Mix Challenge

Mister Fox wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 14, 2022 21:47 CEST

A bonus info:

To those not being good with the English language, I can recommend taking a look at the Deepl Translation Engine. Keep in mind: documentation, at bar minimum one sound you're most proud of in terms of sculpting, is part of the game.

Thanks, Mixing description has been added

White Punk OD wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 15, 2022 04:16 CEST

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... gabh?hl=en
also very handy, there should be a version for firefox as well.
it is a shell for both the google and MS translators and has an optional input window.
it can translate any web content with one click to a preferred language, for example the rule book, for those who have learned other languages more than english..
text volume is limited though. do paragraph for paragraph.

thanks

Did anyone else experience the file 05_Cajon_front.wav give an error when unpacking the zip file?

I tried 2x and both times all .wav files worked fine, except for 05_cajon_front.wav which only renders half of the track. At the end of the track there is a loud audio "glitch".

I used 7zip to unpack.

Anyone else have this issue?

Link to original file has been broken, allowed re-post of new link by staff

Here's mix mix up again, thank you Mr.Fox

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FRm3O8 ... sp=sharing

PistolPete wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 17, 2022 08:37 CEST

Did anyone else experience the file 05_Cajon_front.wav give an error when unpacking the zip file?

I tried 2x and both times all .wav files worked fine, except for 05_cajon_front.wav which only renders half of the track. At the end of the track there is a loud audio "glitch".

Just to be on the safe side, I downloaded the file from the server (with Firefox, Windows), unpacked on the oldest HDD I have in my rig, and then went from there. 7zip v15 (which these files were packed in, 2015 version) resulted in no error, 7zip v19 (2019 version) also resulted in no error. Loading into Cubase on a barely empty HDD also didn't result in any errors or glitches.

Since I don't know if you're on MacOS or Windows, I kindly ask you to redownload the file again, and maybe try a more recent version of 7zip. Or, if possible, even try on a different rig.



Just as a friendly reminder for everyone:
Including today, 5 days left to submit your mix.

Hello!
Mix link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T8BueN ... sp=sharing

I mixed this song all ITB in Reaper using only stock plugins. I started by making a rough balance and panning and then added my mix template to bring the song to a finished quality. Biggest challenge for me was to extract the snare from the drums loop. I felt it was buried and lacking some impact, so i duplicated the loop track and filtered it to bring the snare out. Then compressed and blended in with main loop.
I enjoied mixing this song. The vibe reminds me of the band MY BABY. Check it out on spotify, I like them very much.

Cheers,
Giovanni

Hi. Thanks to Los_ady and Mister Fox. A pleasure to mix this tune, nice fusion of pop with magrebi vibes (what an amazing genre, by the way). I've tried to reinforce the north african flavor of the song giving percussion and ribab an important role. Mixed using just Reaper stock pluggins (as the mate before me, nice).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12DzNqW ... sp=sharing

Some spots worth mentioning:

- Each group of instruments carries its parallel compression.

- The loop was duplicated. The freqs of the copy were cut to let just the mid lows to go through. Both tracks were blended to get some punchiness.

- Sax and trumpet. Sidechain with ribab to give the latter a more important role when coinciding.

- Intro and solo. Aditional reverb to get a slight ethereal effect.

- Bass. Duplicated (lows/highs) and both blended to get a more rythmical element. More vivid.

Greetings and good luck to everyone.

Thanks to Ady, the band and to Mister Fox for the chance to work on this amazing track.

here's the link for my entry
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fqREI4 ... sp=sharing

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was very difficult indeed having such a diverse set of instruments, but a lot of fun! I went for the cleaner approach, but also like all the ones I've heard which have applied a load of distortion.

Some specific notes on my mix

Verse guitar
I found that the part starts and stops in a way which leaves the track missing it, so I put in a delay setting which stretches the part over the section more fully. This creates a bigger contrast to the chorus.

Percussion/drums
The grouping for the drum bus was everything bar the Karkaba. Then I treated the drum bus to 3db of compression and 30ms attack, 2:1 ratio and fastest release (like a drum kit setting) and I treated the parallel compression set to 10db of compression with a 10:1 ratio, 30ms attack, fastest release.

The Calabash I rolled off the very top frequencies as they were a bit too disruptive to the vocals, we want to hear that rhythm in there but not stepping on the whole top end.

The Cajon and Calabash were panned dead centre as I was finding if you separate the bottom of the Cajon say and the top then it's harder to hear it as one instrument with everything else that's going on.

Some phase flips were needed for some percussion instruments tracks to get the fullest sound.

Horns
I made some automation to the trumpet to give it matching dynamics to the saxophone swells on the choruses. Also gave them delay/reverb to try to fill out the sound more.

Bass
Needed some careful cuts to the lo mid.

Distorted guitar in intro/break
Given some gentle automation to build tension

Solo section
I panned the solo instruments either side and the Ribab comes more to the centre.

Vocal
used the dbx 160 to help to control what is a very dynamic take.

Mixbus
CENTER with sides boosted 1dB
PSP Vintage Warmer on a light tape preset adjusted somewhat
Solid Dynamics compressor doing up to 2dB on 2:1 ratio, release 0.1s, attack 30ms.

———————————————————

In all honesty I didn’t want to stop here, but have to go away this weekend and so that has called time on me.
Good luck to all.

Many thanks to Ady, the band and to Mister Fox for the chance to work on this amazing and challenging track!

Full ITB mix in Ableton Live 11.

Drums: all channels have an API channel strip (EQ + Comp)
Bass: pultec (coloring eq), BX Black Box (saturation), 1176
Vocal: 1073 (coloring eq, pre), 1176 comp, Deesser, BX Black Box (saturation), pultec (coloring eq), LA2A
Guitars: 1073 (coloring + preamp), BX Black Box (saturation), Low Cut EQ

MIX BUS: No effect + Left enough headroom for mastering.
Drum Bus: T-Racks mastering EQ (high shelf boost, low cut), BX Black Box, Glue comp
Guitar Bus: Glue comp, BX Black Box, Low Cut EQ

Return channels:
Reverb - Vocal, Guitar Bus, Trumpets, Sax
Delay - Drum Bus
Parallel Comp - Drum Bus, Guitar Bus, Vocal

Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_x7VcI ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l4QFTU ... sp=sharing

Hey there! Hope you enjoy this mix! Here's a few things I did to the tracks:

Desert Roses Beat: 1176 into pultec to boost low end around 60 hz and highs around 8k.

I routed all the percussion in to a buss where I applied an SSL G channel plugin and some saturation.

Bass: UA hitsville eq and side chain compression to the desert roses beat.

BGVs: I routed the BGVs to an aux channel with just a little tape delay 100% dry and 6% wet. Then some verb and some eq to clean up the verb. I also added UA plate verb directly to the BGV bus to make the reverb more pronounced.

Lead vocal chain: Channel eq > De Esser > 1176 > LA2A > Pultec. Also routed to the same aux channel as the BGVs. Just a little bit of that.