MIX CHALLENGE - MC093 August 2023 - Winners announced

[trackerjack]

Hi all.

Link: https://drive.proton.me/urls/Y0GQ54ZET0#QTLgHF4OB5ie

There are a whole bunch of changes.
Hopefully I interpreted the feedback in a meaningful way.

Removed piano from most of the battle sequence.
More drive to the organ and the whole section.
Tremolo on the bass in the earlier part.

Added weight to the toms, as well as tweaking bass, kick drum, snare and other elements further for a rounder sound.
Small amounts of saturation-compression on the overheads, using J37.
Additional processing to backing vocals, especially in the middle eight section, including ambience and automation.

I got the impression that Gaz would enjoy a much wetter sound overall, so I used a whole bunch of additional effects to try and make it more psychedelic. Trying to be creative with few software bits I have, as well as using a few more hardware gadgets, which also helped keep the processor load in check.

Added a hint of rotary sound to parts of the lead and backing vocals, using Expert Sleepers Disting mk4.
Time and space effects by Strymon Big Sky, Intellijel Rainmaker, CXM 1978, Cherry Audio Stardust, Valhalla VintageVerb, SuperMassive & FreqEcho, some modulations with the SpaceModulator. A pitch shift effect also came from the Disting. I went to town on the radio voice with a pretty anti-social distortion setting in Kombinat by Audio Damage. Oh, and brought in the yelps.

Overall I tried to preserve the dynamic feel of my first attempt, but with a little more emphasis on the second chorus, as well as the heavy battle sequence. I hope you'll like it.

Thanks @Gaz and @Mister Fox. Good luck!

Cheers,
Tom

[LughSenderson]

Based on the comments I only made equalization and volume changes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vvKpoq ... drive_link

[asiohead]

Hey everyone, here is my mix for round 2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Un8AUgVeXG8o08iGLe6Eou9iN10UO2ws/view?usp=sharing

changes I made:

- tried to create more space using EQ, touch of reverb and stereo spreading
- added tremolo to the bass
- made the acoustic guitar more prominent in the song final
- adjusted the backing vocals as they were too quiet
- used a lot of automation for the vocals and song parts
- lifted certain elements to make the overall mix brighter

greetz

[RuiFerreira]

Hi!

Worked on all the things Gaz asked me.

Changed the bass eq curve.
Changed the snare chain.
Brought the acoustic guitar on the last chorus a bit up and added 1.5db on the high freq.
Worked on the automation trying to bring more life to the mix.

Good luck to all!

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=4FE8454A ... 81&o=OneUp

[trackerjack]

Shoot... I forgot to mention.
I hope you don't mind, Gaz, but I also replaced the piano with my accordion and recorded new lead and backing vocals in the style of Weird Al. The song is now called 'Born Tourist Man'.
I'm sure you'll agree that this is what's going to get this project over the hump. And of course, you can have all the writing credits.

Oh wait, no that was just in a dream I had.
I feel like there might have been something wrong with the mushrooms I ate the other day.

[Mister Fox]

It's the 26th September 2023, 00:45 (UTC+2) - the 2nd Mix Round has officially ended.


STATISTICS

• Unfortunately, not everyone has sent in an edit (missing: @Mork sadly had to step away due to time constraints)
• We have 1 Wild Card uses to advance into the next round (@asiohead)
• We have 0 participants that decided on not to advance through the use of a Wild Card (none available this month)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline
• We have 1 submission that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and is therefore disqualified (re-checked 26-SEP-2023 2:20 UTC+2/CEST -- @RuiFerreira)

Additionally:
There are once more two entries that did not adhere to the given filename template. Mix Round 2 does not mean, you can ignore the Rule Book.

I will reach out to @Gaz and forward all entries/statistics sometime later today (Tuesday, 26-SEP-2023). Please have an eye on this thread for more feedback and a possible Mix Round 3, or an announcement of the final 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.

Please also consider becoming a Song Provider - no more material means no more Mix(ing) Challenges. Our Song Pool is nearly empty again!


See you on the flipside.

[RuiFerreira]

Hi everyone,

Something went wrong with my link. The file was somehow in private mode.
I understand the rules, therefore I understand I'm disqualified.

Anyway here's the link again:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgQFjF5KRehPgj48Lvf ... o?e=Ja9uMx

Just to share what I did with you all.

Thank you and good luck!

[rvalle]

Thank you very much @Manii and @MisterFox for the insights.

@Manii , you're absolutely right when you say that the artist ends up sticking to the sound he imagined for that song, or the one he's used to. Totally understandable. So much so that I've noticed that my mixes have more or less the same sound. I think it's common. We always end up putting a bit of our own taste acquired through experience into everything we do. Maybe that's what we're looking for when it comes to sound identity. And what was really valid for me in this challenge was realizing that, in order to become a great mixer, you have to take that next step, that specialization, which would be the ability to understand what the music asks for and needs, to know how to balance that sound identity with what is important to the artist. And that's why I like taking part in mix-challenges so much, because all this variation in styles, ideas, tastes and creations gives us the opportunity to learn and grow by doing what we love. I really like the Produce like a Pro channel, especially Mark Daniel Nelson's videos, and I'll definitely watch your recommendation. By the way, congratulations and success in the second round.

@Mister Fox , I'm very happy with your feedback. Very instructive and detailed. It's very interesting to understand your approach to the song, which gave me a lot of material to think about. Of course, I also had my own understanding of the song, which was more or less close to yours, but not that deep. What I learned from this edition was that I lacked a better understanding of the tools and how to use them, in order to achieve the production characteristics that the band was aiming for. I should have studied more about the style and era, the equipment used and the mixing techniques, so that I could adapt better to my tools. But as I've already said, right from the start I went for a mix that sought only to embellish the original sound. But that's what counts here, the experiences we have with each challenge and the lessons we learn from each one. I'll certainly listen to the references you've pointed out, now with a calibrated ear and head.

[SDB_12]

@kombainera @trackerjack

Thank you BOTH for the awesome replies regarding my mix It really means a lot that you both took the time to listen and comment. Great suggestions and it gives me things to review and keep in mind for next time. Really great stuff guys.

Good luck to all round 2 contestants!

[trackerjack]

Hi @Dodgingrain,

not sure if you noticed, but there is a short but nasty burst of noise in your (otherwise fantastic!) mix, in the left channel, towards the end of the battle sequence, around the 4:00 mark. I downloaded it twice to make sure it wasn't a fault on my side. But perhaps the second file was a cached version or something, so I really hope I'm wrong and everything's okay.

I wouldn't completely rule out the eventuality that this could have been caused by a transmission error during upload (or down), either. While I would think the probability for that is extremely low nowadays. Not sure if @Mister Fox can weigh in, I'm certain he knows more about that stuff. But it's hard to imagine not noticing something like that in a final check. Perhaps there are memory or storage issues in your system (faulty RAM or drives).

Perhaps do check the mix again on your side, after downloading it from your hosting service and compare it to your original file, maybe do checksums, too.

Good luck,
Tom

Edit: it actually doesn't sound like white noise at all, rather pitchy and digital.