MIX CHALLENGE - MC087 August 2022 - Winners announced

[diegoneryproducoes]

I really enjoyed mixing this work. I had to work on percussions and bass using side-chain compression, drive, eq. I chose to fit a few musical notes from the woodwinds for the general good because they were bothering me. One of the guitars needed an amp simulator because the sound was noisy. I used a lot of automation for practically all the elements. This year I'm working with UAD plugins, but most of the plugins used are either free or native to my DAW. The mixing was carried out completely within REAPER. Hope you like it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XfFrKp ... p=drivesdk

[Vanilla Puff]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xitVeB ... sp=sharing
-19.2 LUFS, -5.7dB TP max.

Really fun track to mix. Wanted a bit more emphasis on vocals and to make room for some clarity in the mix.
Started with drums. Saturation, compression, eq, slight transient boost. Main goal was to drive and punch up the kick with the snare.
Next, got it to sit where I wanted with the bass. Pre-eq, saturation and post-eq, slight sidechain.
For vocals I tried to declip crackling spot, then several compressors and slight saturation to warm it up a bit.
Nothing fancy on other elements, mainly saturation, eq and automation.
Several sends for different elements. Short reverb, short delay, long lush reverb and general reverb.

[Vongluck]

Hello,

I need to say that I wasn't motive by this song, but the project is not common, and the sounds are oriental, then I have tryed, and I am not disappointed. Thanks you so much for your song and this challenge shared.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fmaw0l ... sp=sharing

[rvalle]

Hey there, mixing ppl. Once again it is a joy to be able to mix such interesting and unique song, produced by dear @Los_ady . It was a good challenge this time.

Here's my version:

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

So, let me point some of my most important moves:

BEAT: Control the kick punch and also the shaker volume with Sonible Entropy and PSP NobleQ; Isolate the beat effects with Accusonus Regroover and create an extra channel to give a movement to it with SoundToys Phase Mystress.

BASS: I used the XFer Dimention Expander to give it more openness; I also applied a volume automation with CableGuys' VolumeShaper to eliminate conflicts with the kick.

PERCS: Cajon, Cymbal, Cala and Karkaba were grouped together. In the group channel I inserted the excellent Native-Instruments Raum to create some ambience with a very short and subtle reverb, which helps to glue the elements together. In samba, a very popular genre in Brazil, there is also the use of many percussive elements. Analyzing some samba mixes, I noticed that some of these elements are located at the sides. I followed this technique by placing the Cajon and the Cala on opposite sides; on the Karkaba, with the Cooper Time Cube, I placed the element a little more open and undefined on the soundstage, using a very short and fast delay on the Karkaba Room channel; the delay and the original sound were then placed on opposite sides in the stereo.

STRINGS: The guitars and the Rebab were grouped together. On the distorted gtr, a bit of Dimension Expander; On the Rebab, a bit of distortion with the Klanghelm IVGI2. A good amount of Volume and Panning Automations helped to better balance and situate the elements in the mix.

WINDS: Sax and Trumpet were grouped together. In the group channel I used a good amount of compression with the TR5 Black 76 and UA 1176LN Legacy; with Elysiua Phil's Cascade I got a more present character in the summed timbre of the elements; and with the Raum, a bit of subtle ambience. Nothing special in the individual channels, just volume and panorama automations.

VOCAL: On the group channel, I equalized with the Trident A-Range and NobleQ to bring out some of the lower frequencies of the vocals; compression with LA-2A Gray; on Fiona's vocal, I used the excellent Accusonus ERA 6 De-Esser Pro; compression with the UA 1176SE Legacy and Teletronix LA-2A Gray; some saturation and character with the AudioThing Type A and ambience with Raum. I created a new channel only with Fiona's chorus parts, in which I put the SoundToys DevilLoc to mash and the Eventide Quadravox to create a backing vocal effect.
I also used a very interesting technique I learned in an Ian Sutton course, which is to duplicate the main vocal channel just to send the signal to the reverb and delay channels. In this duplicated channel there is no compressor or volume control, which maintains the singer's natural inflection in the sends. This channel has no signal sent to the master bus. On the LALA voice, only iZotope's Vocal Doubler for boosting. Again a good amount of volume automation on the vocals.

AMBIENCE: There were three ambience channels, being two delays (one short and one longer) and a room reverb. For the delays, I used the AudioDamage Dubstation2 on the long one and the McDSP EC300 on the short one. Both are very colorful. For the reverb, I used the UAD RealVerb-Pro.

MIXDOWN: I did a mixdown and opened a new project for loudness and final adjustments. I used the AMEK 200 for small bass tweaks, the Millennia NSEQ-2 for Mid/Side EQ adjustments; I also tested the TDR Kotelnikov GE, a very transparent buss compressor; I closed with the BlackBox HG-2MS for that little bit of saturation.

Good luck to all!

[O'MIX]

Hi there,

Thank you for this mixing opportunity, nice original project with a lot of tracks and a lot of work in perspective to manage to clarify all that, my objective is to propose a dynamic and musical version of this song.

All tracks were soloed and frequency correction was done, a Neve Acustica audio line preamp was applied to all tracks.

I created bus groups with a Neve Acustica audio bus console insert, various EQs were used, an orange MAAT EQ and almost all other EQs were done with Overloud EQP (pultec style EQ) it's simple but it allows much more than you think, the phasing of certain elements of the mix was done with the Melda plugin (between dry signal and room on the percussions for example...) The compressors used are..., Overloud Comp76 (gt), Acustica El Rey (vocals), Acustica N4 TP Focusrite (Beat, drums), some effects have been added in addition to the provided parts like , Relab sonsig rev-a, Fabfilter timeless3, Acustica silver. I also used the Wavesfactory trackspacer a lot for a good integration between the tracks in sidechain compression mode (drums and bass etc...) some small automations to finish.

I think I got a competitive result and I'm quite satisfied with my work, now it's up to you to listen to it and tell me what you thought? And if I go further in the challenge...

File in 24bit /44.1Kz format, RMS -17.79, TPL -2.17, DR 13.43

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

Good luck to everyone,
O'MIX

[Franz]

Hi all,

Here are the main technical specifications for my mix.

As a shortcut in the text, I use "Auburn Sounds Panagement" (I'll write it ASP) which allows to spatialize the tracks
as well as the compressor/limiter of the editor "Klanghelm" which is called "MJUC" and which is to be used with the
fingertips without which one is quickly on the other side of the mirror.

the lead vocal: first I planed the incredible level differences manually in WaweLab 11 then follow: Chanel strip
from Samplitude + vocal rider (Wawes) + Thrillseeker + ASP +TDR VOS slickEQ + MJUC.
For the chorus I created a new track in which I used "Wawes Harmony" + ASP + Alex Hilton A1 + Eventide H3000 (double 2)

the backing vocals: vocal rider + ASP + Morphverb + Wawes Q10 + Alex Hilton A1 + Wawes supertap 6 + Eventide H3000 (double 2)

The percussion ensemble: desert + karbaka + cala + cajon (I created a second cajon track for a more efficient equalisation)
all of which arrives on a dedicated bus with ASP + MJUC. The cymbals track arrives directly on the master bus (to avoid the "pumping"
effects of the compressors) and allow a better spatialization. Important: note that I did not use the room tracks (I have Auburn Sounds
Panagement for that)

the bass: addition of a "sub" harmonic with Brainworks, equalization in the medium (presence) and limiter with MJUC

the guitars: as is to keep the authenticity of the original sound but simply morphverb + real ADT (Wawes) for the lead guitar
and Eventide H3000 (double 2) for the wah-wah guitar which has been stripped of its spring reverb.
All guitars arrive on a dedicated bus with ASP + MJUC

ribab : morphverb + ASP + Alex Hilton A1 + MJUC

brass: as is, original sound that arrives on a dedicated bus with ASP

That's it, then it's a matter of finding a musical atmosphere. This is the most important creative part of the mix.

To complete the end,I created a separate track for the thunder which concludes in a more masterly way the end of the title..

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KeK1h- ... sp=sharing

[Eight8]

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gj4kunye76vva ... 8.wav?dl=0

Mixing Notes:

This was a great challenge. My vision was to create something powerful, to build up under the lyrics.

Drums: I duplicated the loop track and hi-passed one, and low-passed the other. The split was around 300hz. I did some parallel processing with it to create a steady and pumping beat. With the other drums, I hi-passed most of them to make space for all the other instruments.

Bass: I used the new plugin from Acustica Audio GRAPHITE (what a beast!!)

Guitars: I added some amps (Chandler Limited from Plugin Alliance and Amp Room from Softube).

Horns: I processed them with some preamps from UAD and Nebula to make them sound more alive and fatter. Then I experimented with some tape FX and volume and pan automation.

Choir and lead vocal: I went over all the parts and did some clip gaining. Then I used 1176 Blue Stripe to even it more, and then, volume automation as well to make it as even as possible. I added some delays to the choir.

Mix Bus: Slate Mix Console - Slate Bus Compressor - bx_Digital 3 (A little low cut and a little spread, no eq) - GW Mixcentric

That's it! I hope you like it

[Dodgingrain]

Mix is here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqpB-RLndYJrk68v0lr ... w?e=Ca66Xy

Touch mix with lots going on and lots of conflicting frequencies.

Drums: mostly eq and some transient shapers. I did automate in some eq that pulls out low end to make the transitions have more impact. Lots of cutting to the low mids to try and reduce the boomyness and clean up the low end junk from the hand slaps on some of the instruments. I did do the panning thing in the intro.

Bass: Added a little bit of distortion and coloration with a REDDI and Decapitator to give it more bite. Also widen out the higher frequencies of the bass to make it bigger. There is a little bit of side chain compression triggered from the kick.

Horns: Mostly compression to fatten the sounds up and some cutting of the lower end with eq. I also used an ADT plugin to make the horns feel a bit wider.

Gtrs: Selective use of panning to try and make them stand out and some substantial eq cuts and boosts in the mids to brighten them up. I also used some short delays and opposite panning to try and widen the guitars.

Ribab: treated these tracks similar to how I would treat strings with some widening and low end cuts.

Vocals:
Lead: Most of the sound comes from a dbx-160 paired with a CLA-2A, otherwise just some eq boosts, a little bit of low end cuts, some side chain hard compression, a couple delays, some automated reverb, and a high end boost.
BGVs: Not much here other than some eq cuts, a little bit of compression and some automated reverb. Also used an ADT plugin to try and widen them out more.

Master bus:
Typically I go the SSL 4000 plugin route but on this one I used API for glue compression after some tape saturation.

[SuC76]

Hi,

Here's the mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n9f-N7 ... sp=sharing


D_ROSE BEAT - stock comp and eq
D_ROSE BEAT PARR.- stock comp
D_ROSE BEAT PARR. AMP DIST.- stock comp and eq
---------------------------
SUB
---------------------------

KARKABA - stock comp and eq
KARKABA ROOM - stock comp and eq
CAJON - stock comp and eq
CAJON DI - stock comp and eq
CYMB 1 - stock eq
CYMB 2 - stock eq
CALA TOP - stock comp and eq
CALA BOT - stock comp and eq
CAL ROOM L -stock comp and eq
CAL ROOM R - stock comp and eq
--------------------------
SUB
--------------------------

BASS DI - stock comp and eq
BASS low / parr.
BASS amp / parr.
BASS dist. / parr.
BASS modulation / parr.
---------------------------
SUB
---------------------------

GTR MIC 1 - hipass, stock comp and eq
GTR MIC 2 - hipass, stock comp and eq
GTR DIST MLDY - hipass, stock comp and eq
GTR DSTR 2 - hipass, stock comp and eq
GTR SOLO SM57 - hipass, stock comp and eq
GTR SOLO AT - hipass, stock comp and eq
WAHWAH SM57 - hipass, stock comp and eq
WAHWAH AT - hipass, stock comp and eq
----------------------------
SUB
----------------------------

SAX - hipass, stock comp and eq
SAX SOLO - hipass, stock comp and eq
TRUMPET - hipass, stock comp and eq
TRUMPET SOLO - hipass, stock comp and eq
RIBAB CLOSE - hipass, stock comp and eq
RIB ROOM L - hipass, stock comp and eq
RIB ROOM R - hipass, stock comp and eq
-----------------------------
SUB
-----------------------------

FIONA VOX - hipass, stock comp and eq
FIONA VOX reverb parr.
LALA TAMAR P - hipass, stock comp and eq, added some delay
LARA TAMAR BCK - hipass, stock comp and eq addem some delay
-----------------------------
SUB
-----------------------------

ADDED SOME MASTER BUS COMPRESSION 4:1, few dB of GR

[Ronson79]

Here´s my take on this one...

Drums
eq to taste, transient designer on certain elements

Instrumetns
eq to taste, several automations, limiting to control peaks

Bass
eq and limiting

Vocals
eq, de-ess, Soothe2, compress and some stereo and harmonics + a touch of verb

Mixbus
light compression with DynOneV3 and eq from AA Jade2

Download link:

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