Mix Challenge

Hi all,

so here is my submission : https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbyzj62x0upt7 ... E.wav?dl=0

Tried to keep things simple on this one. Just EQ and compression on almost every track. Tape and some gentle compression on mix bus. Copy/paste and phase invert of the side signals to decode the MS tracks.

Please see below my submission:

Wav 24bit/44Khz - https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5zoyp5vqc5tt ... n.wav?dl=0
MP3 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/dob0b7f86d01q ... n.mp3?dl=0

MS tracks were done old-school (cloned the side track, flipped phase) and routed each instrument group to their own buss.
The rest of the song was mixed in pretty much the usual way with EQ and compression. No tuning anywhere.

Master buss into SSL Buss Compressor and Tape emulation.

Pink Floyd's "The Wall" was a bit of an inspiration for me in this mix.

Good luck all!

George

Hey!

Here is my submission.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5cat4f2vx3bem ... k.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gukrdh25yxed8 ... k.wav?dl=0

I didn't do much, some EQ (mostly subtractive) on most tracks, Compression on drums, guitars and vocals, and some saturation for color here and there, mostly with tape machine emulations. Reverb on Drums and Vocals is ValhallaRoom.

Didn't use all of the MS tracks, sometimes I only used the M mic as a mono source for panning reasons. Had a hard time to get the duck out of the vocals and Im still not happy with it.

The 2bus has a vsc2 comp and a mb comp on it.

Good Luck to everyone else!

Cheers, Phil

Hi!

Here is my submission:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w72emkoaywctp ... c.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8oupytlxuocfs ... c.mp3?dl=0

I am sorry, I mixed this track like pop track. )
I pre-mixed all MS tracks to stereo tracks (used plugin bx_digital V3 and Uad Neve 1073).

Acoustic (ac Gtr C Matt):
- I compressed it really hard (compressor 1176, this not typical for me)
Other guitars - nothing special.

Drums
— I duplicated bass drum track and used Uad Transient Disigner for minimise attack and maximize sustain. Also i used LP filter, drive and reverb for massive low end (because no bass guitar in this track)
— I duplicated drum room track and compresed it.

Strings
— Nothing special, sended on chorus effect.

Vocals
— I used only one mic (47)
— I pre-mix vocal track with fast 1176 and slow Neve 33609 compressors
— I used deesser for softing vocal in 2.4k.
— I used limiter for "pop vocal effect"

Reverbs
— I used two main reverb busses:
Lexicon 480 room and Lexicon 480 random hall.
— I used lond Blackhall reverb for e bow tracks and back vocal tracks.
— I used plate reverb on copy snare track and another plate for kick


Mix Bus
— I used tape emulator
— Used bx_digital V3 for add low end in mid channel
— Used compressor (2db compression)
Screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qs8c9415k4x7o ... n.jpg?dl=0
Thanks, good luck!

Very well recorded song, and performance was excellent

Main vox
I wanted to keep it soft, full and close

Overall sound
As the vocal has lots of delicate nuances, I tried to keep the energy level of band on suitable level. So, i was after a soft sound.
My main reference was Bruce Springsteens ”Hello Sunshine”. It had quite similar drum sound. I didn’t try to mimic it but I checked my mix every now and then against Bruce’s sound. Especially the levels, frequency balancees and drums level.
My other reference was Daniel Lanois’ production of Bob Dylan’s Most of the time. Ie. I used lot of delays to create spaces.

M/S recordings.
I used bx_digital eq to code the M/S-signal to normal stereo signal.

Drums
Very little processing. Nothing on the individual tracks. I liked the full sound that some people might call a bit muddy. On drums buss I had eq to slightly control boomyness. I also enhanced the low end with bx_subfilter.

Shaker
No processing, a bit 1/8 delay.

Background Vox
I treated the more like percussion instruments

Automation
Lots of everywhere.

Main buss
Just eq

MP3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=134sBN ... N-n2K9i2j8
WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jk7gd ... v2tAnj1A_B

Hello everybody,

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ljuvfmqix5ay6 ... e.mp3?dl=0
WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0nsbuje6p4kd ... e.wav?dl=0

Have a listen to this mix! I tried to imagine my self playing one of the instruments in a war trench with other companions after a long fight. I like the final result, but as I'm getting better in mixing it's good to have critics. I apologise, in advance, for my english.

Process:

1) Learn how to decode M/S tracks.
2) Mix the drums: First I started with room mics, I checked the phase and then added the snares, mainly bottom to give it a darker sound, Then I added the kick with some reverb. The snares have an automated reverb that kicks in the 3rd beat of each messure to give space and epicness to the song.
3) Mix guitars: I love all of them, so I tried to have a well balanced rhythm and melody beetwen all of them. I panned some of them to the right, other to the left with some inverted delay, and the rhytmic one mainly in the center. Put all of them in a bus, then added compression, EQ and a reverb with a 7ms delay to blend.
4) Mix the voice: Minor pitch corrections in the chorus, just to keep the energy steady. Added a compressor, simple EQ, reverb and saturation. The backing vocals are heavy compressed and have lots of reverb. The breaths also are heavy compressed and panned to the sides with some delay also.
5) Mix the synths and strings: With no bass, I took the low string and added a deep chorus and some low distortion, put it on the middle and heavy compressed it, the low string is also sidechained it with the kick.I gave to the high pitched strings lots of width and put a little phaser and exciter so it moves around and fills the spectrum.
6) Automation: I automated volume of all tracks first. Then automated the song's volume and bpms to give tension and expectation.
7) Mix bus: low and high end EQ, a low ratio compressor and a tape recorder pluging.

Thanks for reading and listening!

Hi all!

Here is my submission:

mp3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bbn1g7ba4l2h3 ... 2.mp3?dl=0

wav:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i9xy7f6i1re5m ... 2.wav?dl=0

For mixing, I setup sort of a Michael Brauer type setup where I'm mixing into a few different busses, all feeding my master bus...so it looks like this:

Bottom Bus (drums/lo strings), Guitar Bus (all guitars), Air Bus (ebows and hi strings), Wide Bus (some effects and bgvs)...All feeding the master which the lead vocal is also sent straight to.

Bottom Bus (drums/lo strings): Typically drums and bass go here, but no bass in this song so I took the lo string channel and used it to get some low end in place of the bass. On this bus for this song, I went with the Slate Distressor into the Soundtoys Sie Q with a little top and bottom eq added, as well as a small boost at 3.5khz.

Guitar Bus (all guitars): The acoustics and electrics went to this bus (except the ebows)...On this I had the Fairchild 670 from UAD.

Air Bus (ebows and hi strings): On this bus, I had the Neve 33609 UAD into the Pultec EQP-1A UAD Eq with a little bottom and top boosted.

Wide Bus (bgvs and some effects): Here, I had the Kush Novatron into the Plugin Alliance bx_2098 EQ set to mid/side with the width knob set to 150%, and a little top eq on the side channel.

The lead vocal, drum verb, guitar room verb, and the main room reverb, I just sent straight to the mixbus. On the mixbus I have the Slate VCC set to the SSL E channel, then into the UAD Chandler Curve Bender (filter at 20hz and 20khz, +1.5db shelft at 70hz, -.5db at 400hz, +1db at 1.8khz, and +1db shelf at 20khz... into the bx Townhouse compressor (SSL style), into the bx v2 eq with the width knob set to 111%, the sides boosting the top end just a bit, and the center channel adding just a bit of bottom and taking out around 300hz. Everything is very subtle. Then at the end I just have the Softube Tape to smooth everything out a bit.

Overall reverbs, I had a room setup with VCC Verbsuite set to the Bricasti Large Wooden Room, a chamber with TL Space stairway chamber, and a plate with UAD EMT 140. However, drums, and some guitars have their own reverbs setup, noted below.

Drums:
Slate VCC, Softube Tape, EQ3, Chandler Zen Limiter, Decapitator, BF76, Real Verb UAD.

Looks like most individual channels had VCC on it, some eq with the pro tools stock eq here and there, mostly knotching, Softube Tape was on the kick and snare, then I had the Chandler Zen Limiter in parallel, and another parallel channel set up with the BF76 and Decapitator mixed in low for a bit of dirt and punch. Drums also went to a bit of Real Verb set for a natural room sound...very low.

Strings:
I treated the low strings as more of a bass instrument, kept it mono, and boosted the bottom a bit using both the bx SSL e channel and the EQ3 in pro tools. A little LA2A to control it, some Softube Tape, and Soundtoys Alterboy sneaking in a little bit of the low octave underneath the original sound.

Hi Strings I delayed one side a bit to spread them out, then used the Scheps 1073 to brighten the sides a bit for more width. A little Kush Omega 458A for saturation, Soundtoys Radiator for some top end and more saturation, and some Softube tape...really wanted to warm them up a bit. The high strings went to a bit of room verb and a chamber.

Acoustics:
Panned the main acoustic a bit to the right, then used the side channel to double it and flip the phase of one, and snuck it in under for a bit of width. All was bussed to a master acoustic aux...which had the Slate VCC, some EQ3 and some Tape on it. Then it sent a bit to a guitar room verb, and the AKG spring verb...very low in mix.

Electrics:
Same thing, some VCC, EQ3, and Tape. A little SSL E channel on a couple as well for eq. I used the side channels for a bit of depth and room sound, but kept the electrics more hard panned. They also got a bit of guitar room verb and some spring...again...very low in mix.

Ebows:
Same treatment...EQ3, VCC, and tape. I also sent these to the chamber verb a bit...as well as the guitar room verb.

Lead Vocals:
All the lead channels bussed to a single aux that had Slate deEsser, 1176LN UAD, Tape, VCC, SSL E channel, Kush AR1 comp, and Q10...all doing just a little bit,...then that aux feeds 5 compressors (La2a, Fairchild 660, 1176 blue, Distressor and STA Limit...all plugins). This is all collected into a LV Master bus, with another deEsser, then sent to the mixbus. I had some room verb, some plate, a little doubler, all in parallel on the lead. Very low in mix.

BGVs:
All bgvs were balanced using the center and side channels, phase flipped, and spread out. The bgvs went through VCC, 1176LN, some SSL eq, and Tape.

The other thing I typically have set up is a few parallel auxes with the Aphex Vintage Exciter, a pair of 1176s, and a Clariphonic...that I can send things too for more brightness, excitement and punch if needed. Looks like for this mix I sent the lead vocal a bit to the Aphex, and the acoustic a bit to the Clariphonic and Aphex. Very small amounts.

Most of the mixing was balancing, panning, and getting the vibe and feel with each of the 4 mix busses I mix through. Then it's a little eq here and there on individual tracks, some saturation and parallel compression to add some excitement. I do level rides to make chorus's pop a bit and keep things moving.

Hope this helps!

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Hello everyone!

This is my version.

Wav
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iup4bwnma4mam ... g.wav?dl=0

Mp3
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fhc2m8gpxu7l2 ... g.mp3?dl=0


I decoded mid/side tracks manually:
mid->Centered + side->panLeft + copy of side->panRight(phase reversed)

Then bounced every 3-track combination into the regular stereo tracks. Used Waves S1
Imager during mix process for better stereo positioning adjustment.

Every track has some eq (some has dynamic eq) and compression/limiting
(TubeTech CL 1B, RVox and/or Waves L1).

The most amount of EQ processing got Low Strings, in order to use it for bass and to make it
more unison sounding.

Vocals are sent to the plate type reverb (variable intensity depending the part of the song).

Guitars sending small amount to the UAD EMT250 for some ambience. There is some De-Esser
used in guitar tracks as well. There is delay effect during Reso Guitar solo-style part.
Electric gtr is having flanger efx (Blue Cat's) and is quite centered and most in the
background.

Kick has UAD-A800 tape for satutarion. Drum bus having Acustica Audio Honey3 compressor,
but finally it seemed not reacting at all, still I kept it for coloration.

There is volume automation in many tracks, but also stereo width automation for couple
tracks (Hi Strings and E-bow) between the verse/chorus parts.

Main bus has more saturation/coloration plugins: Slate Virtual Console,
Acustica Audio Lime pre-amp, Honey3 compressor with pre-amp "on"
and then RoundTone tape.

Thank you David Paul and the team for the song.

First time I heard the song, instantly I knew how I want to mix the song. I heard 3 tiers, the long track of marching soldiers, represented in the drums. The dreamy vibe harmony Instruments and the laconic vocals.
So, i did a lot of work on the drums, especial on the snare, to get the snare bottom nice and concise. For the instruments a, nice and lush room sound was a must. The vox, they are some way out of tune at some points. But I didn't touch that, it transports the utter despair.


Tools used: ReaComp, Tonebooster EQ, ReaGate, ReaDelay, Convolution Reverbs (ReaVerb), The Glue, some minor plugins.

wav: The civil war song
mp3: The civil war song