MIX CHALLENGE - MC066 June 2020 - Winners announced

[Flood]

Hi Everyone!
Here comes my Mix, was fun working on it. Thanks for providing the tracks!

WAV (48kHz/24bit): https://www.dropbox.com/s/6b933t3jbx44y ... d.wav?dl=0

I essentially tried to meet the reference mix. Mixing wass done on Cubase 10.5.

DRUMS:
Kick - EQ, added some sub bass, tape saturation, compression and transient designer
Snare - EQ, tape saturation, compression
OH - EQ, compression, widened stereo image in chorus
Toms, Hats, etc - EQ, light compression

Drum effects: Added bit of room ambience to glue things together, gated reverb on Snare (quite obvious), Parallel compression

BASS:
EQ (took away a lot of higher mid range actually), compression

GUITAR, KEYS, STRINGS:
EQ, tape saturation, Stereo widening, compression
Effects: Some plate reverb (guitars), room reverb

VOCALS:
EQ, Deesser, tape saturation, compression
Effects: 1/4 Delay, Plate reverb, microshift, Hall and Ambient reverb

All individual instrument tracks are routed to Sub-Busses and then grouped for gainstaging to the Stereo out Mix-Bus.
Tried the 'rear bus' thing from A. Scheps: All groups BASS, GUITAR, KEYS, VOX, MISC but not the DRUMS are parallel send to a compressor (Dual Mono mode) which then is routed to the Stereo out. However, the compressor was hit not hard (-2db gain reduction).

[MattRocket]

Hello,

mix: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s0bcallo3xwpt ... t.wav?dl=0

screenshot1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jytlkakbff9ws ... 1.jpg?dl=0
screenshot2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p8o1jnehksvzu ... 2.jpg?dl=0

I did not use vox3 and vox4. I recreated a harmonized voice from the lead vocal. I hope it was a wise choice.

Matt Rocket

[ThaSome]

Hello! Thanks for this opportunity to mix this track

Here is my mix:
WAV (48kHz/24bit): https://drive.google.com/file/d/15NBviw ... sp=sharing

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

-Summary

Quick Overview:
80s-style sound mix, trying it to make it sound fresh but that reminds you back to the past.

Drums:
The drums are intended to be rocky but not overly bright to not steal presence.
I've used ANIMATE Ignite to empower up the kick.
In percussions and rooms (Rm1 and Rm2) I've used also ANIMATE Grow to make wider highs.

Bass:
Keeping low frequencies focusing on keep the vibration of the strings.
So this was brightening it a litle bit with some eq.

Guitars:
With all the guitars my main purpose was to let them be crunchy without standing out because they're not all the time sounding.
I got inspired by Heroes del Silencio, a Spanish rock group, smooth but powerful guitars.

I added it some reverb and an Ozone Imager 2.
In the guitar solo I used 1 ANIMATE Ignite for each of the two leads, Lead 1 was Electric Harmonics and Lead 2 was Guitar Tone.

Keys:
To piano and verse key were added some reverb and harmonics exciter.

Vocal 1:
Reverb and Ozone Imager 2.

Vocal 2:
Same as Vocal 1.

Vocal 3:
I used Vocal doubler after a Pitcher (kinda pitch correction) in D-min.
Also reverb and Ozone Imager 2.

Vocal 4:
I added a flanger for making it to sound like a chorus instead of reverb.
And an Ozone Imager 2.

-In the four vocals there were different panning.


I really liked how the Kicks ended up sounding.

Thank you again to the Staff and John and good luck everyone!

[Pemberley]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yZt4DF ... sp=sharing

Above is a link to my submission for this month. Thanks to the contest organizers and to the artist for the opportunity to work with this track! I had a lot of fun, and am hopeful to get some feedback. Here's a breakdown of what I did:

DRUMS
Kick: Acme Opticom -> MBassador -> PSP Twin-L
Snare: Big ol' gated reverb (PSP 2445) -> FabFilter Saturn for some grit -> highpass at 250
Room: Lindell 345E to really squash them -> a bit of stereo widening with stock Reaper plug
OH and cymbals: MUTE -- I found some crunchy artifacts in these channels that I couldn't get rid of, and liked the result without them at all

BASS
Two instances of VLA-FET, one with kick drum as the detector input

KEY SOUND and H. STRINGS
Gentle lowpass at ~8k; I found the crisp fizzy high end really conflicted with the rest of the mix

VERSE KEYS
PSP oldTimerMB for some slow, toasty compression -> NI Replika for some half note tape delay

GTR
Boz Transgressor 2 to brighten and emphasize the transients, darken the sustain -> Replika for some more delay

PIANO
PSP oldTimer MB for more slow, toasty balanced compression

GUITAR SOLO
FabFilter Saturn in "warm tape" mode (see note)

VOCALS
Lead: SPL Vitalizer plug -> Joey Sturgis Tones Gain Reduction (aggressive, nasty compressor used in a relatively light setting)
Non-lead: Eventide UltraChannel, with O-Pressor and micro-pitch engaged

GROUPS
Drums: Foote P3S in nonlinear mode, ratio of 1.75, class A engaged (see note)
Vocals: PSP Twin-L -> Soundtoys Radiator -> PhoenixVerb

REVERB
ValhallaVintageVerb in dirty plate mode, which has become my go-to, fed by everything in varying amounts

MASTER BUS
bx_townhouse grabbing ~3dB -> Black Rooster Magnetite for a bit of tape saturation

Notes:
-- I am a proud owner of a Foote P3S, which is my first piece of proper outboard gear. It's fancier than I probably deserve for my skill level, but I'm really enamored with it. It's supposed to be a super clean VCA bus compressor, and I guess it is, but it really has a mind of its own in the best way possible. I follow it with an attenuator so I can hit the output stage (class A + transformers) as hard as I want without clipping my converters. Incredibly versatile on a ton of sources, but it's been most at home on the drum bus
-- I recently learned that FabFilter Saturn really comes to life if you turn the input knob way down (~20 dB) and then turn the output up to compensate. This gives you a ton of headroom to CRANK that big drive knob without clipping. I've also been a fan of running Saturn in mid/side mode, and panning the saturation to the side channel, when I want to create some stereo width.
-- Gated plate reverb on snare because it's a very mid-late 80's track and I love the sound of it. Didn't quite give it the Billy Idol cannon though.
Screenshot:

[zeminor]

Hello Everyone,

Let me thanks John for the tracks and the opportunity to mix the song


Here my mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c2Q36I ... sp=sharing
Here my mix screen shots :https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pVug-_ ... sp=sharing


DAW: Pro Tools

Keys and piano: some revereb and panning

Guitars: distortion and amphification

Kick: Compressor.Eq.
Snare: Compressor. Eq.

Bass: Eq and amp

Vox: Eq,delay, reverb


I am using volume and some fx automation on tracks. I am emphasis on certain section with fx automation.
Thank you

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your edit.

[AndrewMcPherson]

Hello,
Here we go....

Mix and Screenshots

[EchoOread]

Phew!
A big thank you to the song provider for giving us a chance to mix this awesome song.

OH - combine with room sent to buss- a bit too much on the top end - EQ/comp/distortion
Kick - too much low, too loose- EQ/comp/distortion/paralleled-
snare - Too thin- too much attack- EQ/compress/ paralleled
Hats - filtered all the way up to 1kHz- EQ/comp
Bass - not enough low, not steady- EQ/comp/distortion/paralleled
Guitars/lead guitar - EQ/comp/distortion/paralleled/delay
Synth - EQ/comp/delay/reverb
Vocal - EQ/comp/distortion/paralleled/delay/reverb
Piano - Filter some low, tighten up- EQ/comp/distirtion



Thanks for the music. I enjoyed mixing it.


Wave:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s4haPT ... sp=sharing

[White Punk OD]

Dear John,
hello comrades and host,
I beg you to listen, and hopefully to enjoy and have fun!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1izIFzi ... sp=sharing -- the mix 48/24
(approx. -2.8 true peak, -18 average, -16 short term)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing pictures

====================== voluntary correction ======================
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jcCaHc ... sp=sharing 14.2 mp3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1anQTV- ... sp=sharing 14.2 48000

added:
timing corrections in the drums after solo, and git in the outro
elysia nvelope for punch in the drums, and also for the bass, to reduce sustain
spectral processing in the mixbus with DSM V3, its main task it corrects the basic sound of the drum tracks but glues together everything else too.
lots of automation
fighting some masking in the lower mids
fine-tuning reverbs and snare sound
improve and autotune gang vocals (using nectar elements)
===============================================================


The game allows to those who come later, to know what others have done so far.
Thanks to everyone, it was very inspiring and helpful.

Eventually, I thought, why not take the quest, choose the maximum fun, and bring back the spirit of the Eighties as much as possible?



First, a fast rough mix, to see what's inside, and then start with getting the overall sound right, with comp, exciter, and a couple of EQs in the master bus.
It's not that much, nothing unusual, but it is the basic vibe. These devices have the color that I want.

Why: Because this way, bass, solo git, rooms, overheads, all these do not need any style change at all, we only improve the intensity a little bit.

Then I made a very detailed bus structure, see pictures. (Busses are directly below source trax).
Then I shaped all the sounds, conceived effects, and did the mix.
Then, I took a day for massive automation (see pictures), because the secret of the whole thing is to keep everything vibrant from start to end, give it a flow, enhance energy and personality in the vocals, place gimmicks, and create some dramaturgy to walk though, else it would become boring.


The buses have also the purpose to allow side chaining.
Kick and snare are multed into a SC control bus, that will be used twice.
The bass is ducked with a simple, free Reaper comp, and its SC filter is used to emphasize the kick, and let the snare act on it only a tiny bit.

Then, there is an instrument bus (excluding all drums, vocals, and solo guitar).
The instrument bus has a DIY "trackspacer" using TDR Nova GE. So we can select the frequencies that have to be protected, meaning vocals and solo git.
There is a submix, feeding the sidechain of this trackspacer. It combines vocals and solo.
The instrument bus also has an extra SC comp in its line from the drum/bass ducking system, and so it too reacts a little bit on the drums.
I can do this quite easily with the "rack" wiring system.

The SC system is crucial for the typical 80ies pumping trick with the gated drum reverbs and orchestral sounds.
Caveat, we must be a bit subtle here. But without, it won't fly, at least for me.



SNARE
There is NO sample here, the game changer is iZotope Trash 2 with its multiband saturation curves, IR convolutor, dynamics, and sharp filters. I quickly found a useful preset. What a beast.
Snare is multed into a low-passed body track, and the 80ies gun-shot effect, that also uses an exotic beta reverb with strong modulation.

Toms use another instance of that dense reverb, a little EQ, and a LF mono-maker.

KICK
Actually, there is only a SPL Attacker, and a 4000 G strip, which has a comp that totally shapes the sound for what I need, I'm just wondering because no other compressor did it right.
The 4000 EQ is rather trivial, and not even cranked that much.

But here comes the trick:
There is a kick + snare + tom bus, and here is the massive 80ies dark gated reverb, from a Dragonfly instance, that is highpassed only a bit.
There is also the "coffin" IR pulse involved, which is dark as well, in the SIR settings I use.
Another crucial tool at this level is the mpressor, balancing the whole drum set this way, and it controls the sustain. It make the drums sound a bit "vinyl-ish".
The result is shaped with a 4000 G again, cranked for intensity, while keeping the basic sound intact (which is a strength of this bx strip).
We end up with the dark sounds and the bright sounds together.


Room bus has cymbals, overhead, rooms. It uses an mpressor for a little pumping, and a highpass only at 20, but no EQ! It shows its true face in the guitar solo.

Intro guitar has another instance of Trash 2, which makes it sound much fuller.
You won't guess what is the only effect on the flanger guitar, besides a little transient enhancement at 3.5k, and soft LP/HP.

Keyboards have a ton of exciters, saturation, some EQ, and Neutrino (see pics). The strings attacked too slowly, so there is a transient enhancer.
Verse keys got a mult into higher and lower frequency range, and also there is clip shifting for a few ms up and down. Crucial to the flow.


VOCALS
There is a 3-knob autotuner, but it is very lazy, and does just nothing, when it does not know what to do.
I wanted the pitch quite raw, because it reveals personality, and a little "underground" feeling that I like here.
The sound is shaped strongly at the bus, using Nova GE with intense selective dynamics.

We have 8 "thickener" tracks (+-3,6,9,12 cent) that add a lot to the chorus.
There is a printed coffin IR, automated in and out for changing virtual booth mic position.
TAL-Dub 2 is crucial as a slap delay. Also automated intensely.
There is an automated long delay with a self-made IR pulse, which is also compressed with a strongly colored "thrillseeker".
(The other vocal tracks are mainly used as gang vocals in the far background, but they put some spice into it.)

Timing: Watch out for the drum break after the git solo. I shifted some hits closer to the grid, and killed one kick hit that I found not contributing well.

Thanks, and good luck! Let's push the artist to top ten!
(Hoping for John's guidance to correct some issues that are still lurking inside)

[White Punk OD]

@EchoOread, we need you to set file access for your mix to _public_.
(User interface to GDrive has changed)