Mix Challenge

Thanks for a great track Patrick, I really enjoyed working on the synth textures and trying to make the sounds pop out.

Reverbs: Lexicon 224 for the synths, Valhalla room for the vocals.

Vocals: Sounded good already. Added compression, UAD Neve 1073 for a small boost in the mids and UAD Oxide Tape and de-esser.

Drums: A little eq for low end and top end boost and compression. UAD Oxide Tape on the drum bus for some crunch.

Bass: UAD 1176 comp, Black Box hg2 for some distortion

Pads: Ozone imager for widening the low mids. MaagEQ for some air. Boost around 200hz more warmth.

Other synths: Boost around 200 for warmth. UAD 1176 compression, BBhg2 for some saturation. Maag4 EQ for air. Oxide Tape for glue.

Strings: UAD Massive Passive for a pretty boost at 8khz.

Lead Synth near the end: I wanted a sharper sound- went with Recti-Fi (pro tools), with saturation, delays and some tremelo effects added.
Sparkle Synth: Delays, Soundtoys Crystallizer, Maag4 for air and Nimbus Reverb.

Mixbus: UAD Ampex ATR102

I added some volume, reverb (and sometimes EQ) automation to weave in/out the sounds to add more movement.
Hope you enjoy it, cheers.

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

Hi All,

I realise we're near the end of this Challenge but I'm curious as to whether there's any info available about the Release Mix? Where was it mixed, by whom, and how was it done? It sounds great!

Cheers,

Chris

Hi all,
this is my attempt to mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9c2yl2ifdumz ... m.wav?dl=0

For all track are used:
- Waves Q10;
- Waves C4;
- Db ProComp.

AUX Effect;
- Waves TrueVerb;
- Waves SuperTap;

Good luck to all.
VasDim

Hi all,
Here is my MIX.


I have a different vision of the song than the original mix Creator. Therefore, I did not use the reference and did everything to my taste.

First I went through all tracks and made some basic EQing and some reverb if was needed. Next step was some bus processing to get all the sounds in one dimension. Also, I used parallel processing for drums to add some saturation and compression to get more punch. In the final stage, I make a bit of automation and some final addition.

More info you can find on screenshots.

Good luck to all,
Andrejs

Hi!

This is my version of the mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjxLV7 ... sp=sharing

First I grouped the tracks to Drums, Bass, Vox and Synth in Reaper, checked the initial levels of the tracks to peak around -12db and made a static mix.

On every track I added Waves F6, SSL Channel and Waves NLS Channel plugins. Then I cut the offending frequencies with the F6, lifted the needed frequencies and added compression (if needed) with SSL and then the NLS to get some mojo going on.

On vocals, I made some volume automation pre plugins to even out the loud and quiet parts and then added CLA-76 to cut the peaks, and then CLA-2A to even out the vocals some more. Then I created a reverb bus with Waves Abbey Roads Plates plugin with the Vocal Plate preset and tweaked it a bit. Some vocals, snare and synths were then sent to that bus. I also have a saturation bus with Plugin Alliance Black Box HG-2 on it and some of the vocals are fed to it.

Then I sent some vocal lines to a delay bus with Soundtoys Echoboy on it and made some volume automations to the violins etc. to jump out or dip on right spots. I also added a "static" effect after the word static on the vocals Also I added a additional saturation on the vocals in the middle part of the song and a track with Soundtoys Little AlterBoy on it and send some vocals to it for a kind of a octave effect.

That's about it. Hope you like it

Hi folks!

Link to my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MGmZPY ... sp=sharing

The main goal for the mix of this song was to create movement. To make the song not just feel like a ‘track’, but a journey (to put it somewhat pretentious).

The song is spacious, lots of space between the vocal melody, but also a constant (16th note) drive. The fact that most of these 16ths are in the harmonic instruments, guitar / arpeggiators, and not so much in the drums, made it a slightly more puzzling to make it groove right.

I used a lot of subtle rhythmic swells using LFO’s and compression with kick or vocal in the sidechain to create movement and glueing. Similar to what a live band would do. This in combination with regular volume and EQ automation. All this movement was often put in front of a saturator, so that a sound would not only get louder but also more harmonics.

The bass was one of the first sounds I processed because it’s so low and has very little overtones. This made it difficult to hear on the lower notes even on my not super small monitors (Genelec 8040a). Saturation was the key; first some tube and then transistor style distortion blended in with the dry signal. After that a bitcrusher I designed in Max for Live for a more modern sound. The level of this effect boosted in the more intense parts.

The vocals got extra special attention, since it’s only one track that guides us through the whole song. I wanted each part to have a unique sound so the listeners feels as if we’re going somewhere. For the first change, I blended in Soundtoy’s Little Alterboy; A hard autotune effect. This acts as a kind of doubler. For the first pre-chrous “black and white” I bandpassed and distorted the vocals and other elements for extra drama. That also makes the chorus feel more hi-fi and big afterwards. In the choruses I sneaked in an octave on top of the vocal for extra angelity with the 'Complex Pro' warping in Ableton Live you can control the formant, which can be very handy.

Cheerio!

simola wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:50 CET

Hi!

This is my version of the mix: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjxLV7 ... sp=sharing

First I grouped the tracks to Drums, Bass, Vox and Synth in Reaper, checked the initial levels of the tracks to peak around -12db and made a static mix.

On every track I added Waves F6, SSL Channel and Waves NLS Channel plugins. Then I cut the offending frequencies with the F6, lifted the needed frequencies and added compression (if needed) with SSL and then the NLS to get some mojo going on.

On vocals, I made some volume automation pre plugins to even out the loud and quiet parts and then added CLA-76 to cut the peaks, and then CLA-2A to even out the vocals some more. Then I created a reverb bus with Waves Abbey Roads Plates plugin with the Vocal Plate preset and tweaked it a bit. Some vocals, snare and synths were then sent to that bus. I also have a saturation bus with Plugin Alliance Black Box HG-2 on it and some of the vocals are fed to it.

Then I sent some vocal lines to a delay bus with Soundtoys Echoboy on it and made some volume automations to the violins etc. to jump out or dip on right spots. I also added a "static" effect after the word static on the vocals Also I added a additional saturation on the vocals in the middle part of the song and a track with Soundtoys Little AlterBoy on it and send some vocals to it for a kind of a octave effect.

That's about it. Hope you like it

Bro, you have it on private. We want to hear you!

Hi to everyone here, this is my entry for this beautiful contest:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IoUopn ... sp=sharing

For many of the tracks I received, I mean for the instruments with more tracks except for the voice and violins, I grouped the various tracks of the same “family” into a Folder Tracks, so I can recognize them every time that I scroll from the mixer view, or even the project view.

So I created the DRUMS, BASS, GTRs, VOX, STRINGS, PAD, SYNTHS bus.

After gain staging my new project, I made a mix with my personal referee level that I usually use, just to have a starting point.

On many of the tracks, I tried to emulate the analogue-sounding channel, giving them a tape vibe (Waves J37) for most of them, a cranked preamp (Waves NLS).
I liked to use sometimes an eq to correct what was exceeding in many tracks (Fab Filter ProQ3), and I tend to compress just a few dB in insert with a compressor (Waves SSL Comp many times for its great sound signature, other times I used a Fab Filter ProC2).

Adding some sends for heavy compression some of the drums snare, with analogue eq (Waves PuigTec EQP1A) to get the saturation more in the analogue territory.

The same for the bass, but just with more saturation and even an analogue eq. On their insert, I tried to saturate the Bass Stabs preamp to give it more character.

On the vocals, I tried to make it shine, but with a real tridimensionality, not overdoing it. After a little amount of double compression (Waves CLA-76 and Waves R-vox), I tried to excite some harmonics in the upper registry, then re-compress again with a multiband comp (Waves C4), De-essing (Waves RDeEsser), and then tooking out some of the low freq (FF ProQ3 again).
In a send, I get back some of the body for the vocals, since they were a little hiding behind the exciter.

I made the Violins sounding more tridimensionally and in the air, but with only 1 stage of compression, just not killing dynamics. On their bus, I added a strange setting for a stereo Wider (Waves S1).
Looot of automation for the volume of the Violins, I wrote it manually to get a more “Human vibe”, with Latch function, and then correcting them by hand in a second moment.

For the reverb, I used 4 types of reverb: Plate, Room, Chamber, Hall with different length of decay (ValhallaVintageVerb).
For the delay, I used just 2 types, a Slap Delay and a 1/4 (Waves H-Delay).

For the Synths, I tried to define the very low freq, and tried to make them sound more “in the air”.
The final Serum Lead I added some saturation (FF Saturn), a doubler (Waves Doubler2), a ScanVibe (native plugin), and compressed a little bit. Then a send for eq, compressing it a lot, an analogue eq, saturate it again.

Used a LOT OF AUTOMATION in various forms, especially for volume fader of many tracks, the send level of the parallel compression, reverbs, delay, panning for some synths. I think it was the most difficult and long part to do. Other than set on and off, I managed manually the amount of volume, sends etc.

Stereo Bus: I cut some low frequencies from the side (FF ProQ3), giving a more solid sounding overall, added a little of shining (Waves Q-Clone), took everything in a first comp (SSL), and then in a second with a very different vibe (Waves API-2500).

I added some screenshot of my session here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DXQEMw ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/192oXDx ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10dmulu ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iSnzLV ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W8FPvF ... sp=sharing

Export: WAVE 44100/24bit
-18.9 LUFS Integrated, -2,9dBTP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17pUNSN ... sp=sharing

Hope You will enjoy it.
TonnoBass

Hello all,
after a longer time, I try another competition.

Very interesting song. I wish it had a little less instruments so I could go wild with Valhalla's reverbs. Nothing to complain about, really. :-)

More detailed mix notes at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1deJiFd ... sp=sharing

All files are at in the folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

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

Folder with screenshots: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing Contains screenshots of session, mixer and each used plugin.

This is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ROSQN ... sp=sharing

Thank you Patrick for such a fun song to mix. Really enjoyed it.

As the drums were built from a loop I decided to set up the drums as split instruments but include a buss of the drum loop parts pre-fx, which I crushed and mixed in and out to give the drums some variety. I built a bass drum sidechain buss that I used to duck the bass hold.

A buss of the pads and synths were ducked by the vocal to fit it in the pocket better.