Mix Challenge

@javiramayo

"That said, I have to say that, some mixes like yours, required so much to tell that it seemed more appropriate to invite you to compare for yourself the differences that existed between your mix and other mixed".

"I am dedicated to making mixes and I've been doing it for 25 years" To me is not about the amount of years, is about the quality of your work; some can do great work with a couple years of practice. Im not one.

about -> "About the comment: "Your tracks where not the best recordings I seen, just doing gain stage there was a pain". <- is what a few real pros that do mixing for a living told me (I can provide the sources if you request privately) more than one. BTW, none liked my mix either, BUT they where explicit about certain things. And I do respect that, as I respect your opinion.

I was not expecting a full critique, but is good to feel honestly in responses.

In my view, to just say "listen and compare yourself" is not of great help, simply because mixing is part art, part science and part, plain business. It be like Rembrandt suggesting a young painter, just look, can't you not see?

As for my work, and being honest to my taste, to me it sounds a lot better than the one included with the original files.

In any case, im definitely grateful for the experience. And yes, there are some great mixes here offered to you. No doubt you got a good deal here with the quantity and quality of mixes offered. It be ridiculous for me to expect I be making a production that is to the level of a few of the well seasoned pros here. Not to mention what I imagine to be their gear.

The forum is not just for competition, a lot of it is about educational purposes.

High respects

harryc1344 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 27, 2020 14:51 CET

Good luck to all the Round 2 participants, all the mixes that I've listened to sound great!

can't access your mix, but Manii is on dropbox too, and his I can open and listen to.

White Punk OD wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 27, 2020 19:41 CET

harryc1344 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 27, 2020 14:51 CET

Good luck to all the Round 2 participants, all the mixes that I've listened to sound great!

can't access your mix, but Manii is on dropbox too, and his I can open and listen to.

Thanks for letting me know! I've edited my original post to include the correct link.

Oba Ozai wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 27, 2020 15:53 CET

Your tracks where not the best recordings I seen, just doing gain stage there was a pain.

I strongly and respectful disagree on this one mate. The tracks were well recorded IMO and I had no problems at all working with them.

- Chris

Oba Ozai wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 27, 2020 19:32 CET

In any case, im definitely grateful for the experience...
The forum is not just for competition, a lot of it is about educational purposes.

High respects

I'm not working as a pro. But I was lucky to spend some time in a couple of established, fully equipped audio studios in the analog era.
I would not understand anything without that, theory can only go so far.
Also I listened to Warren Huart, he can give his listeners a good mind-set about all the why and how. Though, there may be different schools.
In the world of today, some cultural differences in using language, which are rooted in deeply basic perceptions, are playing a major role.

Facit, do you have access to serious audio engineers in your own, physical life? From what I can see here about you, this is the only real way to go, because in the virtual world, some deeply human things cannot really be shared. And there is no art without that, at least none that is not solipsistic.
The meaning of tech that supports art explains itself only in the mirror of the perception by others. This is the guidance about what is good. You need to feel the people. I felt them because I used to play on the stage.

->> I strongly and respectful disagree on this one mate. The tracks were well recorded IMO and I had no problems at all working with them.

- Chris. <<--

Again, it was not my opinion, but feedback I received from others that also claim to have "years of experience".


As for me, I truly embraced the challenge as another chance to be creative, in the way I can offer, with all the love and limitations that imply.

@White Punk OD you good man. And you have also demonstrated my point, is not about having 25+years experience, is about loving dedication, that shines big with your work.

Your work was not suggested to me as one of the "best to listen", but afaik, is better than a few that where.

Surely some did get sounds out much clear, but some of the selected ones just did not use all the tracks, I did, all 39of them, and you can hear them all. Is why I said it might be a mouth full (so many tracks).

I could hear sibilance (breathing) even on the track where the shakers where payed.

However, I believe the R2 versions are coming in very good, and they have considered the points made by the client, but also listened to my version, as was mentioned by Manii, and to Tom Immon's great "real" version.
Seems there is some convergence going on, some consent about what do do about this recording.
I'm very happy to see this.

Occasionally, there might still be room for a stronger deesser (I use SPL, works most reliable, next step for me would be manual editing), and for some separation in terms of reverbs vs rhythmic elements in the finale. Tom has good separation because of the mentioned bus techniques.

Things happen, we can only do our best to tackle all issues.
Warren has a good stance on that, he says if we see that we cannot get the job done without compromising our own situation, this sure happens several times, we can politely decline, we can recommend a different engineer about whom we know he is good in this particular type of work, or we try to negotiate with the client about the intense work to do, if it is possible to compensate for it, and what about the deadline, is it possible or not. For some very important clients we might prefer the portfolio, and accept the low result in income per working hour. This is the risk of the undertaker. It should lead to better jobs in the future.
For mix-ups it is similar, we take part, or we don't, depends on our understanding about what to gain, or not to gain or to expect.

Hi everyone!

I have to admit I made a huge mistake in round 1. I didn't load all the tracks into my DAW.
Tracks 33 to 39 were missing.
So, big thanks to Javier for allowing me to participate in round 2 anyway!

- Lead vocal: the first ""griiiitaaa"" -2db
- Organ: add TubeCompressor on the organ to tame it
- Guitar acoustic: PrimeEQ (HPF at 200Hz and -3db at 250Hz), Deeser to soften above 2.5kHz, Reverence (room reverb)
- Guitar stereo 2: PrimeEQ (HPF at 124Hz and -2.5db at 232Hz), TDR SlickEQ (+4.5db at 4.2kHz), TSAR-1R (reverb), volume automation
- Solo guitar: MJUC (compressor), volume and panning automation. I would have preferred to have the solo without reverb to be able to place the guitar as I want.
- I chose to leave the introduction without guitars. I find it more interesting like that (and Javier said "Nice beginning without guitars!"). I like the contrast between the intimate intro and the rest of the song.

round 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f72uuxjdgz9he ... 2.wav?dl=0

Matt