Mix Challenge

Hello Treeeye,

thanks for choosing my mix and thanks for the feedback! I followed your suggestions, pulled the Jembe back a bit and to Solo guitar more to the front.
I also changed the compression of the clean solo guitar to make it better sit in the mix. Lastly, I changed the panning at the end of the song a bit.
I hope I met your expectations.

WAV R2

Cheers,
Arne

In my Round 2 mix, I took a completely different approach than the first mix. Analyzing my first mix, I noticed that it was very dark, muddy, and not well-defined as far as clarity and punch. Because of this, I changed my mindset as to how I wanted to attack the revised mix. Instead of focusing solely on aggressiveness, my main focus was good balance and space. I decided to go with this combination because if I were to achieve good balance and space, I would give the illusion that the song was more dynamic. Also, if I created space in the mix, it would make it easier for me to make the guitars sound aggressive, which was my initial goal for the guitars in my first mix. But in order to achieve this, I need to make the guitars sound clean and natural.

On my first mix, due to lack of good balance and rushing, I ended up boosting the chorus guitars way too much, which made them sound thin. I fixed this by cutting out all the boxiness, harshness, and boominess out the chorus guitars. Overall, I ended up cutting a lot of 200Hz and 400Hz from the chorus guitars. I also made sure to grab all the resonance frequencies that jumped out the guitars and cut them as well. This gave the chorus guitars a more natural aggressive and full sound. Because of this, I was able to get them to sound clear and give the drums more space so that I didn't have to boost the kick as much. This also opened up the mix, making it clearer and giving other instruments room to be heard.

On this mix, I did all my cutting with Presonus Studio One's program eq. Then I ended with using Slate Digital's FG-401 compressor to give the guitars some glue. I did very little boosting because I wanted to keep it as natural as possible. After doing this, I added some reverb to give dimension to the guitars and create a spacious atmosphere.


My Submission:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z6JIpm ... sp=sharing

Thank you @Treeeye for picking my mix! Here's my revision:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcb2q0sms6bfe ... 2.wav?dl=0

So the request was from my interpretation to soften and turn down the drums in the chorus a bit, and to get the guitars more upfront. You guys were definitely right, the drums were grabbing way too much attention. I focused on getting them to sit back more rather than just turning them quieter (though I did that too) so the low end and punch wouldn't completely fall apart. Took out a lot of transient enhancing stuff and mid boosts, and added a slight parallel compressor with a slow release so it has more sustain and less attack, and turned them down a bit. Now I feel they sit in a better place while still giving the chorus a nice punchy sound.

Making the adjustements to the drums already made the guitars more upfront, so I pushed them up just a little bit and fixed some harshness that started to poke out now that they didn't have to compete for their place as much.

Coming in with fresh ears I also adjusted my 2-bus EQ's a little bit to give the mix a bit more life, and for the outro I tried to push up the collective reverb and saturated it a bit, to give the noise outro a bit of glue as requested.

Thanks again for getting me to round two, and congrats to everyone else who did, all your mixes sound fabulous!

Greetings lovely people,

first of all, many thanks to Treeeye for the positive and valuable feedback and of course to Mister Fox for taking care and organising.
And here comes my new mix revision.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6jjod7mk9yhxd ... 2.wav?dl=0

First and foremost, I have given the bass a little more oomph (especially in the verses), the solo guitar a little more space and depth and the rhythm guitars in the verse I now also let seem a little more modest.
Furthermore, I tried to make the transition from verse to chorus a little more definite, musical and supportive.
Last but not least, I gave the whole mix a little more fairy dust in the 'upper regions'. ;-)

Thanks for listening and every further kind of feedback! Appreciate it!

Stay safe,
Cheers,

Stefan

It's the 12th March 2021, 6:05 (UTC+1) - the 2nd Mix Round has officially ended.

Everyone has sent in an edit.
We have no submissions after the deadline.



Please check your upload links again, and have an eye on this thread for the final feedback and results.



I'm now opening up the room (again) for Q&A's and giving each other feedback (which is highly encouraged)

Please check out all other games on the community.
And please also join the two currently running mini surveys - thanks in advance.


See you on the flipside.

Hey @ photonic very nice mix.

I was listening to I guess what would be the chorus section and noticed you were able to change the drum loop groove a little. I was wondering how you changed the hi hat part from a ¼ groove to a 1/8 note groove. I tried a few things but could not figure how nice job really helps that section move .Anyways, if you have time or if anybody else knows how to do this I would be interested.

@Jerze
It's not my mix, but I can answer your question as well ...

There are two hi-hats in the chorus. If you pan them equal and match their sound with EQs, you can get this result.
Or you can use a slap-delay with the length of an 8th-note with equal volume.

But it's still a Mix-Challenge and you're not allowed to change the arrangement.

m_tree wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 13, 2021 18:11 CET

@Jerze
It's not my mix, but I can answer your question as well ...

There are two hi-hats in the chorus. If you pan them equal and match their sound with EQs, you can get this result.
Or you can use a slap-delay with the length of an 8th-note with equal volume.

But it's still a Mix-Challenge and you're not allowed to change the arrangement.

Hey thanks mtree for the answer,

I went back to the download file and seen it has a mixed version of the loops and unmixed in two separate files forgot about that. I for some reason just grabbed the mixed version and forgot to load the other files lesson learned thanks again.

@Jerze
First, thank you! Glad you like my mix.

And thanx to m_tree, you allready have the answer. There is no trick, no additional FX, just EQ. Use both raw tracks for the hihats and you will get the same result.

Hello everyone!

Sorry for delay. We had time to listen carefully and to write down some more feedbacks for you. This time we did it in different places. At home & in professional studio to make the conclusion. Here are the feedbacks:

@dnlptn
Nice overall. Good balance.
Bass in the chorus fades out on the long notes, not enough sustain.

@IbanezoO
Reverb on the percussions (snaps) in the verses sounds too claustrophobic (small space).
Guitars sounds too bright and edgy (too much 3 kHz)
Delay on the guitar in the ending of the chorus is too long. Does not give space to rest.

@m_tree
Eq on the bass sounds good.
Jembe is too moody and lack of definition.

@SuC76 (Disqualified due to loudness specs)
Chorus is too dark and quiet compared to the verse. Lack of impact.
Too much master compression.
Nice work with the effects.

@ArneB
Nice eq balance and compression.
Chorus drive solo sounds little low in the first chorus.

@rvalle
Too much 3 kHz on the chorus rhytm guitars.

@stefanweith
Different mix overall. Nice effects but little bit out of context.
Reverb on instruments all over the place. Sounds like everybody playing in different places.

@Cadence Soundlabs
Nice mix overall. Hi-Fi sounding.
Bass sounds good in the verses, little bit muddy in the chorus.
Clean solo guitar in the chorus is too loud. Rhythm guitar in the chorus sounds tubby.
Too much stereo field enhancements. Poor mono compatibility.

@Christoph_K
Too much delays on the snare in the chorus. Sounds like remix.
Bass lacks of harmonic content in the low mids and sounds uneven.

@Coiled_Ear
Different tonal and level balance.
Kick is way too low and lack of body.
Too much reverb on the jembe.
Synth that leads to the chorus is too high in balance. Chorus overall is much quiter.
Chorus balance is little off. Guitars are drowned.

@GUSWIS
Percussion sounds too dull except shaker in the verse. Shaker is sticking out.
Overall tonal balance is on the dark side. Could be more opened (brighter).
Good level balance overall.

@Jerze
Nice edits on the drums in the second verse and in the prechorus. Creates space and tension. (if it's allowed by rules).
Interesting fx on the guitars. Maybe too much phaser for our taste.
Eq cut on the bass in the low mids is too aggressive. Hollow sound and poor mix translation on the small speakers.
Fade out at the end is little disappointing.

@Ollio
Contrast mix. Super mellow verse and aggressive chorus. Maybe too aggressive for our taste.
Nice delays on the guitars.

@Photonic
Nice feel of space and balance in the verses!!!
Chorus is too drums and bass based. Guitars is too low in volume. The 1/8 hi-hats ticking does not sound so well. 1/4 was better.

@RB310
You lost solo guitar in the verse. It's too far away.
Guitars in the chorus sounds tubby (phase issues).

@Green-Dog
Good choice of the guitar sound, fx in the pre-chorus and idea with atmosphere but tone could be more open(brighter).
Filtered (dj like) snare sound between pre-chorus and main chorus is too loud.
The distorted solo guitar in the chorus lacks the wah sound as it was in the raw mix.
Good ending of the second chorus and outro blending all together with fx that fit in very well.

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THE WINNERS PODIUM IS:

1. @ArneB - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kUkmY1 ... sp=sharing
2. @Photonic - https://www.dropbox.com/s/3iwmd0u2n3acx ... 2.wav?dl=0
3. @Christoph_K - https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhlnxe53xfdiw ... 2.wav?dl=0

Congratulations!!!

It was hard to choose between the first and second place as both mixes are very good but @Photonic has better verse atmospheric idea and @ArneB has better overall balance.

Thanks to all the participants for your works and time! Hope that our feedback will work for you and help you to develop.
Thanks to @Mister Fox for this forum and the contribution!