Mix Challenge

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pgxyr0pmn2cv ... o.wav?dl=0

Peak: -2 dB FS
Loudness: -20 LUFS
Mix Length: 5:13

Hi all,

First off, my thanks to TREEEYE for providing such a fun song to mix.

Here is the sculpting of a particular sound that I am proud of. Lacking a lead vocal, I decided to change my usual process and work around the rhythm guitars first. I used a comb filter technique on the verse guitars to add movement and reduce their initial impact. It involved panning the separate guitars full left and right, delaying the close mics, phase reversing one of the close mics and then blending all four mics. Separately, I panned the chorus rhythm guitar mics further left and right without the comb filter to create additional impact.

Here was my basic process. First, all of the individual tracks have adjustments to level, panning and subtractive eq. Then, those tracks were summed to groups, and the groups mostly have additive eq. Next, I added compression to the bass and drums as a group and the keys and rhythm guitars as another group. The drums and bass also have parallel compression tracks during the choruses. Finally, there is a safety limiter to prevent extreme transient spikes during the mixdown.

I really had a lot of fun mixing these tracks.

Thanks,

-Cantus

Hallo!

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Mp3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z0zP89 ... sp=sharing
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Wav
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EwSYOM ... sp=sharing
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Thanks to the performers for the interesting track, it was very interesting to work with your music.
Here's what I did for the time:

BASS - Hi-Cut, added compression and SUB frequencies
SNARE - allocated 1000 Hz, compression, hall
KICK - raised click and sub 60 Hz
JEMBE - This is my favorite drum instrument of composition.
First, I did manual quantization to the main rhythm.
Secondly, this instrument has a very good SUB LOW frequency, which I separated from the main track using a crossover and added SUB harmonics at 69 hertz, it complements the KICK beat.

SHAKER - delay, for stereo expansion, hall
CHORUS LOOP (HH1) and (HH2) - panned in different directions to create width in the upper spectrum, added a hall.
BRIDGE LOOP2 - deliberately shifted the phases of the channel to make it stand out from the whole mix
VERSE LOOP - used the (PREMIX) track, on the active parts the low frequencies are lowered below 70hz since the low is used from JEMBE.

Bridge Riser - left untouched
GUITARS - GTR SOLO Verse 02:14 - favorite guitar fragment, I would call it a flight of thought :-)
I didn't want to lose a single part of the guitars in the mix, so I tried to keep the balance between them.
Superbly recorded guitars, in total 12 subgroups were used to pan and combine the groups of guitars, worked carefully, the clean guitars added volume with individual Delay and Reverb.
Guitars with distortion, eq.
CHORUS PIANO - unfortunately, we had to significantly destroy the low frequencies in order to unload the overall mix and allow such a wonderful Chorus synth instrument to express itself as energetically as possible.

Chorus synth - the processing of this instrument is similar to a clean guitar, time delays were used to expand the stereo, individual hall, compression.
MASTER - limiter was installed to bring the mix to a value of 0 decibels at its peak.

Hi all,
this is my attempt to mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/376xa7czaphen ... 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 guys,

here's my approach after getting proper levels and a good panorama. I didn't use the loop tracks as I wanted to have the flexibility to work on each track separately (also for automation).

drums:

• kick: transient designer to get more attack, some parallel compression

• snare: transient designer to get more attack, cut at 200hz, boost at 7k into an 1176 with slow attack and fast release

• hihat: lowpass at 12k

• ride: transient designer to reduce attack

• jembe: boost at 75hz to get more body and 2.2k to get more snap

• other tracks remain unprocessed

• created an ambience track with a medium room reverb for kick and snare

• drum buss: some tiny EQ adjustments and a distressor at 20% mix for some parallel compression

bass:

• duplicated the track for another slightly distorted bass track

• boosted high mids

• upwards compression to push the really quiet sequences

• a lot of volume automation

guitars:

• I mainly used the SM57 tracks

• solo tracks were sent to different delay/reverb combinations, like async 1/8th delay into a plate

• 1176 on solo guitars to even out some dynamics

• boosted everything above 7k

piano/synth/riser

• boosted everything above 2k

The first time I tried to create an Andrew Scheps like "Rear Buss" where I splitted up the left and right channel to compress them in parallel differently through an 1176 (slow attack, medium release). The rear buss gets sends from all guitars, synth, piano and riser and has a low cut at 100hz.

mix buss:

• Slate VMR Virtual Mixbuss with the RC Tube setting and a bit more drive

• cut out some mids around 340hz and boosted 7.5k

• Slate VBC FG-Red with a 1.5:1 ratio, medium attack, auto release and a gain reduction of about 2dB

file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njnHa0 ... sp=sharing

Good luck everyone!

Hi everyone, please check out my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17WESVA ... sp=sharing

What an ace track. Thank you (Paldies) to TREEEYE for submitting.
I hope I have created clarity & punch in the mix.

Mixed with Cakewalk by Bandlab.
Been using Cakewalk (Sonar 6) since 2005 and love the software.

Here's a random list of 8 things I did during mixing:

1) I tried to increase the dynamic range by mixing the heavier choruses first and THEN mixing the quiter sections/intro and intentionally seeing how much I could carve away & back things off during these quiter sections – while still sounding good...
This helped to keep the gain staging under control and prevented the mix getting clogged up on the beefy bits. The result is that the chorus's kick in nice and hard & the lighter sections feel light and dreamy. (I tried some basic mastering out of interest and feel the mix responds well - bringing up the overall volume while retaining the dynamics. But I obviously didn't use ANY mastering or master bus limiting on this mix. The only limiting is on my drum bus.)
I hope that anyone taking the time to listen to my mix from the start notice the effect of purposely holding back during the intro/verse section. In my opinion, the payoff when you hit that first chorus is well worth the 'sacrifice' of losing a bit of volume during the verses.

2) I added a reverse reverb effect on the lead guitar during the 2nd verse section.

3) I added a huge reverb (Valhalla Shimmer) to the very first kick drum section to create a low rumble effect for moody atmosphere.

4) I used Sound Toys Phase Mistress on the guitar at the very end to add that little wobble/step-filter type effect which I though suited the song and tied things up nicely at the end.

5) I spent most of my time EQing. Every single element is high & low passed, at varying degrees, to remove any information that didn't need to be there. I also automated EQs to bring some frequencies (200hz for example) back into the rhythm guitars during the choruses for example. This freed up a hugh amount of headroom and really helped each part sound fresh and clear. (I only used the SM guitar tracks btw.)

6) I use side-chain compression in several places. I notch aprox 3db @ 60-80 hz out of the bass guitar every time the kick hits. Similarly, I notch 3db @ 4khz out of the rhythm guitars evey time the snare hits. I use the lead guitar to trigger a side-chain EQ removing aprox 2db of a broad 800hz to 2k bell-shape from the rhythm guitars. I also 'duck' the reverb and delay returns with the lead guitars so it doesn't all get too muddy. All these moves are reasonably subtle but I think helps to make parts 'clearer' without having to rely so much on volume boosts.
Having said that...

6) Automation: Volume. Panning. Delay Sends. Reverb Sends. Even a little (2db) automation volume boost on the little guitar 'scratches' at about 4:24, help little bits like that to stand out. I used a transient designer to take the edge of some of the clean guitar parts which were a little to pokey. Quite pleased with that having only ever used a compressor for that task in the past.

7) The 'bridge flanger-drums' and little 'bell' sound are lovely touches. As are the quite subtle synth/piano parts. I exagerated the 2nd flanged drums with an automated EQ sweep and Sound Toys Decapitator to 'lo-fi' if slightly more. This led into an automated 'break' where I pulled all faders down for a brief moment before the last chorus kicks in.

8) Drums: I would have liked to use kick and snare samples, but as the rules do not allow this I just heavily EQ'd these & used a transient designer to bring out enough snap, and try to shape them to how I thought worked best. (I used the separate drum tracks) My drum bus has Waves SSL bus comp which I used to really push the kick and snare into during heavy sections. Everything in my mix balancing stems from the levels dictated by this drum bus. The only limiter in my mix is on my Drum bus. All busses have instances of Slate Virtual Tape Machine on them. I was also keen to give the snare priority over the Djembe. The Djembe is a nice part, and brings good rhythm, but I think that in a rock environment the backbeat belongs firmly to the snare. Djembe went to the percussion bus – which was ducked by the snare hits using side-chain compression.

Other than that, only a handful of standard plugins were used in places – Brainworx SSL 4000G on Kick/Snare, SoundToys Fabfilter Pro Q3, Valhalla Room/Plate/Vintage & Shimmer Reverbs, Waves Puigtec EQP1A – but I don't feel these instances would be too difficult to recreate with any stock plug-ins. I have mentioned in the list any specific instances I feel the plug in bought something quite specific to the table. Ie Phase Mistress. I use Cakewalk stock Sonitus Compressor and ProChannel EQ for the most part.

I can tell by reading other entries that there are alot of people on here who really know their stuff – If there are any elements of my mix that anyone would like to chat about or find out more please comment and I'm happy to go into as much detail about anything as you'd like. I also don't mind abit of constructive critisism, so by all means tell me what elements of the mix you feel didn't work, and why.

Well done to everyone who took part and who are as keen as I am to develop their mixing skills.
Sean

Hey everyone!!

Heres my submission : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-ktgJx ... sp=sharing


Just first want to say thank you to Treeye for the great track we got to mix this month and to Mr.Fox for keeping us all busy and creative in this madness...

So to the mix... I felt the challenge with this track was the absence of References given led me to make a more "concept" mix than anything else. So when I took a couple of listens I felt that the Verse parts felt like they were stuck in a cave, and then by the louder Chorus parts was an escape and a release. So that was the direction I went with this.

Mixwise, I went with the individual drum tracks to make my own feel and to control how i wanted the panning.

Most of the tracks were mixed using the Bx SSL E Channel Strip to try to emulate a console style mix. Not many other plugins were used apart from some SoundToys EnhoBoy, Panman and Distressor, Waves H-Reverb and Pro Q3 for more surgical Eq moves.

For the Drums I wanted a nice deep low end, so i added some controlled 60Hz area.I wanted the snare to be auto panned in the Verse to give some movement and "cavey" feeling. The Snare for the chorus I wanted to sound more industrial, so some 200Hz and 7k were boosted here, and a little Decapitator afterwards.

Not much was done with the bass, a little cut at 250 to remove wooliness, 3k added for grit, some compression to even it out. I also added the decaptitor for some character and drive.

The guitars were broadly EQd to remove some unwanted frequencies and I i added a parellel Chorus in the Verse to add some vibe.
The lead guitar in the verse and chorus were compressed quite hard to tame some of the dynamics that come from the DI recording, but without squashing it.

I used a lot of panning to create balance and to make the track open up and feel like it was "bursting out" in the Chorus sections. I also used panning quite a bit to keep a sense of balance in the Stereo Field in other sections of the song.

The piano and synth parts were mirrored in their EQ curves to make them sit together better. I cut 250 broadly from the piano and added that frequency broadly to the synth. A similar thing was done around the 1k frequency range.

Other than that not much really. Brainworks Townhouse Bus compressor on the Mix Bus doing a maximum of about 2Db gain reduction for some glue to the track.

Anyway! Hope you enjoy. Thanks again to everyone involved in making this happen and Good luck to all participants!

Here is my submission:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hb0-Uy ... sp=sharing


Another excellent submission for the contest Mister Fox, my hat off to you and Treeeye. A really interesting song to mix, with a lot of character. I figured my job was to bring that out.

I started with the rhythm. The verse loop needed a bit more kick and snare so I brought some of the raw kick and snare into the loop with a verb to put them in the same place. Still needed some action so I brought in some of the high hat loop with a bit of delay. Similar treatment to the chorus loop but without any chorus high hat added.

Realized pretty quickly that the percussion was going to make or break the mix, so I got the jembe nice and fat and the shaker sitting right.

I just got that new Ampeg bass cab plugin so I fired that up. Didn't have enough grit so I added a bit of fuzz with a FuzzPlus3.

The guitars are pretty much as printed, a bit of eq, some compression, panning, and the guitar in the verses was sent through some tremolo and a bit of autopan to give it a bit more wobblily, off balance feel.

Getting the balance right between the groove and the atmosphere of the guitars was the challenge - a lot of tweeking, a lot of automation. Lots of work but really satisfying. Thanks again to Treeeye for a great song.

Hi everyone! This is my link for this mix challenge! I hope you'll enjoy

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


MC073_TREEEYE_Selga_eusonic_studio

format: .wav 44.1_24
LUFS measured: ca -18.4 LUFS integrated

First of all I did a Gain Staging achieving the target of -18 db FS in every track (proportions have been respected as possible)


1 - ROUGH TRACKS MIX PROCEDURE

(DRUM LOOPS have been remixed: no premixed loops used but single elements)

DRUM SECTION

!! ON EVERY TRACK HAS BEEN APPLIED A FILTER -24 db/octave TILL 30 HZ !!

- VERSE KICK: API 2500, FF PRO-Q3, FF SATURN (after 400 Hz)
- VERSE SNARE: API 2500, NEUTRON 3 EQ ; DLY_2 SEND, REVERB SEND
- VERSE HH: bx dyn EQ, FF PRO-Q3 ; REVERB SEND
- VERSE RIDE 1: ONLY REVERB SEND
- VERSE RIDE 2: NO INSERT ; NON SEND

- BRIDGE LOOP 1: NO INSERT ; NON SEND
- BRIDGE LOOP 2: NO INSERT ; NON SEND
- BRIDGE RISER: NO INSERT ; NON SEND

- CHORUS KCIK: API 2500, FF PRO-Q3, FF SATURN (After 400 Hz)
- CHORUS SNARE: API 2500, NEUTRON 3 EQ ; REVERB SEND
- CHORUS HH 1: API 2500, FF PRO-Q3 ; REVERB SEND
- CHORUS HH 2: bx dyn EQ ; REVERB SEND
- CHORUS RIDE: PRO TOOLS EQ 7 BANDS

PERCUSSIONS

!! ON EVERY TRACK HAS BEEN APPLIED A FILTER -24 db/octave TILL 60 HZ !!

- JEMBE AT: panned -48 ; NO INSERT ; NO SEND
- JEMBE SM: panned +48 ; NO INSERT ; NO SEND

- CRASH: NO INSERT ; NO SEND

- SHAKER: panned -39 ; NEUTRON 3 EQ ; REVERB SEND
- BELL: panned -39 ; NO INSERT ; NO SEND


BASS: FILTERED TILL 50 HZ; pan 0 ; reamped with Amplitube 4 (Ampeg Bass Amp), CLA-3A, SSL EQ ; NO SEND

CHORUS PIANO: FILTERED TILL 150 HZ ; SSL EQ, bx Stereomaker ; REVERB SEND
CHORUS SYNTH: FILTERED TILL 230 HZ ; SSL EQ ; NO SEND

GUITARS
!! all filtered till about 250-300 hz ; INSERT AND SENDS AT MAIN GTR BUSSES (SEE AFTER) !!
VARIOUS DLY SENDS ON DEDICATED FX BUSSES (SEE AFTER) TO CREATE SPACE

!! RHYTMIC GTRS, SOLO GTRS AND CLEAN GTRS has been also stereo panned progressively and EQued pre-bus to add space and frequency contest !!


2 - MIX BUSSES / SUB MASTERS

CHORUS LOOP: NO EQ ; PARALLEL COMPRESSION SEND
BRIDGE LOOP: NO EQ ; NO SEND
VERSE LOOP: NO EQ ; PARALLEL COMPRESSION SEND
PERC_1 (JEMBES): FF PRO-Q 3 ; REVERB SEND
PERC_2 (SHAKER, CRASH, BELL): NO EQ ; NO SEND
BASS: FF SATURN ; FF PRO-Q 3
KEYS: FF PRO-Q 3 ; DLY_4 SEND
CLEAN GTRS: FF PRO-Q 3, bx_bluechorus2, FF PRO-Q 3 ; REVERB SEND
RHYTME GTRS: FF PRO-Q 3, CLA-3A ; little REVERB SEND
SOLO GTRS: 1st FF PRO-Q 3 TO EQ, 2nd FF PRO-Q 3 to add harmonics ; EVERY DLY SEND HAS BEEN DONE IN RAW TRACKS

all delivered to a STEREO BUS with this MIX CHAIN:

- SSL BUS COMPRESSOR
- FF PRO MB
- PUIGTEC EQ P1A
- SSL EQ
- FF PRO-Q 3


3 - FX BUSSES

- DLY_1: H-DELAY (ping pong 1/2 delay)
- DLY_2: H-DELAY (ping pong 1/4 DELAY) + FF PRO-Q 3
- DLY_3: H-DELAY (ping pong 1/8 delay)
- DLY_4: H-DELAY (ping pong 1/4 delay)
- REVERB: TR5 CSR Room + EQ to filter under 400 Hz and above 10 kHz
- PARALLEL COMPRESSION: TR5 Black 76

Hey ppl.

It was a pleasure to be able to mix such a nice song. Also very nice the band's kindness in sending the MIDI file with the tempo and marking ready.

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I4xqUD ... sp=sharing

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

I chose to use the individual drums stems for more flexibility.
In the kick I applied basic equalization and compression, more to bring an extra bite.
In snare, the same thing. The detail was that I found a very good timbre in an old compressor from Waves, the Renaissanse Axx, which I hadn't used in a long time.
In hats I found a lot of harsh frequencies to clean.
Interesting fact: it was necessary to change the tuning of the snap, raising a semiton to match what was in the full loop.
I grouped the hats and top loops in a bus for joint treatment. Equalization for cleaning was applied and harshness control with the iZotope Neutron Sculptor module.
In DrumBus I used bx SSL G to give it a "character". This plugin was placed on all busses. I made an equalization for cuts low and high ends with Acon Digital Equalise 2 and also used Neold V76 for that final detail in compression.

In the bass, I reinforced the low end and also in the 1.2 kHz region, with PSP NobleQ. I also used the Dimension Expander, from XFer Rec, to gain a bit of stereo information, which gave more presence to the timbre.

I barely touched the synths. Only equalization for cleaning and the bx SSL G on the bus.

The guitars were divided into subgroups according to the interrelationship. I didn't modify the timbre much, I just applied equalization for cleaning and looking for a good fit between one take and another. The challenge was to find a good balance in the panorama and in the amplitude so that everything would sound coherent. All subgroups receive the SSL G bx, in which I also used a bit of compression.

Jembe also received cleaning equalization and the SSL G bx on the bus

As in the rough mix I noticed a good amount of reverbs, some very evident, mainly in solo guitars, I tried to keep the same identity. I used three aux with and one with delay. The first reverb simulates the drum room with the Lexicon MPX; another one for effect, in which I used the REV Plate 140 by Arturia with a medium decay, drive and modulation, which received the solo and bridge guitars, as well as a little snare and snap; on the third reverb, I used the mandatory Exponential Audio R4, for a long chamber that receives guitars, drums bus and jembe bus. All ambience aux were also grouped in a bus, in which I applied a little harmonic saturation with the PA Vertigo VSM3.

On 2Bus (master), I used UAD Oxide for a bit of tape saturation.

I printed the L / R and opened a new project for the final adjustments.

I noticed in the sum stem that there was a sharp drop in high frequencies, after about 5 kHz, due to the sum of guitars in the region just below, I believe. I used Universal Audio's Pultec EQP-1A to give a high gain, correcting this gap. I took advantage of the trick from this equalizer to avoid exaggeration, also hitting the attenuation knob. I also reinforced the bass, below 30Hz. I compressed it a little bit with SPL Iron. Then, I equalized the side information with the Millennia NSEQ-2, giving a little gain in the mid frequencies region. Finally, I used SSL G Buss Comp just to give the final glue.

Hope u guys like it. Thanks Treeeye.

Hi all! Thank you Treeeye for this mix challenge. Hope you enjoy listening to my submission.

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

Drums
I used the already mixed audio. Left it alone apart from a slight cut above 8k.

Bass
LA-2A, BlackBox HG-2, RBass. Sidechain compression to the kick and multi band (<120hz) to the piano. Echoboy delay to make it blend in.

Chorus Piano
Sketchcassette 2 tape emulation, waves imager

Chorus Synth
EQ automation on the high frequencies and volume automation to enhance buildup

Guitars
UAD Neve 1073s on most of these - using the preamp section, mid boost and low cut. Decapitator was used on the solos. UAD Fairchild Bus compression on the guitar groups.
Rhythm Guitars had some cut around 300hz.
Echoboy delay (16th note) on the rhythm and solos to make it fuller.

Jembe
Top end EQ Boost, RBass. Multiband SC to the kick.

Reverbs - R4, Nimbus, Valhalla Plate. Low cut on these.
Mixbus - UAD Ampex ATR-102

Cheers,