MIX CHALLENGE - MC062 February 2020 - Winners announced

[GaryRegnier]

Hi Folks,
I thought I would report in and keep you up to date on progress.
Firstly let me say you guys have set a very high standard, really impressive work from everyone.
I have put all mixes into a single session and level matched and now working my way through using my original mix as a reference where needed. This is just my first listen through and I have got through 29 so far with another 20 to go. Not rushing this and taking regular breaks. I'm making notes and comments as I go using HOFA notepad and plan to publish the notes with results. Should anyone wish more detailed feedback etc just drop me a private message. I can tell this going to be quite a tough one to judge because I have found so much good work and I'm going to have to be very picky as the field narrows. I'll report back again in 24 hours with further update. Have a great weekend everyone,
Gary

[beyondthemind]

Hello. this is my mix of the song hope u enjoy!

Screenshots : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BbIFK ... 0VDxMyy6Go

Wav file : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ss93g ... MF9gWWJ1ve

Good luck to everyone!

Sorry, quoted the wrong person.

[beyondthemind]

Hi. This is the first mix I have ever done. I think it was a great song to begin with, I really liked it!

Wav : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rgDvn ... GkDkpruP6X

Screenshots : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VMMoJ ... HX3vFJvyeW

hope you liked my mix!

I think you need to read the rules again :-)

[Mister Fox]

I think you need to read the rules again :-)

Instead of being cryptic about what went wrong, maybe be a bit more "detailed" in the future.

I think you assume that the entries by Lissmk92, and in fact even KrissK, are way too loud. I can actually confirm this.
The entry by Lissmk92 is clearly limited/mastered at -12,9LUFS and limited to +0,2dBTP.
The entry by KrissK is at -14,8LUFS and limited to 0dBTP.


But I found something else that is a bit more... strange so to speak. I have to investigate further.

[beyondthemind]

I think you need to read the rules again :-)

Instead of being cryptic about what went wrong, maybe be a bit more "detailed" in the future.

I think you assume that the entries by Lissmk92, and in fact even KrissK, are way too loud. I can actually confirm this.
The entry by Lissmk92 is clearly limited/mastered at -12,9LUFS and limited to +0,2dBTP.
The entry by KrissK is at -14,8LUFS and limited to 0dBTP.


But I found something else that is a bit more... strange so to speak. I have to investigate further.

I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to be cryptic, just wanted to give a friendly reminder about reading the rules. I was also thinking they were to loud, but to me it also sounds like something is edited in the audio clips.

[Mister Fox]

I can't 100% confirm the edits (to me it sounds fine) - this is up for the client to decide (he knows his production best).

I'm currently investigating towards another direction... will comment later on this.

[GaryRegnier]

Hi Guys,
Wanted to update you all with progress made here. I am aware of a number of entries that breach the rules for assorted reasons and have taken that into consideration. To be honest it really has made very little difference to the people I have earmarked for the next round fortunately. I presently have 4 or so mixes to find the last one of the 10 to continue and will sort that and then do a double check again tomorrow, Sunday in the UK.
Because of the high standard I have had to be pretty brutal in separating the final 10 and please forgive me if you were not chosen. My criteria were roughly following the brief, creativity and basic 'bread and butter' technical mixing techniques. I found a lot of mixes fell down in the same few areas and some I felt won enough confidence in other areas to have a chance to make fixes whereas others failed to inspire such confidence in me. To say that these decisions were on a knife edge is pretty accurate as so many good efforts were presented. In simplistic terms the piece starts subtle, builds a bit, backs off and hits hard at the end. Most folks got that and did it well. Biggest issues I found were the reverse cymbal at start, the low synths in 2nd section and drum parts in final section plus the vocal solo section not being reduced enough to make the ending hit like a ton of bricks. I understand that having been presented with lots of elements that it seems they should all be given a place but some were really not my best decisions to have recorded and one of the best treatments of the cymbal was someone just muted it, awesome
Anyway all being well I will announce the 10 going ahead within 24 hours and then make another post of feedback for everyone else
See ya soon
Gary

[Snarowitz]

I’m curious...

[White Punk OD]

Hi Gary,
it was interesting work, although some other episode here had like double your track count, which also reduced the number of participants whose equipment could handle that at all. I was like yay, let's do that, I want to see challenge.

I say this on meta-level, because it's a game.
My deepest wish would be you could have total amnesy about your song, and choose the most forgettable mix as the winner.
Why?
Because you listen to an exciting new piece of music, that is not boring at all, though the melodies are simple, but they have strong emotion, and it does not occur to you that there is a mix or a medium or anything.
If we turn on the car stereo, there is just music. We like it or not.
So in the end, I see ALL this as a pool of 50 pieces of music, of which I like actually 2 or 3. When I switch from listening to music, to listening to a mix, something is wrong already.
Therefor, the mix has to be forgettable, the sound has to be immediate and beautiful by itself in an organic way.
Can we achieve this?

On another note, if the artist is skeptical about certain tracks or instruments, or dynamics in the recording, he might be wise to note the mixing engineer about this beforehand. So there can be very targeted attempts to repair that, or cancel it.
E.g. I loved the cymbal best, it is a real shock effect that makes cinematic music amazing and addictive, and answers well to the noises before. But I thought, it was breaking of abruptly, so I prolonged it a bit with that special reverb I often use.
I thought, it should sound dark and very vintage, or why would we mention Vangelis? But also, why not think of Robert Miles, or the synth bass sounds of Frank Farian? Vinylish, but with a bit more digital capacity to carry a sub bass.
All these sounds, it is what that artist did, we make it just audible. And its not a 120 track piece where half is redundant in the first place. In fact its very few for such a project. I wish Ambiloop Azure was at least 5 tracks alone..

I'd like to point out, this time we seem to have a new Korean comrade here, great opportunity to bring in a new perspective. Big shoutout sir!
I love the bright mixes in K-pop a lot, also the Japanese rock and pop productions.
In earlier contests we had people from Africa, India, Japan, alas they received not that much attention, perhaps it would have been very interesting to chat with them..

Thanks in advance for the hard work and enlightening comments!

[EchoOread]

"On another note, if the artist is skeptical about certain tracks or instruments, or dynamics in the recording, he might be wise to note the mixing engineer about this beforehand. So there can be very targeted attempts to repair that, or cancel it."

I second this. Just tell us, man. We don't mind . Cutting stuffs out of a song seems...disrespectful to the artists, to me. Therefore, I always (key word) try to make things work and most times you'll see me lying elbow deep in a pool of my own blood trying. Good point Punk!

Perhaps the mysterious Korean comrade can show and introduce himself to the gang.