I focused more on my career as a drummer (and drum teacher). But learned a lot about recording and mixing drums (and the importance of a good drums sound itself) on the other hand.

It is standard to make mistakes as you try to keep many new ideas in your head all at once. My advice is to focus on the next task, always dislike what you've done previously and work on what is wrong. Else I imagine you could be swimming in the mud indefinitely.

Yep ... I always want to improve my results. I see mix-challenge more as a mirror for my current experience level.
But especially at such artistic activities you should never forget yourself and remember that this is also a competitive business like many others.

They definitely don't want to 'lose their song', but they want it to be somehow enhanced/stretched to the limits of it's potential. It's difficult to communicate in words about music because words will never be accurate enough.

Separate from personal and artistic aspects (does a collaboration really fit and is productive?) I think both a good communication and clear allocation of tasks is key. And I think the best way is a balance between guidelines by the artist / producer and space for own strategies and ideas for the mixer.
And, for example, if an instrument doesn't sound as desired and should be altered in some way, this should be communicated clearly. Otherwise I expect that the rough multitrack is the result of sound design in a setting like this. E.g. the drum room here.

I'll once more step in for a minute, before things go more out of hand.


The main focus of the Mixing Challenge is getting inspired by the original mix, understand the "vibe", then build upon it with your own style of mixing. This has been the case since the game started in 2014, and it will continue to be the case in the months going forward. The idea is to find "a new spin on things" (especially on already released material). Based upon that spin, the "client" (our Song Provider) then decides "this is good, only some little fairy dust left", or "I like the ideas so far, but this could be adjusted further" or "this is too much, sorry... you sadly won't make it to Round 2".

Unlike other games out there, getting feedback and a second or in cases even third mixing round is a core mechanic of this particular competition (we are simulating a client to business scenario after all). Unfortunately, due to the nature of the game, feedback for everyone is not possible. Those that didn't make it into Mix Round 2, can kindly ask for feedback. But as the rules clearly state, the "client" is not under any obligation to do so for participants outside the follow-up round. Just as a heads up.

Communication and "interpretation" of rules/game mechanics/what has been said/what needs to be done has always been an issue, I admit that. This is why I insist to have extensive documentation and a road map from Song Providers as well -- to have a properly set stage for everyone. However, there is not much more room other than asking you folks to "interact" as much as you can. This is the learning aspect not only for the game, but also for the real world. Then based upon that, find a groove to either push yourself further, or dial back things as needed (if you've made it to Mix Round 2).

If there is any other miscommunication, this is on my end (I didn't do enough setup wise) and I will do better in the future.
Apologies for the inconvenience.



With that said, can we please focus on Mix Round 2 again?
...which still runs for a little more than 3 days.

Thank you