MIX CHALLENGE - MC102 February 2025 - Winners announced

[Denge]

I would love to get some feedback on my mix as well.
I did mistakenly upload a version with muted buses and eq on toms and all keys. But besides that, it is what it is

I'll happily return the favour with my limited knowledge.

Thanks to Mister Fox and Edling.

/Denge

Yo man, what # number is your post, I can check it our for you

Hello, You can find #10 on the first page.

Thanks man! Yeah I was early on this one.

[Edling]

I would love to get some feedback on my mix as well.
I did mistakenly upload a version with muted buses and eq on toms and all keys. But besides that, it is what it is

I'll happily return the favour with my limited knowledge.

Thanks to Mister Fox and Edling.

/Denge

Close mics on toms usually sounds bad in 90% of all recordings, muting them is a good default

[SDB_12]

I would love to get some feedback on my mix as well.
I did mistakenly upload a version with muted buses and eq on toms and all keys. But besides that, it is what it is

I'll happily return the favour with my limited knowledge.

Thanks to Mister Fox and Edling.

/Denge

Yo,

I took a listen, and to be honest I really like the vibe you have going. Your mix sounds roomy and kinda trashy on the drums but in a cool way. You've balanced the instruments and vocals really well overall...and nothing is jumping out at me. I really like the kick sound you have as I think it's fitting with your mixing vibe.

With that said...the things I would have done differently to suit my personal tastes:

-the mix sounds a bit mono...I'd want more spread and bigness coming out of the sides and a little more punch overall
-toms are low...(probably b/c you've muted them???) ha!
-more punch when we transition from verse to chorus. More of a jump in width and bigness
-try more automation, level rides, interesting effects here and there, etc. overall

Nice job!

If anyone cares to listen to my mix, it's the first post on page 14

Thanks!

[scottfitz]

I would love to get some feedback on my mix as well.
I did mistakenly upload a version with muted buses and eq on toms and all keys. But besides that, it is what it is

I'll happily return the favour with my limited knowledge.

Thanks to Mister Fox and Edling.

/Denge

Yo,

I took a listen, and to be honest I really like the vibe you have going. Your mix sounds roomy and kinda trashy on the drums but in a cool way. You've balanced the instruments and vocals really well overall...and nothing is jumping out at me. I really like the kick sound you have as I think it's fitting with your mixing vibe.

With that said...the things I would have done differently to suit my personal tastes:

-the mix sounds a bit mono...I'd want more spread and bigness coming out of the sides and a little more punch overall
-toms are low...(probably b/c you've muted them???) ha!
-more punch when we transition from verse to chorus. More of a jump in width and bigness
-try more automation, level rides, interesting effects here and there, etc. overall

Nice job!

If anyone cares to listen to my mix, it's the first post on page 14

Thanks!

Hey there,
Had a quick listen to your mix SDB and honestly I think it's good. I would want more low end to the bass than this and maybe a bit less reverb on the vocals but it's decent. I think the main problem with what you've done with the bass is that by having a shortage of low lows, you end up with this pronounced amount of 300Hz. When I listen I want to reach for an EQ and take about 2dBs out around 300Hz where there is build up of this mid-dy bass, electric guitars, bottom of the vocals.

Anyway cheers and good luck

[DSBotez]

Thanks man! Yeah I was early on this one.
[/quote]

Cool cool, W mix

Guitars:
I love the how the motif of the guitar comes trhough on your mix with the panning and balance (I wish I had more of this feel for my guitars in the verse) It sound grimey and punk and I like it.

But the picked arpeggio almost does not come through at all (I can just hear its tail)
If you don't like it up front and would rather have it giving depth to the mix then its all good, but I would still prefer hearing it a little better. So either panning it in another way, upping its brightness with some EQ, giving it aa bright reverb that gives it more of a shimmer/tail.. any or all of these things might help in giving it more clarity.

Drums
Very good... I like the snare the most, its powerful, forward and round... all the things a snare should be here. The cymbals are bright and present not harsh when you consider the Genre.
I like the trashy feel as well,
But I do think that the shaker thing can become a little too trashy and throw off the mood of the song.. I just get this mental image of a depressed guy smashing a very bright shaker at a not-so-upbeat tempo.. and it just clashes (no pun intended)
So, like in another mix, blending the shaker and cymbals as good as you did is great work.. but I would prefer giving the shaker its own (more mellow) presence with a pan a bit to the side (cause the cymbals are already playing the role of giving the energy and they are enough for the intensity of the song.. the shaker should have its own unique place as well.

Now Kick sound..it sound aight.. but I am generally unmoved by its low-end impact... perhaps its how your bass and kick are interacting.

Let me put it this way.. the energy of the midrange and highrange of the drum kit does not match the energy of the kick.. its the curse of the drums, having fresh snare and good cymbals means having a fresh kick as well.. I just feel it should be a package deal..

When talking about drums, there is a big divide of opinions on sound, some people like it up front and as grabby as it gets.. while other people complain and say "oh no.. why does it feel like the drummer is sitting on my lap, give it some space, let it feel more 'together' with the mix".. Now while there is no definite wrong or right, what I am trying to say is that your cymbals and snare feel like its on my lap, while your kick feels like its in the middle fo the room.. so I think do some eq and find the point of the kick drum that thumps, the part that snaps, and the part that clicks.. and shape it into your liking with the aim of bringing up its presence. (to the point where the kick and snare are somehwat matched... perhaps imagine a tennis game where a pro is playing a pro.. both of their returns should challenge the other.. instead of only one dominating while the other is struggle to match its power... feel the back and forth.

Bass
The Bass feels big, but also not round.. it feels a little too distorted somehow..
I think what might be going on here is that the kick and bass are not having as good chemistry as they should.. and maybe thats all it takes to get the kick where it could be and the bass where it can be.

Backings in the chorus
I like the haunting feel of the backings here.. but check that their lower frequencies are not taking up as much space as they need to be.. this is not a sound thing...just a technical thing.. they don't sound bad at all, but they feel more roomy than they need to be considering you might want to save some of the energy for the strings who are barely coming through.


Speaking of coming through.. I guess the last comment would be about the guitar part of the chorus... the high one, I just think you can make it louder..


Overal comments,

very holistic, especially the vocal treatment, love the tight guitars, love the snare and the cymbals.. and love the balance between them..

but show some more love to the other guitar, the shaker, the kick and the bass.

[DSBotez]

[/quote]

If anyone cares to listen to my mix, it's the first post on page 14

Thanks!
[/quote]

Very Nice mix, I would have only good things to say as everything but one is to my liking.

The guitar motif in the verse is too loud.. the first time especially.. not the second time.. but then again in the second verse its just a little too loud, everywhere else its well balanced.. and hte reverb works great..the space is great.. and d-a-m-n how do you get your cymbals so silky

[Mastemoth]

I would love to get some feedback on my mix as well.
I did mistakenly upload a version with muted buses and eq on toms and all keys. But besides that, it is what it is

I'll happily return the favour with my limited knowledge.

Thanks to Mister Fox and Edling.

/Denge

Close mics on toms usually sounds bad in 90% of all recordings, muting them is a good default

This is very funny because it's true. I bet if anyone looks at their last few years of mixes the most EQ'ed element is probably going to be the toms. Often with pretty drastic moves in order to make them sound "good". Best tom sound I ever got was by using a borrowed Neumann KU100 dummy head and put it "inside" the kit. I've never gotten such a naturally good tom sound. Too bad I couldn't afford to buy that mic.

[Edling]

Close mics on toms usually sounds bad in 90% of all recordings, muting them is a good default

This is very funny because it's true. I bet if anyone looks at their last few years of mixes the most EQ'ed element is probably going to be the toms. Often with pretty drastic moves in order to make them sound "good". Best tom sound I ever got was by using a borrowed Neumann KU100 dummy head and put it "inside" the kit. I've never gotten such a naturally good tom sound. Too bad I couldn't afford to buy that mic.

I also think a common misconception is that everything needs to sound good in isolation, which it doesn’t, or in fact really shouldn’t (I’ll try to explain). In the song you mixed this month every sound that was recorded was chosen to fit with the ones already recorded. For example one of the distorted guitar has a sound that could be considered “less good”. This is simply because it was recorded second, and its sound was picked to complement the first guitar. It doesn’t really matter how the guitar sounds in isolation, because it’s never intended to be heard that way. The same goes for the different synths, their sounds are intended to complement each other. The same is of course true for close miced toms, they rarely sound good in isolation, but they don’t need to, they only need to serve their purpose together with everything else.

I once read an interview with an engineer who recorded Jimi Hendrix and he said that the biggest difference recording then and now is that, since you had to constantly downmix 6 tracks onto 2 of your 8-track, you mixed while you were recording. When you recorded an overlay you had the mix finished up to that point and you had to pick a sound that worked with the ones already there since there was no turning back. Nowadays people tend to record 70 tracks that sound good in isolation but makes no sense together which has completely different challenges

[Denge]

Yo,

I took a listen, and to be honest I really like the vibe you have going. Your mix sounds roomy and kinda trashy on the drums but in a cool way. You've balanced the instruments and vocals really well overall...and nothing is jumping out at me. I really like the kick sound you have as I think it's fitting with your mixing vibe.

With that said...the things I would have done differently to suit my personal tastes:

-the mix sounds a bit mono...I'd want more spread and bigness coming out of the sides and a little more punch overall
-toms are low...(probably b/c you've muted them???) ha!
-more punch when we transition from verse to chorus. More of a jump in width and bigness
-try more automation, level rides, interesting effects here and there, etc. overall

Nice job!

If anyone cares to listen to my mix, it's the first post on page 14

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah the toms kinda disappear. Not that the unmuted track will do much difference. I tend to use the close mics just for filling in anything that is missing in the OH's and room. Sometimes it's attack and sometimes just a bit more "oumph"
There is no automations at all in this mix except the fade out. So that's a thing I'll bring with me.
Also I agree on the punch in the chorus. I should have pushed it a bit more.
The whole mix is not that agressive so there is room to push the tracks quite a bit. And compared to most of the other mixes here I can definately make it louder.

I'll have a listen to your mix and give you my feedback in a bit.
Thanks again!
/Denge

[Denge]

Cool cool, W mix

Guitars:
I love the how the motif of the guitar comes trhough on your mix with the panning and balance (I wish I had more of this feel for my guitars in the verse) It sound grimey and punk and I like it.

But the picked arpeggio almost does not come through at all (I can just hear its tail)
If you don't like it up front and would rather have it giving depth to the mix then its all good, but I would still prefer hearing it a little better. So either panning it in another way, upping its brightness with some EQ, giving it aa bright reverb that gives it more of a shimmer/tail.. any or all of these things might help in giving it more clarity.

Drums
Very good... I like the snare the most, its powerful, forward and round... all the things a snare should be here. The cymbals are bright and present not harsh when you consider the Genre.
I like the trashy feel as well,
But I do think that the shaker thing can become a little too trashy and throw off the mood of the song.. I just get this mental image of a depressed guy smashing a very bright shaker at a not-so-upbeat tempo.. and it just clashes (no pun intended)
So, like in another mix, blending the shaker and cymbals as good as you did is great work.. but I would prefer giving the shaker its own (more mellow) presence with a pan a bit to the side (cause the cymbals are already playing the role of giving the energy and they are enough for the intensity of the song.. the shaker should have its own unique place as well.

Now Kick sound..it sound aight.. but I am generally unmoved by its low-end impact... perhaps its how your bass and kick are interacting.

Let me put it this way.. the energy of the midrange and highrange of the drum kit does not match the energy of the kick.. its the curse of the drums, having fresh snare and good cymbals means having a fresh kick as well.. I just feel it should be a package deal..

When talking about drums, there is a big divide of opinions on sound, some people like it up front and as grabby as it gets.. while other people complain and say "oh no.. why does it feel like the drummer is sitting on my lap, give it some space, let it feel more 'together' with the mix".. Now while there is no definite wrong or right, what I am trying to say is that your cymbals and snare feel like its on my lap, while your kick feels like its in the middle fo the room.. so I think do some eq and find the point of the kick drum that thumps, the part that snaps, and the part that clicks.. and shape it into your liking with the aim of bringing up its presence. (to the point where the kick and snare are somehwat matched... perhaps imagine a tennis game where a pro is playing a pro.. both of their returns should challenge the other.. instead of only one dominating while the other is struggle to match its power... feel the back and forth.

Bass
The Bass feels big, but also not round.. it feels a little too distorted somehow..
I think what might be going on here is that the kick and bass are not having as good chemistry as they should.. and maybe thats all it takes to get the kick where it could be and the bass where it can be.

Backings in the chorus
I like the haunting feel of the backings here.. but check that their lower frequencies are not taking up as much space as they need to be.. this is not a sound thing...just a technical thing.. they don't sound bad at all, but they feel more roomy than they need to be considering you might want to save some of the energy for the strings who are barely coming through.


Speaking of coming through.. I guess the last comment would be about the guitar part of the chorus... the high one, I just think you can make it louder..


Overal comments,

very holistic, especially the vocal treatment, love the tight guitars, love the snare and the cymbals.. and love the balance between them..

but show some more love to the other guitar, the shaker, the kick and the bass.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I really appreciate it.

I 100% agree on the picked guitar in the verses. That is the first thing I will change if I get through to the next round. It got more hidden in the keys when I forgot to unmute the buses and eq. I think I will push it a bit forward as well.

Now the drums. My nemesis.
I hate sidechaining so I do my absolute best to avoid it at all costs. I think I did 15 different kick versions before the one that is on the track. I will try to add some sub/low end and have a listen. It is tricky as I don't want to over saturate the low end of the track. But it will definately get a whole lotta love in a possible next version. I'll try something with the shaker as well. But I must admit I love the drive it gives to the overall drums.

Bass - I just wanted it to sound like a loud as f**k amp in a room. Not to beefy and not to sharp. I will run a few versions with the kick alternatives to see if I can find a more cohesive sound.

Backing Vox - Another 100% agree. I went with a new plugin here so there is definately some work to do. It's a bit to wet as well. So it will be worked on.

Once again. Big thanks for all the feedback.
I'll have a listen to your mix and give you my thoughts in a bit.

/Denge