Mix Challenge

TrueFlowStudio wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 11, 2020 20:17 CET

Greetings everyone!

First of all, I have to say this is my first attempt at mix challenge, I hope I won't throw garbage in your ears . Should it be the case, or not, I would truly appreciate any kind of feedback.

Great mix

Hi

Mixed on Pro Tools, no reference track used.

Drums: No plugin on individual track except on kick 2 bx_console SSL 4000 E and snare 1 & 2 UAD Little Labs VOG
Drum Bus: SoundToys Radiator
Drum Bus Parallel: SoundToys Devil-Loc Deluxe - UAD Little Labs VOG - Softube Harmonics - Metric Halo TransientControl

Bass Bus: SoundToys Radiator - Waves RBass

Guitar Bus: SoundToys Radiator - Brainworx townhouse Buss Compressor

Synth Bus: Nothing special

Violins: UAD Neve 1073 - UAD Maag EQ4 - Oeksound soothe2 - TC VSS3

Vocal: FabFilter Pro-Ds - UAD Teletronix LA-2A Gray

Vocal Parallel: FabFilter Pro-Ds - Softube Harmonics - UAD UA 1176 Rev A

Widening, Pans, Automations, Reverbs and Delay of course!

WAW: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxtfu42rhs1du ... a.wav?dl=0

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/67fegpkdgizvg ... a.mp3?dl=0

Thanks

Hi all!

Thank you to the artist and Mix Challenge for providing such a cool song to work on

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69vzg88ic824e ... 2.wav?dl=0

My mix setup is coming from Pro Tools out into my Nicerizer 16 channel summing mixer. The Nicerizer has 2 outputs, A and B. On A I have my 33609 clone (Heritage Audio HA-609A) and on B I have a pair of Pulse Techniques Pultecs (500 series EQP-500X’s). I blend these two together in parallel. These both go back into Pro Tools and sum into my mixbus which is the following chain:

Mixbus Chain:

1. Ultramarine 4 (Acustica Audio Fairchild 670). It’s only at about 25% wet…mostly dry…I use this for excitement.
2. Sand 3 Comp (Acustica Audio SSL Bus compressor). I use this for a bit of glue and that “record” sound.
3. Coffee EQ (Acustica Audio Curve Bender EQ). Subtle and subtle shaping of the mix.
4. Gullfoss EQ (very subtle). I have the recover at 12% and tame at 7% for this mix.
5. Bx Digital V2. I’m only using the mono maker at 68hz…to keep the subs in the center. Then in the chorus only, I automate the width knob to 106%, I boost the high end of the sides about 1db around 10k…and the center channel around 40hz .5 db. All this does is makes the chorus slightly wider, deeper and bigger.
6. After a break mixing…I felt it needed slightly more sub, and air. So, finally I added the Maag EQ to slightly boost the sub and air band. Very subtle.

Things to note for the mix. I use the Plugin Alliance SSL 9000J channel strip on every channel. I start by balancing everything, and as I balance I pay attention to anything that needs special care, movement, dirt, excitement, etc. Sometimes at this point I like to add delays (to delay one side) on stereo synths and things to create width and depth. I did this quite a bit on this song as there is a lot of stuff going on and I didn’t want it all mushing together. Some of the synths/pads/guitar parts got subtle distortion to help cut through as well. I really like Digidesign LoFi for saturation and gentle distortion. Also used a bit of Decapitator, Saturation knob, Radiator, etc.

Once I have my overall balance I start by tweaking some of the mixbus…usually the Fairchild, and the Curve Bender to get a bit of excitement and shaping. At the same time, I’m mixing through my hardware chains (609 and Pultecs). Once I get an overall sound I like, I dive into individual tracks.

Typically I’m jumping around on the SSL 9000J channel strip just really making everything fit together. I don’t solo too much, I just jump around and go off instinct.

At some point, I’ll probably revisit the mixbus and pop in the SSL Bus comp (Sand 3)…This will help glue everything for me and give me more of a "record sound" to push into.

From there it’s really just tweaking and adding things like distortion, maybe some compression or transient designers to individual tracks, more colorful or surgical eq, etc. to get things popping the way I want.

As for the vocal, it went out to a hardware chain. Into my Ha-73 EQX2 for a bit of saturation and EQ. Then into an SSL 611EQ and finally into an Audioscape 1176 Blue Stripe. I printed this back in. I added some plugins too, MV2, UAD Zen Limiter, Slate DeEsser, and the 9000 channel strip (which was doing nothing, but I add it to every channel so it stayed).

I also sent the vocals to an aux and create a doubling effect (delay, pitch shift, widening, etc.) for the chorus to give it something wider vocally. Just comes in on the chorus.

Once I feel like I’m getting really happy, I’ll pop on the Gullfoss EQ just to see if it improves the mix…in this case, it did slightly so I kept it on…again very gentle settings.

At this point I probably started adding effects. I used:

1. AMS RMX 16 UAD on non lin (vocals, snare, Serum Lead).
2. AKG BX 20 UAD (vocals)
3. Lexicon 224 UAD (vocals in pre chorus and chorus)
4. Arturia Dimension D (vocals, serum lead, synth motion, guitar, bass tracks).
5. EP 34 UAD (vocals)
6. Slate Repeater (vocals)

I ride them to taste.

From here I keep tweaking, switching monitors and making sure everything is working well. I start doing automation, riding faders, riding the master fader a bit, etc. At some point I added the bx digital EQ to make the chorus a bit bigger. I took a break and came back…and just added the Maag EQ to extend the top and bottom, and worked on the bass track a bit more to make the low end more "modern."

That’s pretty much it My overall thought for this song was "sound design, lot's of motion, and a heartfelt/edgy type of Emotion..."

Thanks again, this was a fun one!

Seth

I really enjoyed working on the mix of this song, even if it's really far from what I usually do or listen.
The arrangement of the song is well made and the synths / violin parts melt very well together , i had fun writing VCA automation thru my midi controller.
I did the mix using Reaper ,here below the treatment I used on each bus:

MIXBUS : tape simulator and compression a pultec and a SSL Bus compressor (SAND3)

KICK -EQ and I did a bit of clipping with Standardclip.

DRUMS - shaped with Diamond transient 3bx and light compression with Pink 4 comp.

BASS - I did a bit of saturation on the "Bass hold" to gave some presence in the mix

SYNTH - i grouped everything in 3 busses and treathed different but basicly i want to give some preamp / saturation to make it sound less digital/sample avoiding harshness and i automated them.

STRINGS - basic eq and used a ozone Exciter to bring up some presence.

GUITAR - Camel channel strip and space echo from UAD

VOCAL- edited and cleaned taking out some clip , I adjusted the volume of each the verses, the chain is quite complex but basicly i cleaned everything and did a bit of saturation and Limiting /clipping.
I used a paralle compression and 2/3 different reverb/ delay I automated diffent following the vibes of the song.


Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmtLUS ... sp=sharing

Dear all,
Many thanks Mr. Fox and song provider for this nice track to mix. Please find below my mix:

[Dropbox link to mix]

DAW = Cubase 10.0.60
Integrated LUFS = -17.5
True Peak = -3.5 dB
WAV, 44.1kHz, 24bit

Mix Preparation
Preliminary raw balance: cleaning-up, setting levels, panning/stereo spreading, check/invert phase (left untouched), HPF on most of the tracks, LPF on some tracks. Quite a lot of automation (long-term and detailed) for the final steps of the mix.

Drums group
Create sub-groups for Kick, Snare, Cymbals/FXs
Sub-group “Kick” = applied Nicky Romero’s Kickstart for punching
Kick 1 & 2: apply dbx-160 compressor
Sub-group “Snare”
Snare1: applied dbx-160 compressor
Snare2: characterful dynamic compressor
Intersnare: “transparent” compressor
Sub-group “Cymbals+FX” = applied a touch of little radiator
Hats: API-250 compressor to shape the tone
Downer: Parallel delay on specific parts of the song
Rise long and crash without modification

Bass group
Added A1StereoControl to the group to set frequencies < 150 Hz to mono
Bass hold : Automation on-off along the track to reinforce.
Bass stabs: dbx-160, RBass and Parallax. Sidechaining with bass hold. For both basses, applied a limiter at the end of the chain for consistency.

Rhythm guitars group
I used both Rob Papen RG dry and wet guitars: CLA-3A compressor on both tracks for a grittier tone.
For this group, I’ve applied a parallel convolution reverb.

Synths group
I applied a subtle SSL-compressor to this group.
Pads Haunt and Blue in Gray: Tape saturation and creative parallel reverb.
Pads Haunt High and BinG high: creative parallel reverb.
Synth Motion MUMT: I used the dry version, I modified the tone with a Pultec-like EQ and applied parallel tape saturation.
Arpegg: applied a dbx-160 compressor.
SQ Soft: applied Decapitator and creative panning
SQ Harsh: left without modification
Violins: applied transparent compressor, adjust the stereo spread with MSED and parallel reverb (size and tone) and tape saturation. A lot of automation on the parallel sends to create an evolving atmosphere.
Serum lead: applied parallel distortion
Synth tops: API-250 and little radiation, parallel shimmering and filtering (at the end of the track)
Sparkle: Applied saturation and parallel delay

LV
Applied de-esser, sequential compression (chained 1176 + LA2A) and parallel delay, reverb, saturation and pitch-shifting. Dynamic EQ for de-esering. A lot of small and large scale (volume) automation.

Main Mix Buss
Gentle SSL-G master compressor for gluing the mix together and subtle tape saturation.

Best wishes,
Pablo

Hi all,

What a nice track to mix. Thankx for providing it!
I like the sounds and the vocal performance is really an enjoyment!
This time I did a bit more than just mixing the track. I felt it needed some touch of production techniques to bring more variety and attention.
First the bass was to static for my ears. I kept the bass hold quiet low and added some delay to the bass stabs, to enhance the groove of the bass.
Second I copied the first vocal chorus to the last chorus as second voice to get some increase of the vocals. And I added some delay to some parts of the vocals.
I hope you like my ideas!

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zyqguq9j9m61z ... c.mp3?dl=0
WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/smtjmm1mnoyin ... c.wav?dl=0

Mixed in Reaper v5.99

DRUM-BUS: Thrillseeker VBL, FerricDTS and Thrillseeker XTC. Each of them for small steps in satturation and compression.
Kicks: ReaEQ
Snares: ReaGate for shorten the sound of Snare1, ReaEQ
all other drum sounds: ReaEQ
Bass hold: side compression from Bass Stabs
Bass Stabs: ReaEQ, NastyDLA to add some rhythm effect to the bass
Pads: ReaEQ
Synth motion Dry: ReaEQ, ThrillseekerXTC, Tall Reverb III
Rob Papen: ReaEQ, Transpire to enhance transients, GreenEugen to add satturation
Synth tops: ReaEQ
Arpegg: GreenEugen for satturation, ReaEQ, MidSideMangle for more stereo with, Transpire for more transients, ThrillseekerXTC
SQ soft: ReaEQ
SQ harsh: GreenEugen for satturation, ReaEQ, MidSideMangle for more stereo with
Violine: ReaEQ, ThrillsekerXTC
Sparkle: RaEQ
Serum Lead: ReaEQ, NastyDLA, ThrillseekerXTC
Vocal: ReaEQ, Presswerk, TDR Nova, for De-essing, ReaDelay for Tab-Delay, ThrillseekerXTC,
Vocal DBL: copy of the first chorus to add it to the last chorus as second voice, ReaTune, ReaEQ, Presswerk, Acon Digital Multiply

Reverbs: Acon Digital Verberate 2
Master: MQ57, Presswerk, Youlean Loudness Meter 2, SPAN

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mix071 Report - Oba Ozai Nov 2020
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Greetings to all readers.

Mix071 was a great experience with good challenges. I am a student (i probably will always be). I have no fancy outboard equipment other than an older UAD Apollo 8 unit. I mix in my study room at home. Monitors are not that great. My Mac is older, gets slow at times. This is about as heavy load as I can give her.

Panning and EQ was done by ear (I guess sort of like everyone ese, but with different results), expect some weirdness. I Panned the Bass Stabs a bit to the left to separate from Bass Hold bit. Most of the focus is to the near center but I did try to create some separation with some sounds. I keep experiencing interesting challenges with panning. Interesting to me how sound blends to form something a bit different that I would expect (that probably does not happen to pros). A small panning change could make big difference. I know by now there are panning standard, I try to stick to them as much as I can but I also like to experiment because is fun. Or so it seems to me. I put a lot of emphasis on phase, but I realize is not perfect. Im self trained so I mostly experiment with sounds as an exercise. For me is a hobby. Never though of it as a business. Never worked directly with a teacher. You been warned.

——————————————————————————————————————————
Kit Section:
Kick 1 and Kick 2 (Center) -> EQ -> UAD DBX 160 (m) => Kick Buss
Hats (R4) -> EQ -> VST Compressor
Crash (Center)-> EQ -> VST Compressor
Downer (Center) -> EQ -> VST Stereo Enhancer
Snare 1 (Center) ->EQ -> VST Compressor => Snare Buss
Snare 2 (Center) ->EQ -> VST Compressor => Snare Buss
Inter Snare (Center) -> EQ -> VST Compressor => Snare Buss
——————————————————————————————————————————
Bass Section:
Bass Hold (Center) -> EQ -> MaxBass (m) -> RBass (m) -> BassMInt (m) ->
VST Bass Amp => Bass Buss
Bass Stabs (L5) -> EQ -> VST Morph Filter -> VST Dual Filter - > UAD Helios T69 ->
UAD Fairchild 660 (m) -> Bass Mint -> UAD Helios T69
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Pads Section:
Pad BinQ (R50) -> EQ =>Pad Buss
Pad Blue in Gray (Center) -> EQ -> VST Dual Filter -> VST Flanger ->
UAD Helios T69 (m) => Pad Buss
Pad Papen RG Wet (R60) -> EQ => Stereo Out
Pad Papen RG Dry (Center) -> EQ -> VST Morph Filter -> UAD Helios T69 (m) -> Ozone 7 ->
Dynamic EQ => Pad Buss
Pad Haunt (R60) -> EQ => Pad Buss
Pad Haunt High (Center) -> EQ => Pad Buss
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Synths Section:
Rise Long (Center) -> EQ => Synth Buss
Sparkle (Center) -> EQ => Synth Buss
SQ Soft (Center) -> EQ => Synth Buss
SQ Hard (Center) -> EQ => Synth Buss
Arpeggiator (R16) -> EQ => Synth Buss
Synth Tops (L20) -> EQ => Stereo Out
Synth Motion Dry (L2) -> EQ -> VST Compressor => Synth Buss
Synth Motion MVMT Dry (R60) -> EQ -> VST Compressor => Synth Buss
Synth Motion MVMT Wet (R2) -> EQ -> UAD Fairchild 660 (m) => Synth Buss
Serum Lead (L50) -> EQ -> UAD Helios T69 => Synth Buss
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Violin (L10) -> EQ -> Helios T69 => Stereo Out
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Vox (Center) -> EQ -> UAD Antares -> UAD Helios T69 => Stereo Out
Sends -(7.59) -> UAD RealVerv
—————————————————————————————————————————-
FX Section:
Kick Buss (Center) -> EQ => UAD dbx 160 (m) => Stereo Out
Snare Buss (L5) -> EQ => UAD dbx 160 (m) => Stereo Out
Bass Buss (Center) - EQ => Stereo Out
Pads Buss (R6) ->EQ -> VST Dual Filter => Stereo Out
Synths Buss (L30) -> EQ -> VST Imager => Stereo Out

Volume Automation on tracks: Vox, Vilolin, Synth Buss, Pads Buss, Serum, Bass Hold, Bass Stabs.

Post Stereo Out (Monitoring only):
1- Voxengo SPAN
2- VST Super Vision

All VST are from Steinberg. Started using Cubase 10, ended with Cubase 11.

Output File: Wave 44.1/24 -16.1 LUFS -3.87 db TP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bn3NLB ... sp=sharing


Wave file + Images:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your mix

Hi,

Such a nice track to mix ! And the mix : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qEKLhS ... sp=sharing

Summary :

Tried a different approach by filtering everything. And I mean everything.

Rhythmic synth (Arpegg, Soft and harsh SQ) :

• multiband low-shelf@360, Eq, limiter
• Sent into short verb and "music" parallel comp

multiband

Clean synth (Rob papen & Motion synth) :

• EQ, limiter, chorus.
• Sent into short verb, stereo delay, 1/8D delay and music comp

Lead Synth (Serum, tops & sparkle)

• EQ and stereo widening
• Sent into plate w/ long predelay, pitch shifted reverb, stereo delay, 1/8D delay and music comp

Bass (every track with bass in the name)

• Parallel distortion on sub. Multiband comp, limiter. Sidechained to the kick(s)
• Sent to drum comp, short verb and flanger

Vox

• Leveler into 76-style comp.Multiband into lufitkus, limiter, stereo widening
• Throw track : outputs to nowhere but is sent to 1/2 note delay (+stereo delay + pitch reverb). Volume automation where I want throws to happen.
• Sent into parallel vox comp, plate w/predelay, slap (15-inch-ish), hall verb, 1/4 note delay, stereo delay. Maybe to much...

Long synth (Pads, organ, violins)

• EQ, limiter
• Sent into long verb and music comp

Drums (the rest)

• 3 groups : kick, snare, aux
• Tape sat, EQ, comp. White noise to verbs on snares.
• Kick and snare to drum comp. Kick to short verb. Snare sent to a mix of short, medium and long verb. Aux into short verb.

Master bus : Kotelnikov into MS-EQ

Automation : VCA automation on FX. Volume adjustements.
In memorian of my subwoofer.

Hello friends, have a listen to this mix

BTW, it was so much fun to mix. Well recorded tracks and the genre suits for me I think.


I started mixing the drums, my goal was to make them sound as natural as posible. So after I balanced, panned and cut harsh frecuencies with pointy EQs I put some compression in bus with more broad EQs to gain low end and some high mids. In parallel I put some saturation, reverb and delay to make them sound as they were in a room.

Next, I mix vocals. My goal was to make it sound very futuristic but warm and charming. I did not pitch corrected as the singer was very on point most of the time (cheers to that). My chain was, cuting with EQ, little compression, saturation, more eq for boosting, delay, reverb, and chorus. I also doubled the vocals to pan them 100% stereo and put a delay and chorus in it. After that I automated more reverb and delay for when the vocals stoped and in the chorus.

After that i put the bass and the sub in mono. Sidechained with the kick and double the sub a octave higher for more presence. I saturated a little bit and add very tiny reverb and chorus in parallel for bass.

Continuing with the synths I started to mix the main one (the one that stays almost for the entire song) followed by the ones that ocasionally arrive. I think they were good as they were but they were clashing some times. So I carved EQs so each one had a specific frecuency range and stereo width. I automated a lot of volume and paning, reverbs and filters (mainly low pass filters) so they transition well into the diferent sections and have a moving feeling.

With the guitar I had a similar aproach as with synths. They were panned to one side with some delay and saturation in parallel.

I was almost done after I realised there was some PADS I didn't hear before, I put them higher only in the begining and in the choruses, as I felt they didn't contribute too much in the verses. If you listen carefully, they are there, but only to support the other elements. They also have some reverb, delay, filter and paning automation.

Finally, in the mix bus I compressed the mids and lower the low end with EQ. Nothing else. I was tempting to put more things but, idk maybe at this point, my ears were drowned in the song, that they might as well mistake something unnecessary for something good.



Well, if you've read so far and listened, thank you. Hope to read some feedbacks.

Have a good week!