MIX CHALLENGE - MC070 October 2020 - Winners announced

[Oba Ozai]

Greetings to all,

I really want to give thanks to each and everyone that sent me feed back about my mix and to everyone that participated in the mix contest in any way. Thanks for pushing my limits. I took the day today to re try the mix from scratch and this is what I got. Still won't make it by to the hits parade but im very grateful I was able to learn something new.

Here is the revised mix https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E2R4qu ... sp=sharing

And the 3D frequency graph https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u8WgqA ... sp=sharing

[Dodgingrain]

Greetings to all,

I really want to give thanks to each and everyone that sent me feed back about my mix and to everyone that participated in the mix contest in any way. Thanks for pushing my limits. I took the day today to re try the mix from scratch and this is what I got. Still won't make it by to the hits parade but im very grateful I was able to learn something new.

Here is the revised mix https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E2R4qu ... sp=sharing

And the 3D frequency graph https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u8WgqA ... sp=sharing

Hey Oba Ozai,
It still sounds like your doing something really odd with phase/stereo imaging. Even the guitar on the intro sounds off. The kick drum too. Your kick drums should be mono and panned center. My suggestion is to solo the kick (kick track only, mute the room tracks too!) and bypass all the plugins in the entire project and post just the kick for us so we can figure out if you're having an issue importing the track or if its something your doing with plugins that doesn't work. It also could be you have a phase setting wrong on one of your speakers/sub.

[Oba Ozai]

@Dodgingrain

Thanks, I do value your feed back. About the kick base sounding weird to you, I think this is what is happening:

Original kick was centered but all the way to +1 (as you noticed before)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZRbpV8 ... sp=sharing

The weird stuff you see and hear, comes because of this im using, to try to get that +1 closer to 0. It occurs to me that maybe I dont really know what them numbers mean, but as I spread out the kick the fluctuations are closer to 0.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZN7ERy ... sp=sharing

Here are 2 wave lab images that show the kick all the way to +1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mDvJeX ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isCOtG ... sp=sharing

[Oba Ozai]

This is how the original kick tacks mix looks (but somehow many have managed to almost kill it)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tqnaQJ ... sp=sharing

here is the 2 tracks kick mix centered, but all the way to +1, I dont quite understand that. Trying to get that value closer to 0 has been my biggest challenge.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hFIv1L ... sp=sharing

[Oba Ozai]

The same with the bass centered but all the way to +1 (again, maybe I dont understand what that number really means)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W98FKg ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Bhnqm ... sp=sharing

I guess much of the distortion you listen comes from bass lines levels too high, they seem to distort easily when the faders rise. The very few people I can trust on this have not mentioned the distortion, BUT, I know you know your work. I dont have any friends that do Pro Audio work, they all amateurs like me

As for the guitars, I only used a few of the tracks and avoided the ones with most distortions (dirty)

[Oba Ozai]

is this how people are supposed to mix the bass and kick, dead center ??? Im not a pro, and I sure like it when it spreads out some more. Some really cool patterns do emerge when playing with that kind of stuff. Maybe not the standard practice at all, and im not recommending it.
This
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J8L-Ny ... sp=sharing
vs This ?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mq6ErR ... sp=sharing

maybe is why mixing is also called an art form, I dont know. You guys are the Pro's (with all due respects)

[Erich]

Hi Oba Ozai,

Your second mix is actually worse. What are you doing to your master bus? Both mixes show signs of master bus abuse, the first one with audible compressor pumping. The second one distorts every time the kick hits.

You're using that Ozone Imager on the master bus? I would seriously avoid that. It seems to be Haas-effect-based. Not something you want near your low-end. Here's your kick, almost totally out-of-phase.



Try clearing out your master bus and mix at a track level just using the basic tools, EQ, comp, reverb, etc. You should be able to get a decent mix using just those. If you can't, then your mixing issues are fundamental and Ozone isn't going to save you. But practice will.



I'm not claiming anything about the quality of my mix (in case you hate it), but here's what I used. It's pretty minimal. Only analyzers on the master bus.



Also, I think you should consider ditching that 3D spectrum plot thing. I don't think it's giving you the information you need. Try Voxengo Span instead. With these settings it gives me a good impression of the spectral energy as well as movement of the mix.



Here's our mixes compared:

[Oba Ozai]

@Erich

"Your second mix is actually worse", I wont contend that, I respect your ears and experience. I did raised the lows and and highs and lowered from 1k to 3k, as you point out.

is how I saw it, same as what you point out
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O17G8Z ... sp=sharing

"What are you doing to your master bus? Both mixes show signs of master bus abuse, the first one with audible compressor pumping. The second one distorts every time the kick hits."

In the master of the mix just insight 2 and imaginer 2 (not showing there)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QpolGW ... sp=sharing

As for mastering I used wave lab to set the final mix LUFS and TP parameters

"Also, I think you should consider ditching that 3D spectrum plot thing. I don't think it's giving you the information you need." seems that is the case, thanks

[Oba Ozai]

Maybe I should consider another hobby

[Oba Ozai]

This was an experiment that did not seem to turn out too good.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17qZgQN ... sp=sharing

I never looked at a mix this way and im intrigued to what it means
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UxHVOn ... sp=sharing

checking
https://www.voxengo.com/files/userguide ... e%20en.pdf

As for some of the tracks being stuck on +1, does that is a mystery to me. The overol mix is not.