Mix Challenge

Mostly songs with just a few tracks are challenging. This one was not. Two things needed special treatments. The first one was the peaky A-guitar. A dynamic EQ and a fast compressor did the job. Second was the back vox track. Sequences were not in time to the lead vox. I sliced the back vox track and positioned the parts new in the arranger.

The two E-guitar got some more reverb than the A-guitar and a bit of a 8th dot delay. Reverb, in songs like this mostly a difficult decision. I decide for a room reverb, timed to the song tempo.

The vox got a plate reverb. The predelay was done by an stereo tape delay. I use like a tape machine in front of a reverb. One channel got 125 ms and the 2cnd 133ms.

https://my.hidrive.com/lnk/GHSzW4op

Hello, everyone!
I'm so happy to participate in this challenge since it combines additional practice for myself (which won't hurt at all) and an opportunity to share my knowledge. I used a few references from Iron and Wine and Bon Iver but since I decided to make the song intimate I went to more dry approach with some serial compression techniques which helped the vocals sound like the person is standing right in front of you and telling the story.

I've actually made a pretty big text document with details which would be hard to read in a post. So I'd better briefly describe the main processing here and attach a document as a link.

I have 3 sends: stereo, reverb and delay. Every track was sent at least on one send channel with pretty low amount of %

Bass: reduced resonances with Soothe 2, compressed with TAN, added harmonics with RBass and Filter MINI, EQ'd with Coral Baxter
Acoustic Guitars 1&2: 50% panned left and right, RX7 De-click, reduced attack with Transient Processor, a bit of compression and EQ
Guitar Harmonics: compression, AmpliTube with Clean Tube, Soothe 2, ping pong delay, a bit of EQ
Guitar Melody Lead: compression, Gem Mod chorus, Saturn 2, TAN compressor
Guitars Bus: Soothe 2, Spiff to reduce picking, a bit more EQ, a bit more Tube, Rev PLATE-140 short reverb, a little bit of side chain from Melody
Main Vocal: tuned via Newtone, RX Mouth De-Click, ERA Plosive Remover, Waves Sibilance to de-ess, compression, EQ
Vocal Chorus Double: similar effects to the Main Vocal but also edited/realigned + iZotope Vocal Doubler
Vocals Bus: Acustica Audio Celestial with drive, EQ, compression and stereo narrowing, short Rev PLATE-140 reverb, Coffee The Pun EQ, more Waves Sibilance, a bit more EQ, Ozone Vintage Limiter for more smoothing

Overall, on each stem I used a lot of automation everywhere I heard unwanted bursts

Master: metering only, about -21 LUFS integrated

Download the mix here

First of all, thank you very much for the opportunity to mix this great song. It was a big pleasure.
I wanted to keep the atmosphere, but still mix the song a little more openly. A little counterpoint to the text, maybe the hint of hope on the horizon.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oh71f7436c9bs ... on.wav?dl=0

Clean up: First of all, I cleaned up all traces of interference as much as possible. That was especially necessary for the vocal tracks. Very strong "S" sounds that could not be dealt with with just a Deesser. So I did this by hand in the RX7. If i go to round 2, some further adjustments could be done here.

Then all the tracks were broken down into their segments in order to fade out noises during breaks in the game or strong breathing, etc. Then I segmented the 2nd voice in order to adapt it rhythmically to the main voice.

Acoustic Git: I used both tracks of the acoustic guitar and delayed them with a Haas delay (10ms) to each other. They were then set to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. by binaural paning. Both tracks were treated differently with different EQs. Right more in the western guitar sound, left with additional chorus fx for a more pop variant. Both were leveled with 2 compressor stages each.

Harmonic Git: Reamp mt Presonus Ampire, stereo effect with bx_shreadspread, multi tap delay, strong compression

Slide Git: Sonnox Inflator and SPL Iron for strong compression, Focusrite EQ to make the sound soft but present, stereo delay

Bass: A little more sub-bass with bx_subfilter, EQ and compressor with Scheps Omni Channel

Vocals: Both vocals were treated relatively equally. They were tuned with waves and treated with 3 compressor levels (Omnichannel, ShdowHill and RVox)

A slight parallel compression with tape saturation was carried out for all tracks.

Master: Townhill for the Glue, a Basic M / S EQ (some Highs to the Sides, Mono <80Hz), slight limiting for some nasty peaks.

Fader automation was used intensively on all tracks.

Greetings from Berlin
Tom

Hi all,

Pls. find my mix at following link: https://icedrive.net/0/6676s9IQrN

EDIT: Forgot to mention (see below section II.):
10/ Bass: Extended the final note for the length of the fade out, and applied a fade-out envelope to thatnote thus so it would balance evenly with the ac. guitar.


I'll just start by giving a general idea how I came to participate with my mix. You can skip this and jump straight to the somewhat more detailed list of what I actually did, which I would encourage you to do so. For people who like to get to the nitty-gritty, I will also add a link to download the actual Reaper project file.

I. GENERAL IDEA.
This is a vastly unfinished mix. You see, I didn’t originally intend to participate in this mixing contest, due to a serious lack of time. And of course, my rapidly growing hearing loss isn’t helping my hobbyist’s lack of experience forward anyway. So I decided to download the tracks for my own pleasure and testing, since the style brought me back to my much younger days, say around the time when we were finally committed to one day reshaping the whole world and thus make it a better place for everyone. Not yet realizing, though, that scrolling around the country, through meadows and over sandy beaches with nothing but an acoustic guitar, some picks and a capo wasn’t exactly the preferred way to prepare ourselves for such daunting task.

But yeah, of course the lure was too big. Experimenting around in my DAW with the tracks soon got me hooked, leading up to me making some time. Not quite enough in the end, of which the quality of my mix will happily testify. But whatever semi-finished job that was the result so far, I still wanted to share it with you guys/gals. If only ONE of you enjoys one aspect of it, it will at least have brought that bit of joy into this not-yet-reshaped-by-me world. And if not, what have I lost? Nothing! See?!

As for the actual mixing process: the ‘modus operandi’ can best be described referring to a saying in my mother tongue: it’s a bit like trying to hit an egg like a blind man in the dark would. Admittedly, I start pretty conventionaly by clip gaining every track into a reasonable balance, with the faders at zero, so as to have a comfortable start with the faders at max resolution on a basic mix. This is then followed by some practical adjustments: tune vocals, time align track excerpts, diminish breaths, corrective EQ (de-ess vox, search for offending resonances if any), also on non-vocal tracks.

Then follows the chaotic part of throwing various plugins on random tracks as they appear in my head: “Well, some movement would sound nice, what shall we use? A flanger here, some detunig there, and oh, let’s not forget the odd ADT here & there, …”. Totally under-organised, I know, but can’t help it, the little devil on my shoulder just takes over.
As a separate exercise I try to handle reverb in a more controlled way, but since as a rule I can’t make up my mind with that, the result is on average not better than what preceded.

Anyway, if someone is interested in some detail how I messed up, I include a link to my Reaper project file; feel free to download and scrutinize it.

II. SOME DETAIL.

NB: used abbreviations:
- 'SSL4K' = Brainworx SSL 4000 E used for EQ and compression; by default EQ into compr.
- 'Sat' = saturation by TBProAudio GSat
- '1175' = I.K. Multimedia TRS Black 76
- 'LA2A' = AdHd Leveling Tool


1./ Main Vox: Tune very slightly;Volume envelope; debreath (manually); De-ess some extreme instances by spectral edit; distort (IVGI2); SSL4K; Sat; global de-ess by Deess Airwindows

2./ Chorus vox: Tuned even slightlier; debreath manually; time align v/s main vox; SSL4K; LA2A; 1175; stereo delay; Sat; de-es by Deess Airwindows

3./ Vox folder: wide dyn. EQ 114 Hz; stereo delay (shorter & less then main vox)

4./ Ac. Gtr 1: Sat

5./ Ac. Gtr. 2: Sat

6./ Ac. Gtr. Folder: Dyn. eq. 196 Hz with Bass as external sidechain; 1175; eq air freq; SSL4K;LA2A; stereo delay

7./ El. Gtr 1: volume envelopes 1st levelling, 2nd balance; Eq air freq's; virt. amp: S-Gear, Fender Tweed; SSL4K; dyn. eq 4.2 KhZ shelf; chorus (Mercuriall); Sat

NOTE ON EL. GTRS: spent some time trying to get them to sound like I wanted, but at no avail. Both reacted very different to S-Gear v/s my own real guitars.

8./ El. Gtr 2: cleanup pickup switch noises by spectral edit; 2 volume envelopes (see above), S-Gear =Marshall; dyn. eq 477 Hz; 1175; chorus (VoS Nasty Delay); Sat

9./ El. Gtrs Folder: Tilt Eq at 1 kHz, with bass lift compensated by hi-pass at 370 Hz

10./ Bass: around time stamp 0:58 spectral edit for weird attack;; 1175; Sat; IVGI2; EQ add lows; SSL4K;LA2A; eq to eliminate 2 low end resonances and add some definition at 760 KhZ; Sat.

11./ Ambience: both vox channels sent to Convology XT (true stereo quad IR-files) with room IR

12./ Both vox channels sent to Convology XT with plate IR. Reverb is gently ducked by compressor with Main Vocal as external side chain.

13./ All guitars (not bass!) sent to Convolgy XT with different plate IR


III. REAPER PROJECT.

NOTE FOR NON_REAPER USERS: the .rpp-file is a mere text-file, and can be opened with any text editor or word processor. In theory you can find all the plugin settings, but you'll notice that this is more than cryptic. Alternatively you could download the trial version, install it, import the wave files and see how it all looks. Obviously, plugin settings can only be consulted if you own the same ones. Most of them are free, though, so these can easily be added.

Link for the Reaper project: https://icedrive.net/0/6676s9IQrN


Hope you like it; if not accept my apologies,
YvesK.

Season Greetings

My interpretation :
Subtle and warm n crunchy gtr lullaby, analog feel, a focused lead vocal and uplifting vocal chorus.

Vocal track:
Clean up pops, clicks and other noises plus RX de-esser for sibilances
Use 1073 pre amp emulation
Use 1176 to bring up intimacy and details
Pulteq style EQ to reduce mud and add some air
Add saturation mostly in HF
A touch of chorus and long reverb

Vocal Double:
Use 1176 compression and some EQ to reduce mud
Add Saturation in HF
Create a custom delay with Eventide H3000 Band delay
Add vocal widening with Eventide H3000 Factory

Gitars:
I treated the two gitars as a whole
Use cabinet simulation to get a different tone
1176 compression and Pulteq style EQ
A touch of room reverb
add Saturation

Bass:
Clean up any pops and click
Use 1073 pre amp emulation
Use cabinet simulation
Use 1176 compression and Pulteq style EQ
Add saturation

Solo Gtr Harmonic:
USe 1176 compression and some EQ to reduce bottom end
A touch of chorus and long reverb
Add saturation

ON the mixbuss:
Gentle EQ to reduce mud around 300 hz (PEQ 3000)
More EQ to color the sound ( 1084, Maselec emulation )
More saturation to open up and get the warm feeling (Kelvin, True Iron, SDRR)
Very gentle compression to glue the mix (Dyn 3000)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HbnW7K ... sp=sharing

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

I started this mix by adding some tape emulation and console emulations to most of the tracks. I wanted to add a little saturation to the tracks to give them some more "warmth". And, against my natural tendencies, I allowed some of the console emulations via Waves NLS to introduce analog noise/hiss.

Then I cleaned up the vocal mouth noises and aligned the vocals a little bit. They're not perfectly aligned, and I like that about the song.

The acoustic guitar is the primary foundation of accompaniment. So I was sure to keep it fairly steady volume wise with only minor volume automation. They are bussed to a stereo channel with several stages of very slight compression. The primary tone of the acoustic sound comes from Waves Scheps73, where I am boosting some top end for air and a little low mids for more of a woody sound. The bus is sent to two reverbs panned about 30-40%. Left is a chamber reverb; right a plate.

My next focus, and what I wanted to spend the most amount of time on, was the bass track. The notes said it was a fretless attempting to sound like an upright. I think I've honored that aim. I opted to note use a tape emulator on this track because I didn't like what I was hearing with it. So after the NLS NEVO setting with very little drive added, I have a BookEQmkII channel strip. I'm adding some vintage tube drive and about 6dB of the LF and about a dB of somewhere around 180Hz. That goes into a Waves F6 EQ to a few frequencies to emphasize the fundamentals and harmonics of the bass. Then I'm using a Waves MV2 to bring up the quieter sections. Finally, I'm using the Waves SSL EQ to boost around 100 Hz and around 1.8kHz. I'm also HP in a few different plugins to keep the low-lows from popping the woofers too hard. I liked the bass playing and wanted to be sure the melodic elements the bass offers are heard and balanced with the other melodic instruments.

Next, I focused on the lead vocal tone. I added a lot of drive with NLS, followed by the SSL E-Channel, primarily for EQ. Then I went into the F6 for some more subtle EQ and slight de-essing. I then used the CLA-76 Bluey for a little quick compression, followed by the CLA-3A for more slow compression.

I duplicated the vocal chorus double and panned them L/R. I took the takes from different choruses to fill in a more natural doubling effect. So chorus one L was the original, but the R channel was from the second chorus, etc. I hope that's not breaking the rules. I'm using the tracks and re-aligning them. And this is a common mixing trick. These channels duplicated the fx chain of the main vocal, except I added MV2 for more compression. I also rolled off some top end on the doubled vocals to help them sit further back in the mix. Then I added some very subtle H-Delay ping-pong delays and ReaDelay "vocal fattener".

All of the vocals go to an 1/8 note delay.
All of the vocals go to H-Reverb based on Greg Wells's Vocal Reverb of Goodness preset. I de-essed the input to reduce some splashes into the reverb and tweaked some of the reverb's settings.
All of the vocals go to a room reverb as well. The vocal reverbs are panned slightly left and right.

After the vocals were mostly tweaked for tone, I spent time on the Electric Guitars. I used the SSL version of NLS for the electric guitars. Then I used BootEQmkII for color eq and drive, into a ReaEQ for more tone shaping (different on each guitar). Some slight compression and then each guitar went an auto-panner to move them slightly throughout the song. Every now and then, I can hear the analog hiss moving slightly. It reminds me of waves hitting the shore, which I find fitting with the lyrics. (This is extremely subtle). The guitars are bussed to a folder that adds some slight EQ, saturation and more low-ratio compression. This bus is sent to the same reverbs as the acoustic guitars as well as a 1/16th note ping-pong delay.

My master bus has some gluing effects. I'm using a Fairchild for maybe 1dB of compression into an SSL Bus Comp for 2-3dB. This goes into a tape emulator into a Waves C6 for slight multi-band compression. This goes into the Abbey Road TG Mastering chain - for tone, not mastering. I'm boosting the top air, cutting maybe 1dB around 1.45kHz and getting 2-3db on the limiter. Then I'm doing some very slight stereo spreading. This goes into ReaLimit, but I don't even think I'm limiting anything here.

I've mentioned the analog hiss and how on the electric guitars it almost feels like waves on the shore. At the end, when all fades out, I'm panning the acoustics hard left while boosting the reverb. This brings up the analog hiss, which makes me feel like I'm in a room listening the song and then experiencing the world around me. At least that's how I feel.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Very beautiful, slightly haunting. Having grown up here in San Diego, the images seem all to vivid. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cFg1iX ... sp=sharing
Started off wanting not to have any flashy or even slightly obvious effects, wanted to enjoy the acoustical nature of the piece, but the haunting influence, for me, drove me to a few accents just in the chorus. Original thought- get sound, set it. More subliminal automation focused endeavor. Different moods and different spaces. Such a soft piece, I could not start to piece on the big bass transient, so I did some effects to the bass intro to mellow and dreamy it up. Adding a taste of it again when the coda begins., as the rhythm acoustic guitar widens(doubles), changes space, thins and shimmers, fading out, as the Lustrous Plates reverb fades to mono.
Main Bus: JST clipper at 25% -> VBC Rack for glue ratios,1.5:1 To PRINT
Space(reverb): Three possibilities Front, Middle, Back Stereo aux tracks. Each with an RVerb, the Back track Rverb->Pro compressor. all to a “space” bus that has an F6 for some filtering. Then to the Main. Front rvb time has automation last verse; the rvb time shortens. If I move on further, Space is worthy of much finer finesse and attention. FRT{ auto Mid{T1.62Dcy1.82 Bck{T3.1Dcy2.13
BASS:

• Bus- Automated EQ3(HPF 50.9 an LPF 5.6k)>BassRider to Main;
  Parallel C( b ll)- DBX160 (4.71:1) ->Bus ;
  Track:EQ3 (LP @325) ->Bus/b ll ;
  Duplicate( used intro/solo/coda) Automated- EQ3 ( adding in upper mids for bass solo in instrumental chorus)> Mondo Mod> Abbey Road Saturator -> Bus/b ll/FX2*/Coda Rvb**. Automated

VOX:

• Bus-Soothe2>L1 to Main/FrntSpace ;
  Parallel C( v ll)-RComp(4.95:1) ->Bus/MidSpace ;
  Parallel C( Lv ll)-ReniassamceAxx ->Bus/FnrtSpace/BckSpace
  Trax:Vocal chorus double-Automated- EQ3->Bus/v ll/¼ Delay
  Main Vocal—Automated- EQ3>L1->Bus/Lv ll/RVB/ModDelay Used only for the chorus (add) panned L
  Duplicate Main Voc ( used chorus) -AudiosuiteDyn3 Comp -- Automated- EQ3->Bus/Lv ll/RVB/ModDelay used as main vocal track , panned R for chorus
  FX Bounce-Automated ( used chorus[vox, coda{ac gtr1 &2 ) Bounced a FX Bus pass of the vocals (chorus)/bounced Ac Gtr1&2 (coda) -EQ3>Pro Comp->Bus/v ll/¼’ Delay/Coda Rvb
  **Coda Rvb-AUX- H Delay>Lustrous Plates>EQ3->Bus

GTR:

• Bus-F6 Automated>L1 to Main/MidSpace ;
  Parallel C( g ll)-H Comp(5.27:1) ->Bus/Coda Rvb*. Automated-
  
  Track:Ac GTR 1 R-EQ3(LP 206.9)->Bus/g ll/1/8 Delay
  Ac GTR2 L-EQ3(LP 155.7)->Bus/g ll/1/8 Delay
  GTR Harmonics R- EQ3->Bus/ g ll/FX2
  GTR Melody L-EQ3-> Bus/ g ll

:
*FX:

• Bus-EQ3>ProComp to Main,
  RVB Automated- -D-Verb 5.5sec-> Bus/ModDelay
  FX1 Automated- CLA EchoSphere (Ghost)- Automated Stereo Width-SplitEQ->Bus
  FX2 Automated- AlphaVintageExciter-Doubler-> Bus/Bck Space
  ¼ Delay Automated-Tape Echo-Pro Comp-> Bus
  ¼’ Delay – Tape echo-> Bus
  1/8 Delay- tape Echo-EQ3(LP 211)-> Bus
  ModDelay -ModDelay lll (400ms/1200ms)

: ;

Hey there - my first Mix Competition entry, so here goes.

I've done cleanup work across most of the tracks (in line with many of the other comments here - mainly the vocals but bits'n'pieces on the electric guitars and the bass). For the acoustic guitar, I've opted for a deesser to tame the various noises through the performance a little rather than pick out each one. I haven't done any re-amping, but have added a variety of reverbs and delays across the mix. Other than that, it has been mostly EQ and compression treatments to just about everything and a little automation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19GNrB7 ... sp=sharing

Dear all,
Please find below my mix for challenge MC083. Many thanks to the song provider for this interesting track to mix and Mr. Fox for taking care of the game.

[Dropbox's link to MC083]

Mixing details:
DAW = Cubase 11.0.41
Integrated LUFS = -18.0
True Peak = -3.42 dB
File Format: WAV, 44.1kHz, 24bit

Preliminary work : cleaning-up, raw balance, panning/stereo spreading, Removing glitches, clicks, cracks, noises, etc. (leaving a lot of “imperfections” to keep the intimacy of the song) and grouping tracks. All tracks benefited from Pre V76 vintage console emulation by Arturia. Filters LPF/HPF where needed. Simple fade-out.

Bass
Functional compression, upward compression (MV2) and an instance of the CLA-2A compressor to shine the sound. Send to buses with early reflection and a bit of chorus.

Acoustic guitars
Rode hard left/SM58 hard right
Functional (Rcompressor) and CLA-3A compressor to bright-out the original sound. Sends to busses with instances of early reflection, and subtle delay and reverb.

Guitar harmonics
Functional compression to even the sound, then a Fairchild compressor emulation for body and extra detail. Sends to a bus with a shimmer verb for sparkling.

Guitar melody lead
Functional compression to even the sound, then a Vari-mu (TuCo) compressor for body and vintage vibe. Sends to busses with instances of early reflection, and subtle delay and reverb.

Lead Vocal & Chorus
Sequential Kramer Pie, upward (MV2) and Fairchild compression to bring the most of the lead vocal. De-essing at the end of the chain. Send to buses with early reflection, vintage reverb, doubler, delay and tape saturation.

Stems & Master busses
Different instrument groups were sent to 3 stems (“Bass”, “Guitars”, and “Vox”), where I used instances of tape machine emulators. The stems were in turn sent to the master buss, where I applied saturation, SSL compression, and a touch of bx_digital V3 for final low/high end frequency adjustments and wideness (very subtle). I added a tape machine emulator (from Softube) at the end of the chain to wrap-up the mix.

Best wishes,
Pablo

Hi YvesK,

YvesK wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 19, 2021 12:01 CET

Hello guys, my first post, just registered.

To enter a mix, I need to post a link to my .wav-file. Is a cloud storage like MediaFire, SendAnywhere, DropBox or DriveOne fit for this purpose?

Thanks for enlightening me,
YvesK.

Yes, a cloud storage like mentioned would do the trick. Everything is explained in minute detail in the Rules for participants of the Mix Challenge -- Upload and Submission Guidelines (see the Rule Books section)