Mix Challenge

Hi,

Here is my mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m5g2uiyl ... chd02&dl=0

I really like the song.

I mixed it using only Sennheiser headphones.
The challange for me was mixing without mastering. I usually mix with a mastering chain applied.

Here is how i mixed it:

I reversed snare drum phase.
Fast rough mix : levels, pan, and hi pass and low pass filters.
Then I stared adding plugins on mix bus because this is the way I mix.
I would usually put limiter and clipper to achive immediately sound of mastered track, but not this time because of the rules.

My master chain is ssl type compressor 4:1 ratio 3ms attack, auto release, 4db reduction
stereo enhancer: 20-300hz 108%, 300-20000hz -115%
1 db boost: 100hz, 800hz, 2,5hz, 12hkz
1db cut: 400hz

Second challange was making modern punchy drums without samples.
I used eq to cut mids on every track. Add fet compression on kick, snare and toms. I used trannsient designer to add attack.
I used once more fet compression on drum bus with slow attack, clipper and saturation.
I sent overheads kick and snare to short reverb

I used eq and fet compressor on bass. ( more than 10db of reduction).
To controll low end I used dynamic eq.
I send bass to track with pseudo stereo plugin and chorus.

Guitars: only eq but very much. On separate tracks and groups. Many eq inserts.

Synths: eq and dynamic eq

Vocals: eq, fet compressors, saturations
send to reverb and delay
dynamic eq instead of deesser

It was fun to mix.

Hello everyone,

first of all thanks @BenjiRage for providing the tune for this mix competetion, I really liked it and it also flashed me back to my skating days when bands like Pennywise, Offspring or Green Day were on repeat in my walkman all the time:)
This is really great tune and I generally tried to follow the notes from creators and keep as much as energy of the recording as possible, keeping the mix quite raw and not overpolished.

Some details about the mix:
Gain staging - I was experimenting here with the Ayaic Mix Monolith to provide most of the gain staging suggestions and I must say it is a great tool, I had to do some tune-ups here and there but generally it does what they say it does. Get mix 90% there volume wise:)
Most of the channels are processed via UAD A800, adding various levels of analog distortion. I guess it is quite visible on lead vocal and drums.

EQ Kirchhoff - mostly highpassing a bit of a bottom rumble on the stuff everywhere, apart from kick and sub on bassguitar, cutting some midrange on guitars and synths to make space for vocals. Apart from that not much really.

Drums processed via SSL drumstrip, mostly LMC compressor / transient designer, eqing. Also added UAD Pultec on the bus.

Bass mixed from both sources leaving sub frequencies only from DI and using mids/trebles from both. Generally used compressed Amp output to add presence to the bass in the mix.

Guitars - I love the melodies and different takes, spread them across panning, eqed as I wrote before, also shelving off a bit of highs.

Synths - cut the midrange and shelv off the highs...

Vocals - I really liked the vocals, so I tried to make them stand out in the mix. Added some saturation via A800. Used LA2A on them a bit, had to chase few resonances with dynamic eq on Kirchhoff.

Additional send with an UAD Lexicon reverb for vocals and syths. Drums had their own room take and I kept guitar dry to keep its impact...

Link to my mix: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtpzKIYuNN-3mKN1OJq ... Q?e=TgsZhL

There are some really great mixes in this competition, so I wish everyone good luck and have fun listening to my version, I hope you will like it:)

Best regards,
David

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ph2bjG ... sp=sharing

Thanks for the track this month @BenjiRage I've seen Pray for Hayden's name on gig posters at the Fulford Arms and maybe elsewhere in York so it's good to hear what you guys are up to!

I see many others have said the same thing but it bears repeating; the demo mix fits so well I was just trying to put my spin on it and hope its to your tastes.

My initial thoughts were to get the drums to have a solid and driving sound, powerful kick and snare with some crunch but to get that fully balanced with a thick low end in the bass. Guitars I tried to keep out wide for the most part so I could get them as thick as possible without crowding the drums and bass. Some of the lead lines come in towards the center when the space allows it. Vocals to be clear but not harsh.

I started with the drum sound, simple level balancing, gain staging and phase checking to start off. Worth mentioning that I found it very useful to have the shells and cymbals isolated for this style of song where you want the shells to really pop. I created separate folders (Hi fellow reaperfolk) for the overhead cymbal tracks and shell tracks then combined them into an overheads bus to get some interaction between them once I had found a balance I liked, enough cymbals to cut through the guitars and enough shells to give the right sense of space to the close mics.

I had a quick look at the room sound to see what we had there and stored that in my mind for after dealing with the close mics. The close mics sounded good to me so it was just a matter of eqing to taste then compressing/transient shaping for punch. I did create a parallel channel for the snare to concentrate on the low punch and folded it in to reinforce it once the bass and guitars were brought up.

I then brought the room mics up and added a very small time delay to slightly increase the sense of size, cut some low mids and compressed with a slate fg-stress for that explosive vibe. I really liked this sound for getting the snare to have a big sound with a little more sustain that in the close mics. Very nice having the shells isolated here in particular.

All drums fed into the drum bus with another fg-stress for parallel compression, some high end lift and saturation.

The bass was key to gluing everything together for me. I was aiming for that classic pop punk pingy ampeg-y sound with a ringing mid range, cut low mids and thick lows. The arrangement helped a lot with this, allows the bass to chime in the verses. I did add some sub with slate Infinity bass, first time i've used it so I tried to keep it subtle and I found that it really helped reinforce the bottom of the bass. I made a sidechain phase shifted kick triggered bass cut (Hi Dan Worrall) to get the bass out of the way of the kick in the lowest register when needed. Added a chorus effect for the Andy Wallace stereo efffect thingy too.

Guitars I fiddled around with quite a bit then they fell into place like a line of tetris. I was trying to find the right balance of thickness and clarity for what I labelled as the Main GTRS (Ash 1 and Tom 1). Thankfully they both had distinct textures so it was just a matter of finding which range I wanted to feature in both and boosted and cut accordingly to get them so sit right. Added a little bit of mid cut in the low mids, I found this helped make some space for the bass and drums. I defined another folder as Textures (Ash 3 and Tom 3) and found space for them by automating levels throughout, mainly used them to add or subtract thickness when required by the section. This left the 'Leads' (Ash 2 and Tom 2) which I treated in a similar way and made them their own short and long delay patches to get them to sit in their own space.

For the keys I found I initially set their level too low. When I checked back in with the demo mix I noticed they were far more prevalent. I tried to boost them as much as I could without compromising the vocal and guitar balances, I still came out a little quiter with them than in the demo mix but it was a trade off I thought was fair and they still provide a lot of sizzle and a boost in the choruses. Just simple EQ moves and automation to get them to sit right. A little bit of auto pan for movement and some sidechain ducking with the kick for energy.

Vocals! I wanted to have some energy and grit but not be harsh. I was mainly trying to find a balance between the guitars and the vocals where the vocals sounded clear but the guitars also sounded powerful. I hope I achieved this. A lot of automation for level and effect sends for the vocals. Some MicroShift and parallel compression folded in too.

The backing vocals were really well arranged in my opinion and provide a good lift when they arrive. Johnny's tracks I used as more of a wide sound to blend in with the lead vocall. Ben's tracks I tried to use as a fairly prominent dual sound with the lead, not to overpower but to make a feature of the harmony, I was thinking sort of like Four Year Strong? (blast from the very recent past for me)

I'm fairly happy with my result and I think I managed to get the thick sound that I was after. Hope you enjoy!

Hello everyone !

Thank you @BenjiRage for this incredible song ! I had a lot of fun mixing it !

Here is my entry :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TcFwrB ... share_link

Vision
As requested, I wanted a mix with a lot of punch. I tried a different approach to what I usually do and I did a bit of research into Chris Lord-Alge's way of working. I tried to apply it to this mix using his range of plug-ins (actually, only the CLA MixHub).

Drums
Pretty well recorded, so I did not do a lot of things. Basically, just EQ then Comp on every track. The main problem was to give the snare the punch it lacked. So, just for the snare, I used a transient shaper. Then, I sent everything to an aux for a parallel compression.

Bass
Again, nicely recorded so pretty easy to mix. I just boosted the highs on the DI track and the lows on the bass track then comp. Then, like the drums, I used a parallel compression.

Guitars
Here starts the challenge. I found that all the guitars really lack of definition, aggressiveness and punch...everything I was looking for. I boosted heavily the highs at 3KHz and 8 KHz (near 12db) then used two comp and sent to a room.

Synths
Pretty hard to give them the place they deserved. I tried my best, making them wider than the guitars. I boosted the highs and used a long reverb.

Vocals
As always, a lot of treatment on the vocals : Gate, EQ, comp, de-esser, saturation, Fresh Air, Limiter. I am just using more reverb for the track hard-panned and a parallel compression for the lead vocal.

Mix Bus
SSL Bus comp and Pultec style EQ.

I hope you will like my mix !

Good luck everyone
Havol

Hey! This is my version:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q41K5j ... share_link

MIX BUS: NLS BUSS, SSLCOMP, BX DIGITAL V3

- DRUM BUS: PUIGCHILD 670
KICK: MDRUMSTRIP, STANDARDCLIP, NLS CHANNEL
SNARE: MDRUMSTRIP, SPL TRANSIENT DESIGNER, DF-XCITE, STANDARDCLIP, NLS CHANNEL
TOMS: MDRUMSTRIP, HARD CLIPPER, NLS CHANNEL
OVERHEADS GROUP: NLS CHANNEL
CYMBALS: CLARIPHONIC, TUKAN TAPE RECORDER
SHELLS: CLA-76
ROOM: MDRUMSTRIP, SPL TRANSIENT DESIGNER, RICHTER, NLS CHANNEL
EXTREME PARALLEL: DBX-160, TRANSX WIDE

BASS: TSE BOD V2, DECAPITATOR, ECHOBOY, AROUSOR, NLS CHANNEL

- GUITAR BUS: CLA-3A, NLS CHANNEL
GUITAR TRACKS: SSL 4000 E CHANNEL STRIP

- ALL VOCALS BUS: NLS CHANNEL
LEAD VOCAL: FABFILTER PRO DS, KIRCHHOFFEQ, CLA-76, SUMMIT AUDIO TLA-100A, FUTZBOX, PUIGTEC EQP1A, TRUE IRON
LEAD VOCAL FXs: VALHALLAROOM, SEVENTH HEAVEN, ECHOBOY, H-DELAY, DOUBLER 4
BACKGROUND VOCALS BUS: PUIGCHILD 670
BV TRACKS: SSL 4000 E CHANNEL STRIP
BV FXs: CRYSTALLIZER, MICROSHIFT, ATLANTIS REVERB

GLOBAL REVERB: SEVENTH HEAVEN

Hey, @EmClrk , nice mix

Hey everyone, Here's my mix

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11AYCzA ... share_link

I had fun working on this mix. Nice energy on this song and that's what I wanted to focus on.

Drums:
I chose to go a different way than the reference tracks because of how the kit sounds.
I decided to emphasis the woodiness of the kit, going for a more 70's or indie type of sound. I didn't want to overprocess the tracks and make it sound unnatural, and because I couldn't use samples, that was my choice. To achieve that sound I used parralel distortion using a fuzz pedal and parallel compression quite agressively to get more energy and vibe. I used simple eq and compression on the tracks themself. I did a lot of automation on the cymbals track to ajust the energy of the song.

Synth:
I made them wide with M/S eq and used a tempo based sidechain on the one playing chords to get more energy during the chorus.

Bass:
used both tracks. I added an amp track from the DI using a big muff into a Hiwatt type preamp to get more solid low end and to make it sound bigger in the mids.
Then some simple treatment eq and compression.
I used some stereo flanger using a strymon deco pedal as well to make it wider and cut more.

Guitars:
really simple, just some eq and a little bit of plate reverb on some tracks

voices:
classic proccessing, eq compression deesser etc.
I added a double track for the verse using Eventide H3000 factory, to get a more glued and a bit chorused effect.
plate reverb and a slap delay during the verse using a strymon volante.
I created a reverse reverb to make the prechorus feel less flat and create movement.
some harmonizer on the BV.

Overrall I made a lot of automation to get a maximum of impact in each section and to create contrast.
very light processing on the mixbus as I usually do,1-2 db of compression.
It's quite a dynamic mix with transient because I know it works well for mastering. A little bit on the dark side but it creates more depth this way. it's big sounding and natural, turn it up loud and tell me what you think

Hi All,

Great track @BenjiRage
Decided to try and give it a tight/punchy but warm sound.

Waves NLS Channel on all tracks and busses/folders.
Reverb: Seventh Heaven
Delays: H-Delay and Echboy

DRUMS:

Snare Top: some surgical eq, and huge boost at 8k. Compression/Clipper - sent to verb
Snare Bottom: removed everything below 1k then just into a clipper.

Kick: my standard EQ/Compression/clipper chain with a final EQ after to reduce a build up around 150hz
Toms: just eq and clipper

OH: Some EQ mainly rolling off lowend, and saturation.
OH SHells: 10ms delay to try and make the kit a little larger sent to folder where just some rolling off of some lowend.
Room Shells: 10ms delay again, into a folder - rolled off lows/high and compressed hard, heavy saturation and into verb to diffuse sound a little.

All then fed into the following busses (in different amounts), blended to taste
x3 parallel compression buses (simple compression/punchy and Devlock)
x1 Distortion parallel bus (Decapitator)

These busses then go into ALL DRUMS folder: which has some tape saturation, and a little of EQ to tweak some lowend and clipper.

BASS:
Amp: used for everything above 170hz, just clipped it then.
DI: Heavy distortion, but rolling off below 500hz and above 2k.
DI Duplicate: Used for low end removed everything above 200hz, gave the Harrison Bass flow a try as go and an 1176
Bass tracks under a folder with some compression on to help glue to together, then sent to my ALL BASS folder where I did a little more eq and a clipper
- automated to chorus in places.

GTR: Grouped the pairs together and panned L/R. Some EQ across them all to help them fit in, few groups had Sountoy radiator and into a sansamp for a little more grit. C4 compressor to reduce some of the more chuggy parts. Verb/Delay also used in places. Sent to ALL GTR's bus with widening on. Did also automate a chorus type effect in for certain sections.

SYNTHS: Grouped the two pairs, and panned L/R. Reduced a little lowend and lower mids. Sent to some chorus/verb - then Sent to ALL Synth buss with some widening and saturation on.

Vox: Main vocals compressed hard, EQ and de-esser - sent to various verbs/delays/chorus etc which were automated in.
BG Vox: All had a fairchild style compressor on, then sent to a folder with similar chain as main vox.
Sent to ALL VOX bus where I just did a touch of EQ

My "ALL BUSSES" then feed into:
Rear Bus technique (everything except drums) into:
Mix A - EQ/some light compression/Pultec (smiley face which I normally mix into), saturation and a tape emulator (which I left on by mistake, and when I noticed the mix did not sound as good with it off so left it on:) )

Mix B - heavyily compressed parallel bus of MIX A blended to taste
Mix A & B then go to my PRINT track.

Lots and lots of automation as I was having a blast just bring different elements up here and there.

Great song!

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BecGB- ... sp=sharing


Cheers,
Jules

EmClrk wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 19, 2023 17:12 CEST

I've seen Pray for Hayden's name on gig posters at the Fulford Arms and maybe elsewhere in York so it's good to hear what you guys are up to!

Wow, small world eh?! Yes we've played at the Fulford Arms in York many a time, it's one of our favourite venues!
Many thanks for submitting a mix, I'm having a listen to it now. Excellent documentation too btw, it's great to read the thoughts behind your mix decisions
All the best
Ben

Punchipum wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 19, 2023 18:20 CEST

Hey, @EmClrk , nice mix

Thanks! Sounds like we had a similar mix vision on this one