MIX CHALLENGE - MC102 February 2025 - Winners announced

[Christoph_K]

Christoph_K
Cool sounding mix with nice balance between the different synths, I can clearly hear that scrappy mellotron in chorus. Good automation going into the bridge keeping the energy high. There are some times where effects seem to pop in and out for no apparent reason, for example on the phrase ”I’ll SHOW you the map…” during the first verse.

Adjustments: Overall some more bottom/lo-mid. Check those effects!

First of all thank you for considering my mix for round two. In regards to only two hours of work on this track I am even more happy to see that I can get decent results in less time than ever.

I have a question regarding the bottom/lowmid remark though: Can you be a little more specific in which instruments/vocals you are missing it? I don't just want to slap an EQ on the mixbus

This effects glitch is indeed weird, the vocals wander from left to right. I didn't have the time for a headphone check Will have a look at this...

And get well soon to you and your family. This is just an insane amount of work and time to give feedback for everybody.

[Edling]

I have a question regarding the bottom/lowmid remark though: Can you be a little more specific in which instruments/vocals you are missing it? I don't just want to slap an EQ on the mixbus

I think my main concern is that the bottom end isn't consistent. Listen to the ending of the first chorus for example, the bass guitar has a full bottom end on the vocal line "it's better to dig", but when the chord switches on the word "grave" the bass guitar drops into the background and on the verse even more so. It could possibly be a compression and/or EQ thing.

[Christoph_K]

I have a question regarding the bottom/lowmid remark though: Can you be a little more specific in which instruments/vocals you are missing it? I don't just want to slap an EQ on the mixbus

I think my main concern is that the bottom end isn't consistent. Listen to the ending of the first chorus for example, the bass guitar has a full bottom end on the vocal line "it's better to dig", but when the chord switches on the word "grave" the bass guitar drops into the background and on the verse even more so. It could possibly be a compression and/or EQ thing.

Ok thanks!

[filipandrei]

Thanks for listening and for your feedback.
I’m currently out of town, but I will get back on 20, and I will make the necessary adjustments.

Cheers

[BenjiRage]

Thank you, @Edling for putting me through and for your kind feedback. I'm very happy to hear you liked the mix as much as you did . Also very sorry to hear you've been under the weather, I hope you're fully on the mend now. Flu is awful, it knocks you right out!

For my R2 mix, I started off tackling the long list of tweaks I had built up from lots of listens and feedback over the past few weeks and originally I did a couple of bounces last night where I'd slightly lowered the vocal HF, tamed some bass guitar resonances, and made the toms less spikey, as well as trying various things to increase the "shine". However, on returning to these bounces today I found they just didn't have the same impact and likeability as my original mix. So in the end I've stuck with changing just the few things that have consistently stood out to me throughout the weeks, things that I had missed first time around.

• Added some extra volume automation on the lead vocal when it comes back in at the end of the bridge, as it was getting lost right at the start of the phrase
• Made the shaker 0.5dB louder as I don't think I'd made it audible enough before
• Added a bit of distortion, reverb and compression to the keys noise at the start to hide the little drop-out gap that had become very noticeable
• Lastly, tightened up the backing vocals timings at the end of the chorus "given myself 'cause" lines, as the final esses were just a bit misaligned and ending in slightly different places

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mSIYwX ... m9XUa/view

Best regards,

Benji

[Gertius]

Thanks @Edling for selecting my mix for round 2 and giving me the opportunity to improve upon it.
I share the view that the drums could have been punchier/snappier in my original mix, as that was also the impression I got from repeated listens after my submission. So, I was happy to be able to fix this now.

Ususally I try to stay away from parallel compression on the drums. I don´t really know why other than that the mixers I look up to are not using it.
But after trying out some stuff that didn´t work and then trying parallel compression it was just the ticket.
Maybe I should use it more often in the future
I used it with a Waves SSL Bus Comp, Slow attack, fast release, on the kick snare and tom tracks and automated it just a little bit between verse and chorus (0.5 dB up in choruses).
Tried to find the spot where the drums came through, but not overdo it to not mess up the balances.
I hope this also gets close to what you had in mind.
Cheers!

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

[MilkMonster]

Hi, thanks for considering my mixes into round 2.
here's my attempt to round 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dCGdqS ... sp=sharing

Good luck everyone cheers

[Christoph_K]

Christoph_K
Cool sounding mix with nice balance between the different synths, I can clearly hear that scrappy mellotron in chorus. Good automation going into the bridge keeping the energy high. There are some times where effects seem to pop in and out for no apparent reason, for example on the phrase ”I’ll SHOW you the map…” during the first verse.

Adjustments: Overall some more bottom/lo-mid. Check those effects!

Here’s what I did for my round 2 mix:

First I changed the settings on the Kazroq Green which caused these panning glitches.

I used automation on the bass tracks to get a more consistent low end.

I then needed to adjust the drums in the chorusses and the bridge to cut though better.

I also changed the gain structure on the mixbus to get more loudness and glue.

I hope you like the revision!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yivemjf0 ... a7u0s&dl=0

[cpsmusic]

Hi All,

I like to have a listen to the mixes that get selected for round 2 of the mix challenge.

For MC102 it seems that the link to Christian M's mix isn't working (it says that the file has been deleted).

Any chance it could be uploaded so I could have a listen to it?

Also, sorry for posting this here but I tried to send Christian M a PM but it said that they can't receive PMs.

Cheers!

[mj247]

new mix
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RIoJmP ... sp=sharing

updated as suggested plus a bit more automation
used waves vitamin to add some body to the guitars
thanks and good luck everyone