MIX CHALLENGE - MC102 February 2025 - Winners announced

[maxovrdrive]

Love the low end on your bass guitar, it's wicked!

I think you've just cost me $69 wanting to buy lowender

Hahahahahahaha... worth it. I use it on a send instead of an insert. Dial in your sound, then even as a send, I only set the mix knob to maybe 93%. Blend to taste. I've tried quite a few sub-harmonic plugins, but have always gone back to this. Easy to setup. :-)

[Acoustic_Spaces]

Jeeez!

i was on a Studiocosntruction Site the last two week in Berlin and was very surpised and happy to be in Round 2! I was and still am very Glad that you liked my Mix! But i had 3 Problems!
I was more than 600 km away from my Studio and i knew that i could finish the site at best on Friday (Yesterday).
In the Meantime since Round 1 i sold 2 essential pieces of Gear and changed/upgraded it.
I sold the Bettermaker Mastering EQ which i used on the Mixbus for corrective EQ, and changed it to a WES Audio NG Tube EQ with complete different curves, Ouch!
And i sold my paralel Drum crusher the NEVE 5043 and changed it to a 33609, Damn!
So before getting to the required Mix Changes i had to match the sound, which took a while but i did it.
Sometimes that stuff makes you think about ITB Mixing but on the other hand this is the "beauty" of Analog

So thanks again for getting the chance to contribute my Final Version.
Indeed the Bridge had lost Power Guitarwise cause i muted at the beginning of that part my rearbus, where the guitars where routed to for mor flesh. I deleted that mute in that part and wrote an extra db on the fader as well.
The Same goes for the Solo.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7cjxge4f ... 6e4pn&dl=0

Thankyou and good luck to everybody!

One Question is left: What has become of that Band? I looked over the www but i want to know if there is coming more? I like the Music!

[ThomC]

Hey everyone!

Here's my new mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MH2ubI ... sp=sharing

Very happy to be part of round two of this mix challenge , thank you @Edling for your consideration and for this great track!
I took into account what you said :

- Dip in energy in the choruses and bridge : I eased out on the mix buss compressor's action to allow for the choruses to breathe more and enhanced the intensity of the choruses with slight volume and EQ automations that only happen in the choruses.

- Pads a bit too present and muddy in the verses : I did exactly what you said and agree with you, some of the lower midrange of the pads was clashing with the lead vocal, I EQ'd it and lower the volume of those a tiny bit to make the vocal and the rest of the arrangement shine a bit more.

I balanced things a bit better and worked on more precise automation moves throughout the track. I felt like my mix was a bit too raw at times, the lead vocal was disappearing at times, some of the elements were a bit too present here and there.

I hope you'll like this one!

[Mister Fox]

It's the 23rd March 2025, 00:15 (UTC+1) - the 2nd Mix Round has officially ended.


STATISTICS

• Unfortunately, not everyone has sent in an edit (I count 13 out of 15), we therefore have 2 disqualifications (@Christian M. and @Alex Van mixland didn't submit anything)
• We have 0 Wild Card uses to advance into the next round (00 were available this month)
• We have 0 participants that decided on not to advance through the use of a Wild Card (00 were available this month)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline
• We have 0 submissions that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and are therefore disqualified (re-checked 23-MAR-2025 0:10 UTC+1/CET)

I will reach out to @Edling and forward all entries/statistics by sometime tomorrow (Sunday, 23-MAR-2025). 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. Most notably our Songwriting Competition - which is currently still in the submission and "work in progress" feedback period, with 48 hours left on the clock.

Please also consider becoming a Song Provider. Our Song Pool is dry! We have no more content after April 2025! No more material means no more Mix(ing) Challenges. The genre is not important -- but it must be a finished production.


See you on the flipside.

[Edling]

One Question is left: What has become of that Band? I looked over the www but i want to know if there is coming more? I like the Music!

When everyone in the band started getting their second kid the hassle of getting a rehearsal, or even worse a gig, together was just too much and we decided it was time to let go That was fifteen years ago, we still have some unreleased music that we recorded back in 2009 that we never finished, so who knows. If the stars align we might release it at some point just for fun

[Edling]

Big thanks to everyone who submitted a second revision to their mix, all of the mixes addressed the feedback which made these already good mixes even better. This of course made it even harder for me to pick the winners! It’s also fun to see that out of the top 3 picks I had from the first round, only one ended up on the winners podium after the second round.

Without delaying the result to long, the winners of this mix challenge are:

► Show Spoiler

First place: BenjiRage
Your mix has an awesome overall sound with an edge that is true to the song as well as the musical genre. The snare and bass adds a grit that makes it stand out while still preserving some commercial gloss on top of it. Great job!!!

Second place: FilipAndrei
Another fantastic mix that packs a lot of punch and weight. I love the space that you allow the guitars to take in the chorus, leaving some of those lower mids that many other mixes carved out. Great job!!!

Third place: Gertius
Great mix with punch, presence but yet clarity. The changes you made for the second round really turned something good into something great! Great job!!!

Congratulations to everyone!

For those who didn’t get picked for the top 15 and are waiting for feedback I’m still working going through all of the mixes. I’ve currently written feedback for 60 mixes, which means there's approx 50 to go . I will make a massive post and try to ping everyone when it’s ready!

[Mister Fox]

First and foremost, congratulations to the winners!
We are ending the game here, there will be no Mix Round 3.


The winners podium consists of:

1. @BenjiRage .....(entries: Mix Round 1, Mix Round 2)
2. @filipandrei .....(entries: Mix Round 1, Mix Round 2)
3. @Gertius .....(entries: Mix Round 1, Mix Round 2)

For learning purposes:
Here are the Statistic Sheets for Mix Round 2
Mix Round 2 - Overview of Submissions (PDF - updated: 23-MAR-2025 07:50 UTC+/CET, full sheet)



We perform with the usual - in order of the winners podium (first to last spot), please select one license out of the pool and mention it in this thread, then (important) get in touch with me via PM with your full name, email address and your plugin selection. If one company has been selected, it is not available for the rest of the podium anymore.

I'll update the "winners podium" thread shortly.


Thanks again for your participation. You can leave the thread alive if you want to exchange tips/tricks, edits, etc.
And thank you @Edling for the final words of feedback and encouragement.


Please check out Songwriting Competition 091, which does come with a "Special Task". The genre is "free to select" (10 entries so far).

See you on the flipside.

[BenjiRage]

Ahh wow thank you, Edling! I'm very stoked and humbled you chose my mix and I'm glad I could do the track justice. It really is a great song you provided for us this month - powerful, tuneful, excellent performances and extremely well produced, and it honestly was a pleasure to mix

Congratulations to FilipAndrei and Gertius too on making the podium, very well deserved!

I'd love to choose Metric Halo Multiband Dynamics as the bonus prize please if I could!

[Strange]

Ahh wow thank you, Edling! I'm very stoked and humbled you chose my mix and I'm glad I could do the track justice. It really is a great song you provided for us this month - powerful, tuneful, excellent performances and extremely well produced, and it honestly was a pleasure to mix

Congratulations to FilipAndrei and Gertius too on making the podium, very well deserved!

I'd love to choose Metric Halo Multiband Dynamics as the bonus prize please if I could!

Congratulations!

You've been my favourite from my first listening. So this confirms the old assumption that it's the first impression that counts.

[filipandrei]

Thanks @Edling for the multi-tracks, and also for picking my mix
A big congratulation to @BenjiRage, well deserved top mix

I would pick the T-Racks Tape Collection ( if @BenjiRage already picked the Metric Halo plugin )

Thanks a lot
Hope to see you in the next challenge