MIX CHALLENGE - MC076 May 2021 - Winners announced

[Dodgingrain]

Nice track! I went for a brighter more modern mix.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrkMQRCyg ... Q?e=qWxSWW

Drums:
Kick is gated to get rid of some of the flub and tighten up the track. Also eq'ed against the bass. Most of the rest of the drums are eq, compression, some distortion/saturation and some small panning. There is also a little bit of volume automation here and there to make the choruses hit a little harder. The drums minus the kick are parallel compressed at the bus level.

Bass: This has a lot on it, a REDDI, sans amp, eq, compression, and a transient shapper for more attack. The bass is also widened above 235Hz, mono below that. There are a few notes of the bass that I mutted out right before going into the choruses so they hit harder.

Guitars: Brighten up quite a bit, main guitar part is doubled with a double hard right with a slight delay, different eq curve and heavy reverb. Main guitar has a chorus while double does not.

Keys:
Mostly eq and compression. Rhodes and Piano are blended with a little bit of saturation on the piano.

Arp: This has some saturation and eq. Also the ping pong delay has some automation to take it out in a few spots where it doesn't make sense or I wanted a short drop between sections such as going into the chorus. Ping pong is nothing fancy, just waves H-Delay.

Pads: These have some eq to seperate the three along with some saturation to thicken them up a little bit. The dream pad is widened but the other two pad tracks are not.

Vocals: Used Melodyne to do a little bit of tuning here and there, sibilance control, and I did reduce some of the vibrato and pitch on a few small parts to even out the vocals and have them sound better. I think that would have been fine at the original vocal speed but it sounded strange on the vocals given they were sped up. I also used an eq match to bring the vocals between the chorus and verses a little closer but the chorus vocals have an ADT effect applied to make them different from the verses. I did go for the telephone effect in the vocals at the end which is mostly eq, saturation and compression. Beyond all that the vocals have a couple delays, reverb, parallel compression, and some dynamic eq. The backing vocals have a little less processing and I mainly used parallel compression, eq, some delay and reverb. The relative level on the reverse ah is quite a bit lower than in the production rough where it seemed out of place.

[skym]

What a fun song to mix. My theme for this mix was 'aspiritional Daft Punk'. Focused a lot on getting my body moving as I was mixing. Learning to use parallel comp and saturation so I tried to use those techniques to get some fullness in the instruments and to place the lead in front in addition to RVox and La-2A.

Here's my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aKM4kD ... sp=sharing Thanks for providing this song!

[tonyrd122]

Hi all!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7tljyb5lnocmt ... s.wav?dl=0

This was a blast to mix. The arrangement was a lot of fun to parse through. A quick overview of my work in Reaper:

Drums
Many elements benefitted from tape emulation. A parallel compression buss with an 1176 for kick, snare, and toms beefed the perc section up quite a bit. Several high end elements were put through the satan reverb for sparkle.

Bass
Pultec low end trick and side chain compression seemed to remedy the low end conflict.

Guitars
Didn't do much here, I liked the clean sound a lot. A little saturation and some selective delay.

Synths
My favorite part. I leaned heavily on the dream pad, and couldn't bring myself to turn the solo synth down any more. It's too tasty.

Vocals
1176 again, several layered reverbs. Played between slapback delay and long throws. Chorus elements got some chorus and a little mid and high mid boost for excitement. Couldn't resist putting BGVs into a huge washy verb ocean.

Thanks in advance! This is my first time here, so glad I found this. Incredibly fun track to mix!

[maxovrdrive]

Thank you @Christoph_K and Suspicious Flashlight for providing us this month's challenge.

Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cCLHtx ... sp=sharing

The first thing that had to be addressed after a static mix was the low-end. The kick needed tightening, mainly by using a gate and some compression. The SD had to be separated from the rest of the snares (claps) using EQ. I wanted the claps and the snare to be distinguishable even when they play together. I wanted the claps to complement and add instead of masking or replacing the snare. Only the Drumloop had significant eq as it was going to 'drive' the sections they were in. Except for Crash Reverse 1, the rest of the brightwork did not need processing.

The bass only needed some saturation/overdrive to help it through.

Guitar 1 needed some help. I added an amp sim with some eq, DDL, and verb. I had to make sure that it blended well into the track instead of distracting. Guitar 2 only needed a little eq. The group had minimal eq.

The Piano and Rhodes only needed minimal eq.

The "PAD" group had eq, Reverse Aah needed no processing. The rest of the individual, just minimal eq.

The "SOLO" group which included Bursted Flute and SoloSynth had no individual processing but only a group eq.

The LV and BGV needed more work than the rest as listed below. To honor one of my idols, I used Al Schmitt's plugin for both the lead and background vocals. Great chamber.

The first 90 percent of the mix was done fairly quickly... it was the last 10% that took a while... more automation and the occasional subtle eq move dictated through critical listening.

/////

Master Track
dynamic eq for movement
compression for glue
saturation for glue

"Blip Arp"
no processing

"DRMS GRP"
Compressor
EQ

"KICKaux"
"BD"
eq
gate
"KICKpar"
compressor

"SNRaux"
"SD"
EQ
"Claps 2"
EQ
"Claps 1"
EQ (Cockos)
"SNRpar"
compressor

"LOOPSaux"
"808 Toms"
"Congaloop"
EQ
"808 Cowbell"
EQ
"Drumloop"
EQ
"LOOPSpar"
compresssor

"BRIGHTaux"
"Crash Reverse 1"
EQ
"Crash Reverse 2"
"Crash 2"
"Crash 1"
"Shaker"
"HH 1"
"Tambourine"
"HH 2"
"Open HH"

"BASS GRP"
"BASSsat"
Saturation Knob
"Bass"
EQ

"GTR GRP"
EQ
"GTR 1"
EQ
AMP Sim with DDL and Verb
"GTR 2"
EQ

"PNO GRP"
EQ
"Rhodes"
EQ
"Piano"
EQ

"PAD GRP"
EQ
"Reverse Aah"
"Glass Pad"
EQ
"Strings"
EQ
"Dream Pad"
EQ
"BellTree"
EQ
Compressor
Long verb

"SOLO GRP"
EQ
"Bursted Flute"
"SoloSynth"

"BGV GRP"
soothe2
Compressor
"BGV"
EQ
"Ad Libs"
EQ
Long verb (automated mix knob)
"BGVroom"
Al Schmitt verb
"BGVddl"
EQ
DDL

"LV GRP"
soothe2
Deesser
Compressor
EQ
"LV Verse"
EQ
"LV Bridge A"
EQ
"LV Bridge B"
EQ
"LV Chorus"
EQ
"LV Chorus Outro"
EQ
"LVsat"
Saturation Knob
"LVroom"
Al Schmitt verb

[IbanezoO]

Thanks for providing the song! It was really fun to mix that!

In such a mix it's important for me to figure out what should be the key elements in the mix. I decided to focus on kick, snare/claps, vocals. Everything else was blended by taste.

The kick got a Pultec EQ and an additional Neve EQ to boost around 60hz, 4.1k and 8k that feeds a Distressor with 50% mix and 6:1 ratio.

The snare got a low cut at 125hz, a boost at 5k and additional attack from a transient shaper.

The claps got a low cut at 355hz and a lot of saturation to cut through. Kick, snare and claps are sent to a room reverb. Cut some mids on the bus and glued the drum tracks together with an SSL style bus compressor.

The bass was split into two tracks to control the low and high frequencies separately. The higher frequencies were driven through a bass AMP with an additional boost at 3.2k and a low pass filter to get rid of some sizzle. Both tracks were then bussed together for some compression.

Guitar 1 got a Haas effect to create a stereo image. After that I bussed the two guitars for further processing which is a low cut at 224hz and a boost at 7.5k. The bus is sent to a room reverb. And it got also ducked by a sidechain compression feeded by the piano/rhodes bus. That caused the piano/rhodes hits to cut through.

Blip Arp got a pan automation from PanCake2 to get some movement, a boost at 2k and an 1176 to cut through. Piano and Rhodes were panned hard L/R and bussed together with a wide bell boost at 4.8 k. I mono'd the reverse crashed as they were too phasy for me. DreamPad and SoloSynth got stereo widening, bursted flute got heavily distorted and drowned in reverb.

The lead vocals got sends to a plate, a 1/4th delay and a hall that all got automated by taste and by need. For the pre-chorus I added a octave higher pitched vocal track. Otherwise it was all pretty basic stuff like high-passing, cutting out annoying frequencies, de-essing, serial compression (1176 into LA-2A) and saturation.

For BGV I duplicated the track twice for more pitch shifting to create harmonies that are panned slightly L/R. Ad Libs got pan automation, a low cut at 590 hz and saturation. All vocal tracks were bussed together for an SSL bus compressor.

I created a rear bus that got feed by all instruments but vocals, drums and bass and blended it by taste.

The mix bus only got a little EQ to remove mud and add air as well as bus compression with 2dB of gain reduction and a tape simulation to round off the transients.

Loudness-wise everything should be ok.

Here's the file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16x-EFA ... sp=sharing

Good luck to all of you!

[Beja]

I have spent several hours working on this mix and have really enjoyed it !!!

I want to express my thanks to Mr Fox and especially to Suspicious Flashlight for providing the material (no music, no mixing!)

Here's my mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/27e1vgnid9izc ... a.wav?dl=0


How I heard the mix: (Google Translate)

BD: I have processed the kicks to give it more presence in the mix through eq and noise gate (gate). To give you more punch and moderate your
long tail. This brought a lot of clarity to the punch.

SD: I have placed this sound with eq in the mix, to accompany BD.

Droomloops: Eq to give them brightness and compression to give the analogy toqueue drums that the song has.

Blip: it was placed in the mix as an important sound and its stereo field worked.

Corga Loop. Compression on your sound group and side change on the Drums group so you can stand out.

808 Cowells: eq compression, hard panning automation

808 Toms: eq compression, soft panning automation

low: compression and eq and eq side change. Eq side change with BD

Claps: musical eq and greater presence in the whole mix of claps

Treble sound range: Equalization and panning

Busted Flaute: Frequency separation of sound and effects into only some frequencies. Mute automation to achieve the creative effect.

Pads: Eq and Compression

G1 and G2: Eq and Saturation. They were able to keep their bass sounds, especially in the beginning of the song.

Piano and Rodes: Eq and group.

LV: Compression, Eq. Annoying frequency search across its entire spectrum.


Female Voice: Comp and Eq


Greetings to all and good luck for the contest !!!

Beja

[PGPMixing]

Hi everyone,

what an interesting and moving song! I really appreciated mixing it.
Here is the link to my mixed version:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U3h7RT ... sp=sharing

My general approach to the mix:
- enforcing punch and bass to create a danceable track -> the kick has to hit you in the neck every time
- staying rather dry, reverbs shall be more atmospheric and ambient -> no noticeable reverbs at all
- the track needs to be open and wide at the same time

My personal challenge:
- only using FREE PLUGINS and stock plugins of FL Studio

Mentionable mixing moves:

DRUMS/PERC
Kick
- BPAGate to shorten the Oomph
- FetSnap (transient shaper) and FETISH (compressor) to enforce and shape the punch -> the neck has to hurt !!!
- EQ & Rare (pultec) to shape the tone and low end

Claps
- Claps 1 -> Ultra-Wide-Chorus Flanger (FL Studio preset)
- Claps 2 -> centered and mono

Drumloop
- FETISH (compressor), smacked really hard to get a roomy sound

Snare
- FetSnap (transient shaper) and FETISH (compressor) to enforce and shape the punch
- TRANSATURE for saturation

808 Toms
- FETISH (compressor) to control the transients

Rest
- All drum and percussion tracks have been EQed and panned to fit in the mix

BASS
before splitting into high and low busses
- FETISH (compressor) to control the dynamics and the transients of the bass

high frequency bus (> 250 Hz)
- PREBOX for immense saturation -> the bass track now doesnt need that much low and sub low information to cut through the mix, saving space for the neck-shattering kick drum

low frequency bus (< 250 Hz)
- EQ

after splitting into high and low busses
- Another EQ and Rare (pultec) to shape the tone to fit into the mix

GTR 1
- FETISH (compressor) to control the dynamics and transients
- CHOWTapeModel for dynamic control and saturation
- EQ

Piano
- FETISH (compressor) to control the transients and enhance the sustain of the piano tones
- EQ

Rhodes
- FETISH (compressor) to control the dynamics
- EQ
- PREBOX for saturation

Synths
- really nothing special on all the tracks, just EQ, compression and some saturation to make every synth fit...
- the compression was mainly done with FETISH and LALA

Ad Libs
- added a very subtle chorus effect (FL Studio)
- LALA (compressor) to control the dynamics
- EQ

Background Vocals
- FETISH (compressor) to control the dynamics
- EQ

Lead Vocals
- Every part needed to be EQed seperately to match all the other parts
- Especially the chorus LV were tricky. The spectral image was not consistent. I used a lot of dynamic EQ (TDR Nova) to make it match to the other parts.
- a lot of volume automation before and after the compression
- compression: FETISH
- saturation: CHOWTapeModel
- EQ
- I added one automated infite delay for some parts of the track

Mix Bus
- Britpressor (compressor/limiter) in compression mode, only around 1 dB of gain reduction
- CORALBAXTER (EQ) to enforce the high-end
- TesslaPromkII (saturator) for tape saturation

In general
- Almost every track has reverb or delay on it... BUT very subtle and most of the time in combination with a chorus or flanger effect to make it very atmospheric

That's all.
Cheers and good luck.

[qhtrvw425]

My Mix : https://florycq-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g ... A?e=2Ca8Xo

Hello, it's mainly processed with the Softube Console 1 SL4000 E channel strip, in every channels.
Other plugins - delay(Echoboy), reverb(Lexicon PCM), mixbus saturator(Fabfilter Saturn).
I try to preserve a original mix's directionality. No dramatic changes.
If you like plain mixes, it will be suitable.
Thank you.

qhtrvw425

[mattchavesaudio]

HEY GUYS!!!!

NOT GONNA LIE! I DID A LOT!

I felt like this needed to sound like a BOP. I basically made the drums PUNCH. And everything sound super crisp.

IDK see what you think. Sounds pretty darn good to me!

Here's the link:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgSh1FFknsy8fUvxWfo9LNbKLJo

[aalekso0]

Hallo

https://www.dropbox.com/s/56zrndwzqo1p8 ... 0.wav?dl=0

Mixed in Studio One Pro 4.6.2
Integrated loudness -17.9 LUFS, TP -3.66
Very nice song i enjoyed working
Drums bus:
Red 3 focusrite Compressor
Kick Pteq-x Parallel to Distortion , Compression 1176
Snare Distortion and Gated with reverb
Bass Bus:
Red 3 Focusrite Compressor
Di bass doubled Added Dist opto compressor, Pteq-x
And Sidechain from kick -1 -2 db
GTR bus:
E 4000 and Spring Reverb
Keys bus:
E 4000 and Spring Reverb
SoloSynth – Delay
Bursted Flute – Saturation
Pads bus:
E 4000
Vox bus
E 4000 on channels eq and comp.
Cream 2 pre, La-2a on bus Slap Delay and Reverb
On Chorus and pre chorus used Vocaliser Pitched 3-4 semi tones
BGVOX bus
Same as Vox
Master bus :
Only Fairchield 670 compressor -1 -2 db compressed

Good Luck
Cheers