Mix Challenge

Hi All,

This is my first time here too. First post…and my first mix. I’m a hobbyist, but I do really enjoy mixing.

I limited myself to mainly using leveling, panning and timing adjustments on the individual tracks.

After that, I merged the tracks, and used a little compression, eq and saturation on one group of busses and a little delay and reverb on another group.

I did export everything through a 2 buss processor, but I kept the spirit of the contest in mind, and only tickled the needles.

https://www.dropbox.com/preview/Mix%20C ... e=personal

Since this is my first submission, would you mind verifying that you can actually retrieve my mix from Dropbox, please? I have no idea if that link will work or not. Thank you.

Thanks for reading…and maybe listening,

-Cantus

Hi Folks,

This is my second Mix Challenge. I found this project quite challenging - a very dynamic recording with lots of spill!

Overall I tried for a classic sound but with the enhanced high and low end found in more modern recordings. I deliberately resisted the temptation to pan instruments hard right and left in an attempt to maintain the illusion of a band performing in front of the listener as an ensemble.

Here's a quick overview of the processing:

First off, I tried to reduce the amount of spill (particularly low frequency) that was present in most tracks. I tried gating but found that it didn't work very well, so in the end I opted for a combination of high-pass filtering and editing.

I then broke the mix down into eight instrument groups - drums, bass, piano, guitar, clarinet, sax, trombone, trumpet.

Processing for each group is as follows:


Drums - Phase aligned with MAutoAlign.

Kick - Compressed and expanded with OvertoneDSP DYN4000 (SSL), transient-enhanced with Softube's Transient Shaper, then EQed with Black Rooster's VEQ-1P (Pultec), Sonimus Burnley 73 (Neve) and finally bx_boom.

Snare - HPFed with TB Equalizer 3 then treated with DSM V3, and finally EQed with TB Equalizer 3. Snare also has a parallel with Black Rooster's VPRE-73, VLA-FET and then some high-end rolloff with TB Equalizer 3.

OHs - HPFed with TB Equalizer 3 then treated with DSM V3, and finally EQed with TB Equalizer 3. Also compressed a bit using Lindell 254E.

Drum Bus - Enhanced with SPL Vitalizer, small amount of EQ and compression added with console N, and then finally de-essed with TB DeEsser to reduce hissy cymbals.


Bass

Boosted with R-Bass, then compressed with Black Rooster's Blackface SC-5 and EQ'ed with console N. Added some top end grit with Softube's Saturation Knob. A HPF version of the bass was sent to the reverbs to place it "in the room".


Piano

Sounded a bit honky and distant so tried to fix this with proximityEQ+, then compressed and EQ'ed with console N. Tried to add some sparkle with SPL Vitalizer and finally compressed again with Flux Pure Compressor. The mono signal was then widened using Ozone Imager 2.

Guitar

Sounded a bit distant so tried to move it forward. Compressed and EQed with console N, the compressed again with VLA-FET. Some saturation was added with VSM-3 and finally it was smoothed off with Softube's Tape. Guitar also had some widening using D16 Multiply and Ozone Imager 2.


The Sax, Trombone and Trumpet sections as well as the clarinet were treated the same: individual tracks were high-passed (TB Equalizer 3) before going to a bus where the submix was compressed with Black Rooster's VLA-2A and then EQ'ed using bx_console N. I also used console N's TMT feature on each bus but not sure how much of a difference it made.

Once I was happy with the sound of the individual sections I concentrated on balancing the rhythm section (drums, bass, piano, guitar) and then the three other sections. Then I combined the the rhtythm and other sections and finally brought the whole thing together.

Two reverbs were used - a convolution reverb using a Bricasti Medium and Bright Ambience IR for early reflections. Transatlantic Plate was used for the main "room" reverb. Both reverbs were post-EQed using TB Equalizer 3.

For most of the mix, all I used was an Acustica Pink 7236 multiband compressor in parallel with the main bus for some density

For the final version I added Sonible's Balancer, Fuse Audio's RS-W2395C for some additional high-end sparkle and a hint of drive, and finally a Drawmer S73 set to Clarity 2.


Specs:

-22.4 LUFS (Integrated)
-1.1dB TP Max

Mix

Arrange View

Mix View 1

Mix View 2

What a nice project, thanks for the opportunity.

As a reference I listened old Duke Ellington stuff and modern Paul Anka recording with big band, mixed by Al Schmitt. Both of them had dynamic distant smooth horns, something that can be listened very loud. Horns that blend together nicely to create one living instrument, and still preserve the separation. So that was also my goal.

HORNS
To have more control on space, I ”gated” manually all the horn tracks, but I left some spill to every track. So no sudden spatial changes.

I run all the horns through iZotope Trash 2 to smoothen them and to give them a bit old style character. I also tried add some distance to horns without making the reverb too obvious. It’s not pleasant place to be too near horn section, but it’s wonderful when distance is just right horns blend nicely in room. But there’s still pretty good separation in my opinion. Lots of automation was needed.

DRUMS
Drums were to be (almost) mono in my mix. I think they must be suitably in the background, not too near the listener. In that visual spatial image, drums cannot be too wide. i tried to align overheads by listening cymbals in mono state.
And kick was not to be any kind of rock or pop kick

BASS
With bass i wanted to have a round character, like a double bass sound. Bass went through bx_bassdude, and I added some low harmonics. With ass I used compression, inline and parallel.

PARALLEL COMPRESSION
Horns, guitar and piano went through a common parallel compression bus.

MASTER BUS
Eq



WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QaTj8 ... nDho7cN0rb

This was a real challenge. I had three rounds of mixing. First I tried some new Plugins but the result was not like expected. Then, I investigated how a Big Band Orchestra is layoutet. I did some panning and other stuff but the result was some kind of weird. It had his own charm, but did not fit for modern hearing experiences. I also gated a lot to get rid of the bleedings. But after all, it sounded some kind of unnatural.
So I did a third round.
All the Horns and winds were grouped by buses. Every single instrument of these got a very slight amount of equing. I did some panning where the instruments were laid out from the total left to the total right. But I left some space in the mid, where bass and drums were placed.

The drums needed some fixing. I gated the snare and kick to remove the bleedings. The kick needed some low end, so the snare. I have 3 reverb tracks to combine three different reverbs. All instruments go in these three reverbs, but with different send levels. The snare got an extra reverb as an insert.

This was the first time I used a RED 3 compressor. It's very versatile, even on tracks or busses. I put one on the master track, just for cutting last 1 or 2 db.

wav: https://my.hidrive.com/lnk/bSG4jUej

Lewshwa Music

WAV - https://www.dropbox.com/s/m2kl6oaypfv33 ... c.wav?dl=0


All mixed ITB in Logic Pro X

DRUMS -
Kik, add subtle sub frequencies, Split signal - one compressed fast, one slow. Both eq'd to avoid Bass Guitar and pronounce fundamental
Snare, EQ to bring out fundamental, compress
Drum sound supplemented w saturated OHs

BASS - EQ, COMP and SATURATE for more presence and depth. Subtl sub freqs added for weight.

GUIT - PAN LEFT
EQ, COMPRESS and SATURATE to bring out

PIANO - PAN RIGHT
EQ, COMPRESS

All Band instruments individually parallel compressed

BAND GROUPED - no processing

ALL HORNS -
Individual EQ and copressiong settings for each horn to seperate.
Grouped by section, and parallel COMP and EQ on each section
THEN HORNS GROUPED - EQ and lightly Sidechain COMPED to KIK to clear space for KIK

SOLO TROMBONE - treated as lead vocalist with extra processing by FREQ RANGE

ALL CHANNELS - NLS NEVE emulation channel pre-amp
REVERB distributed to help define spacial relationship.
AUTOMATION throughout, mostly by group.

Room left to MASTER - Ready for a bit more widening and limiting.

Lewshwa Music

Hi Everyone,

Here's my entry:

wav - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ac8M8F ... sp=sharing
screenshots - https://drive.google.com/file/d/11gU6Hy ... sp=sharing

loudness is -19LUFS, true peak is -0.1 dBTP. I followed the reference track's panning, panning automation is also applied when needed, so it's quite an accurate recreation of the band playing, i think. dynamic of the instrument is preserved, I used K stereo to open up sounds and a lexicon plugin reverb for the solo. Fairchild 670 and vari mu comp on the master bus. Bad things: the hi-hat seems to be a bit too loud and harsh

thanks,
harry

Hello to everyone.

It was fun to try to mix this beautiful music.

Some technical details:

DAW: Reaper 5
ITB Mix
Soundcard: UAD Apollo Twin
Speakers: Event 20/20
Reaper Stock Plugins : ReaEq, Reacomp, Reagate
UAD Plugins: 1176, La-2a, Pultec Eq, 1073 Eq, Akg Verb
Other Plugins: Slate (Compressors Tape, Eq), Ik Multimedia (Black76), Soundtoys (Delay, Verb, Eq)

I didn't use eq, compressor or limiter on the main bus, I just used the Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machine to "glue".

Levels are around -17 dB.
I've uploaded a 24 bit 48kHz wav

During the mix, different reverb and delays were combined. The dynamic range is wide, I tried to use the compressors optimally. The music was played dynamically enough, I made very little automation while remaining faithful to live play.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-eUr6d ... sp=sharing

Hello good people. Loved to mix this one. There it goes:

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

Mixed in my fairly treated, small, corridor like studio, on Genelec 8040.

First impressions and consequent plan: Horns dynamics are to keep intact, overall dynamics is to respect but molded to the horns. Drums and bass need more consistency, both dynamically and tonally, while maintaining it's natural development throughout.

So, there's no compression on horns tracks but, to bring out more detail, articulation and a bit of edge, I have a parallel compressor for each horn track. Devil Lock (Soundtoys) on Trumpets and Trombones, CLA76 (Waves), all buttons in, on Saxofones.
Some highpass on each track, in solo first to get the right color for the instrument, but then, when listening to all the mix, backing it up on some tracks to maintain the girth and ambient that the bleed provides. Some eq cutting per track, between 550 Hz to 1KHz. Around 3KHz cut on some. Then I have boosted on each Bus with a Puigtec (Waves): Saxofone 5K and 16K, Trombone 1K and 700 cut; Trumpets 16K and 5K cut. All horns are then going thru a Puigchild 670 (Waves) for some sparkle, no compression.

On overheads, some highs cut, decapitator for color, and a bit of compression with API2500 (Waves), barely moving the needle, automating threshold throughout.
Kick, I wanted it to be bigger, more even. The kick is played some times burring the beater some letting it off. Decapitator to create more tone and length, I'm boosting 44Hz and 5KHz, and parallel Headcrusher (Audio Assault, free one) with tone turned almost all the way to the left for some more boom. Some compression, again automating threshold. I’m taming that same frequency trying to even it out tonally.
Snare . In parallel have a gated snare that is more aggressively compressed. That is going to two parallel compressors, Klanghelm DC1A2 (free one), one in the relaxed mode for attack the other for sustain. In parallel also, a gated tone generator with sine wave at 110 and 220Hz for more tone. Everything is going to a snare Bus where I'm using the same process as on kick to even its tone, boosting around 110Hz into a dynamic eq (Scheps73, Waves eq). Also boosting 7.2K. Strangely I'm not using Decapitator on snare.

Piano, nothing crazy. With Scheps Omni Channel, light compression with slow attack to bring it to the front, a bit of saturation for color, and a light eq massage.

Guitar, same as piano but with SSLChannel (Waves).

Bass, made a copy and applied a virtual amp to round it up a bit and for tone (Rollamp-Analogue Obsession). Each track compressed with SSLComp and again, automating threshold. The two go to an Aux where I boost 60. Parallel RBass at 68Hz. All goes to Bass Bus to Highpass at 58 with Bark Of Dog (Boz Digital Labs, free one).

From the get go, and in any of my mixes, I have on Master Bus, a PuigTec with a smiley face and a PuigTec 670 doing no compression. Have two dual mono compressed parallel tracks, one I´m sending Drums, Bass and Piano (usually just Drums and Bass), to the other goes everything else. This creates an interplay between the instruments that I find makes it breath.

FX and panning: Panning is made from a director perspective in a traditional stage layout. Bass center, Drums a bit to the left, piano hard left, guitar midway left and Horns tending to the right with some left side. Reverb on trumpets (Little Plate - Soundtoys) with a short predelay to put them on the back row. Trombones have some delay with pitch shift (Valhala FreqEcho - free one) and Saxophones have just a bit of MicroShift (Soundtoys) to widen a bit and bring them to the front row.
Bass as a tiny bit of reverb. For Drums made a fake room to put them more in the back. Snare and kick goes to devil lock with a bit of reverb mixed in. Horns and Overheads are going to the same highs hyped Hall reverb to give it more air.


Cheers

Hi everyone,

Here is my submission: https://www.dropbox.com/s/diyv4a4ms48ej ... k.wav?dl=0

I was trying to get bit old-school like mix. Not too airy and spacey, but still open.

As always first I made some buses for Drums, Saxs, Trombones and Trumpets + all brass instruments together.

Drums:
Bit compression on everything to get more massive and more pronounced sound. Take out the mud with eq from everything and reverb on snare and OH (before comp!) for space. MHThump for some sub on kick. On Drum bus comp + tape simulation to get it works together and slighty eq on the end.

Bass:
Eq - take out some high end, 500 for mud and 80 to leave some space for kick.
Comp - quite fast attack and release, 4:1 ratio

Guitar:
Taking out low end and some mud with eq and give some 3k for clarity. Testing RAUM reverb on some tracks in this session, guitar is one of them. Saturation and some eq to taste.

Piano:
Only eq for clarity.

Brass:
First time I was doing so much brass, so nice challange here for me. So much time I spend only on balancing tracks and buses. A lot experiments with eq which I get bit lost in the end. Every bus have comp for glue and reverb with small amount of wet to set them in the space (diffrent time of early reflections for every bus for different distance). Tape sim and light comp on master brass bus.

I made also "Reverb aux" with all instruments with 100% reverb :0 and quite hard comp + eq to get even more live sound of it.
Mix bus have Drawmer with small amount of wet for some glue and tape simulation again.

Cheers

Hi guys!
Here is my mix „Two Seconds To Midnight”.
Great music & performance!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zsq1rqurqy7c1 ... N.wav?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8apece5klthg ... N.mp3?dl=0

I tried to keep a natural organic live-sound.
I used 3 busses for woodwinds:
1. “Sax” L50 & TR5 Eq37 preamp with lowcut
2. “Trombones” Center & TR5 EQ PB preamp with lowcut
3. “Trumpets” R50 & TR5 EQ PB preamp with lowcut

Drums:
OH`s: Lowcut, Waves DE-Esser, Softube Drawner S73 (Neutral)
Snare: Lowcut, 220 hz boost, broad 350hz cut, 600hz boost, 8000khz boost
& Klanghelm IVG2 distortion
Drum Parallel Bus: TR5 VC 670 left-right unlinked, Compression time setting “6”


On my masterbus:
-IK 24 Tape emulation for glue,
-IK TR5 precision Comp 3 db gain reduction
(which only compresses from 185hz in Studio One Splitter mode)
-IK EQ PA1 for a broad high midrange boost around 5k
-IK 432 Master EQ boosting around 1400khz for presence
& boosting lowshelf from 50hz
-Kush Novatron compressor in parallel 4db gain reduction
-Waves TG Mastering for widening the stereo field

Good luck to all of you, Christian