Greetings!
Here is my mix for the MC049 challenge.
Overall
— Every channel had bx_console doing the default highpass at 31.5 with randomized TMT.
— I also used Studio One Console Shaper's crosstalk (4%) on each individual channel.
Drums
Kick
— I gated indivudual kicks, blended them together in a bus with Kick_1 being several dBs louder.
— On the Kick bus I added a little bit of subsonics with P&M Clarisonix
— Used a Stock EQ: high pass at 22hz, increased 5 db at 80hz, scooped the low mids, made the attack brighter at 7.8khz, and notched 2.17khz.
— 5 db compression with Novatron
Snare
— grouped in a bus, added some low mid body with Clarisonix
— high passed at 86hz, -3.4db at 278hz, wide boost at 2.5khz
— compressed with Novatron and hard clipped the transients
Hihats
— saturated with Omega 458a
— high passed, low passed at 19k, notch at 2.7khz
— panned 30% to the left
Overheads
— saturated with Omega 458a
— ended up with
a pretty drastic EQing. I wanted OH to provide clarity and just that — so I removed lots of low mid bleed which was muddying the sound to my ears.
— increased stereo spready by 44%.
Room
— Ended up muting this mic. I wanted highs to be very light and the room just made it so heavy.
— Instead, for some ambiance I sent kick and snare to a high passed reverb with narrowed stereo spread.
DRUM BUS
— 2db compression with Solid Bus Comp for some cohesion.
Bass
— distorted and EQed with REDDI
— additionally compressed with Novatron at FET settings (but now I think an opened attack would sound better).
— narrow scoop at 250hz and a wider scoop at 550hz with stock EQ.
— 3db compression at 60hz (dynamic EQ) side-chained from the kick bus with fastest settings that did not produce any artifacts.
Guitars
— I refrained from individual processing to have a more similar sound on both lead and rhytm.
— Several EQs in series, though most processing was done with Lidnell TE-100 (I used 'Screaming Guitars' preset and tweaked it) — overall low mid cut, some body below 240hz, and huge boosts for high mids.
— heavily compressed with Kush UBK-1 in parallel.
— notched 2.25khz and 3.52khz
— sent to a TSAR-1R reverb, 70ms predelay. reverb was EQ with the Abbey Road trick.
Vocals
— aggressive FET leveling with Novatron, followed by MJUC with a 3-to-5 db reduction
— some notching at high midrange (above 2k as I recall), since it was too harsh to my ears. I also statically boosted and dynamically ducked this range with a dynamic EQ.
— was fattened up with Waves Doubler
— sent to a 2.2s plate reverb with a little distortion and compression.
MASTER BUS
— 2db compression with Solid Bus Comp (10ms/0.1sec, linked for a more centered sound)
— substantial shelf boost with Lindell TE-100 from 4k
— reduced 2db at 200hz
— half db of THD with Softube Tape
The post was updated on November, 25 with information on my approach to the mix.