MIX CHALLENGE - MC053 April 2019 - Winners announced

[kevin gobin]

[Mister Fox]

Hi everyone,


For those following the statistics, I've finally managed to update them.
Please feel free to correct me if I missed an entry. Please also take note of the new, more easier to read format.


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 51 submissions (minus 5 entries) this month. That is 10 submissions more than last month and 29 entries more compared to last year
• We have 1 user that redacted his entry (Clueless?)
• We have 4 submission after the deadline (okayzon, GB Real, Lewsshwa Music, logan07)
• We had 0 submissions through SoundCloud only
• I had to address the Rules and Guidelines 1 time(s)

The corresponding pages/threads that list similar stats have been updated

[stu b]

Morelia, please skip this post! I don’t want my commentary to skew your vision in any way. Thank you!



stu b: Great balance! All the instruments are where I like them to be, and the bass is something quite special. I notice that you chose not to have a single singer in front like most of us, but went for a choir. It didn’t occur to me before but the song is actually about US, not ME (“we fly”, “we don’t care for anything you do” and so on), so it’s kinda clever. That being said, watch out for those Ss. Like Tony Maserati says – we only need one S if they’re in time, so you could get away with some heavy-handed de-essing on most vocal tracks. And watch out for the solo as well lest it flies off. It’s not as drastic in your mix as in some of the others’ but just a cautionary note.

Hey paperthin, thanks a lot for the feedback, really appreciate it. tbh, didn't really do the multiple vocs for any other reason except I was just a little confused by the amount of them so stuck them all in, then re-balanced on morelia's advice. Glad you thought the mix was ok, and happy you mentioned the bass, an instrument I always struggle with thanks.
Returning the favour.....
Only listened to the R2 version of your mix and gotta say I thought it was really impressive, in all honesty I can't think of anything to critique negatively, and coming from a nit picker like me I hope you take that as a compliment, and I wouldn't be shy about mentioned something that I didn't like, even though I don't know what I'm talking about. Really like the drums in particular and how you dealt with the ghost notes, actually think you've improved the feel, [tried to do something similar myself] the kit sounds nice and meaty. Enjoyed all your little creative effects and edits too. Tonally and balance wise I think you got it all spot on, nice bottom end and no harshness up top. And nice work on the de-esser! So yeah, really good stuff, kept thinking of a 70's version of QOTSA. [Hope that's ok]. Cheers, Stu.

And morelia, hope you're ok, when Mister Fox mentioned health issues I figured it was the flu or something, was unaware of the surgery. Get well soon mate.

[paperthin]

Hi Stu, happy to be helpful! I was beginning to think that post of mine was a bad idea.

Thank you for the flattering feedback too, I'm humbled. I've been told before that my mixes sound a bit old school, still unsure how I feel about that haha.
Let's keep that feedback exchange going, I believe it's the only way to get better at something (apart from practice of course). Cheers!

[Jerze]

playing catch up Hope Morelia is feeling better so get well soon.

Hey Paperthin my apologies for not seeing your comment R-2 mix sooner its been busy . I need to get back and start commenting again I learned a lot from listening to other people’s mixes.

O, and no it wasn’t a bad idea to comment on the other mixes more of use need to do that GREAT JOB!

AS for my mix, you are right about the vocal ending lines something I need to work on more. I liked the things you did with the vocal ending in your mix more on that later. The lead GT FX sound was from Plug and mix ls-Rotator plugin I just used a preset and adjusted to taste I do also like how that turned out.

Paperthin Mix-I like the overall sound of the mix. The vocals have a lot of cool Fx on the end of the lines might be a bit much at times, but some great ideas. The lead GT sounds good I would have liked to hear some type of FX on it just to fill it out in the mix some. The vocal blend was the challenging part of the mix and where the biggest decisions were made. Though, you chose to down play the other parts at certain times which works, but to me his main vocal needed those additional Bg to cover something up or lacking in the main vocal part/ melody. Your mix sounds good balance, gt tones, drums and bass.

Good luck , looking forward to hearing more mixes so see you at mix Mc054 !

[paperthin]

AS for my mix, you are right about the vocal ending lines something I need to work on more. I liked the things you did with the vocal ending in your mix more on that later. The lead GT FX sound was from Plug and mix ls-Rotator plugin I just used a preset and adjusted to taste I do also like how that turned out.

Paperthin Mix-I like the overall sound of the mix. The vocals have a lot of cool Fx on the end of the lines might be a bit much at times, but some great ideas. The lead GT sounds good I would have liked to hear some type of FX on it just to fill it out in the mix some. The vocal blend was the challenging part of the mix and where the biggest decisions were made. Though, you chose to down play the other parts at certain times which works, but to me his main vocal needed those additional Bg to cover something up or lacking in the main vocal part/ melody. Your mix sounds good balance, gt tones, drums and bass.

Good luck , looking forward to hearing more mixes so see you at mix Mc054 !

Thanks for the reply, Jerze! I love to see ideas flowing.

Honestly, I think we all felt that the song needed some more interesting elements, and some of us used effects on the solo, others comped the vocals in a specific way, or added too many unnecessary delay effects (that last one would be me). Personally I'm still searching where the role of the artist ends and that of the mix engineer begins, for example, the gtr solo is the tricky bit for me. As a guitar player, I always felt fully responsible for my tone and effects, and if the sound guy added some cheesy chorus or vibrato behind my back, I'd be furious. So I didn't mess with the tones much

Hope it's been helpful. As for MC054, I already submitted my mix, so be my guest Cheers!

[morelia]

Hi all, just wanted to pop in to say I'm alive and I'm close to announcing the top 3. I can only say I was completely unprepared for the experience I just went through so apologies for holding things up. Still not 100% but what better thing for a frail old man to do than evaluate rock mixes.

I've been back and forth between the 3 different sets of speakers in this house. PA, studio monitors, and portable wireless varieties. 10 songs reluctantly became six, six became 4. Then the real battle began. I felt like there was a clear winner but after listening to 4 great mixes over and over it got really tough. Anyway, somehow I had to tear one of my favourites out of the top 3. That was tough as it was one of my firm favourites right from the beginning. Essentially I've come to the conclusion that once I am happy with the vocal, the best I can do is focus on the best mix overall. So now I have the top 3, all with vocals I like, and they all have so much going for them. I intend to have a break and then check them again in a few hours. It's really not easy. There were so many mixes that sound wonderful that I can't really fault them technically.

To be continued, shortly, I hope.

[morelia]

First off, as I've said before, this has been really tough. Although there are mixes that just didn't do what I was after, there were so many that were in a similar ballpark to the top 10. The top ten took as much listening as all songs put together. If you are anything like me a mix is not a short or easy undertaking and even if it is you have still invested time and I want to thank you all for that. I don't get much feedback or audience for my music so just the fact that 56 (or thereabouts) people were interested enough to want to make the song better makes me very grateful. Thanks to everyone.

Now, straight to it.

I have been listening to the top 3 for a couple of hours now and it is so hard to separate them. My decision making process went like this. If I don't like the vocal I can't enjoy the song. So it's no surprise that the top 3 have what I consider the best vocal tracks, looking mainly at the takes that were emphasized, the way they sit in the mix, and the overall tonality achieved. Although these three are different in many ways I found these 3 to be my favorites. Following on from that the mix needed to be great, with all elements, vocals included, sounding like they belong together.

1. Paperthin - Firstly, your vocal sits where I like it to. Not too loud, yet still clearly audible. It sounds like it belongs in the mix and you chose takes that totally satisfy me. It's a rare feat to make me enjoy my own voice and while all three did this, your decision to add some extra interest with effects worked for me. Overall a great mix. I should also mention that in my opinion you got closest to the Audioslave sound I was hoping for. Thanks for your hard work and the great result.

2. GGermaine - It was really tough to separate 2nd and 3rd, not because they are so similar but because they each have strong points that justify their place in the top 3. This entry is here because the overall mix sounds very polished. I would compare this to the No. 1 entry and although it is in the same ballpark, and is a great mix I felt it lacked a little of the Audioslave sound I was aiming for. Overall I think this was the best mix when it came to separation and levels but it was tonal issues that just didn't quite hit the mark for me. The vocal while sound fantastic, better than my voice deserves, had a few areas where vocal harshness poked out, or maybe went on too long, needing to be cut off. Small things, but that is where we are in the comp. Great job and thanks for the effort you very obviously put into the mix.

3. CarlosB - This was tough for me. Right from the start I knew this was the best vocal track, head and shoulders above all. This aspect of your mix blew my mind, seriously. I wish I knew what you did. I wanted so bad to be able to award this number one spot but I just couldn't. I feel the guitars have a quality to them (boxiness, honkiness, whatever, not sure) that I just couldn't ignore. It is slight, however, that was enough. But, the vocal track is so good it really does take over the listening experience to some extent. For me it does anyway. I'm really happy to hear your work because it makes me realize that maybe I can get my voice to sound bearable. I'd love to have heard this vocal with my mix, or even some of the other winning mixes. Really great job.

That's it. 1, 2 and 3. Sorry if anyone feels hard done by, but ultimately it is just one man's opinion and I can only give mine. I really believe that if you got 10 listeners I'm sure you would get several number one mixes. It is so hard to separate entries at the pointy end especially with the view that what I like isn't immediately the best mix. Again, I appreciate the time everyone put in, the interest in my song and the nice things people said about the song.

[stu b]

Hi morelia, nice to see you back, hope everything's ok and you're on the mend. And thanks for going to the trouble to do this, I don't envy anyone having to pick the best mixes from so many submissions, a tough job for sure. But totally agree with your choice of winner. I thought paperthin's mix was pretty much faultless so I'm glad to see him take first place. And thanks a lot for the top 10 place for my mix, really appreciate it. Cheers mate. And btw 'Barry is a Chick Magnet' is an ace title for a song too!

[morelia]

Hi morelia, nice to see you back, hope everything's ok and you're on the mend. And thanks for going to the trouble to do this, I don't envy anyone having to pick the best mixes from so many submissions, a tough job for sure. But totally agree with your choice of winner. I thought paperthin's mix was pretty much faultless so I'm glad to see him take first place. And thanks a lot for the top 10 place for my mix, really appreciate it. Cheers mate. And btw 'Barry is a Chick Magnet' is an ace title for a song too!

That's a funny story. I actually work with Barry. One day I got the opportunity to show him a few of my songs and he said, why don't you write one about me? I said give me a title and I'll do the rest. He really is 5 foot 7 and a very nice person. Not sure the rest is true though.