MIX CHALLENGE - MC092 June 2023 - Winners announced

[Edu Cesar]

Thanks for the opportunity to mix this track, had a lot of fun doing it. It’s not a genre I’m used to, but I gave it my best. 
I started by grouping tracks and gain staging. Then proceeded to group tracks that had more than one mic and listening to them soloed to get a general listen. I aligned some tracks but kept others as they were, since I wanted to preserve the live aspect of the recording. 
I went for a semi vintage sound but still wanted to sound a modern (hard thing to do).Almost all tracks went to a room reverb, some went to a hall or plate reverb as well.
Here are some notes on individual tracks:

Drums/Percussion

Fab filter to cut some unwanted frequencies and add focus. 
At first I used the snare and kick samples more, but after listening to some references decided to go back and keep the cajon more in focus. 
Kick has a boost around 115 so it goes over the bass which is focused on lower frequencies/
All instruments went to a room reverb and I used API Vision Channel Strip on most of them. The main bus has a Fairchild 670 to get a more vintage sound

Bass

Definitely one of the hardest tracks since it has a lot of bleed. I decided to focus more on the lower end and give some articulation in the mids using Fabfilter ProMB with expander and compressor bands. Some EQ to sculpt things further and LA-2A and a touch Waves MV2 to level things out.

Acoustic Guitar

I tried to pair it with the banjo but keep it focused on the strumming. API channel strip with light compression and EQ, then Maag EQ4 with the air band to bring up the highs, Soothe 2 to tame some resonances and UAD oxide tape to get some saturation and add a small amount of body.

Banjos

There was some bleed happening on the high end so I used ProQ3 to cut some of that and get the sheen as much as I could. I like the banjo’s midrange so it was mainly my focus. API channel strip to sculpt a little more and LA-2A for a slight compression. Waves trackspacer side chained to the main vocal to duck it down a little. 



Fiddles

Also a hard instrument to fit in the mix because it has a lot of importance and it “speaks” with the vocals in a “phrase response” kind of game. I used ProQ3 to clean up the bottom end and some harshness up top and ProMB to target some more specific frequencies. A stock compressor from Logic was used too. This track I’m not really sure I’m happy with it, I’d redo it if I had more time. They went to a hall reverb afterwards.

Accordion 

Not much, just some low cut and high mid boost, some minor compression in API Channel Strip and tape saturation to add some fullness. Trackspacer also used to duck it down when the main vocal is singing.



Vocals

Divided into 3 groups and a main bus: Main Vocal, Background Vocals and Choir. All of them went to vocal rider and a Room and Plate reverb with different amounts of send.
The main vocal I used Magg EQ4 to get some air and control the lows, then a de-esser, followed by a channel strip adding some more general eq e light compression. Then Pro-MB to further control some sibilances and S sounds. Finished with a 1176 and LA-2A to sculpt them a little more. The vocals also went to a dedicated slapback delay
BG vocals (in their own track) I cut some highs on the API Channel Strip, compressed a little and gated them. Then I treated them as a pair, with an 1176 and LA-2A followed by a tape saturation and some small corrections with ProQ3 (some dynamic bands). 
The Choir vocals I treated most as a whole but did some different panning and cut some frequencies on the lower ones. Some basic low and high end cuts, tape saturation and MV2 to level. 



Mixbus

Hitsville Mastering EQ, Neve 33609, and ATR-102 Tape. Gulfoss Master (barely audible) and FabFilter ProL2 with no limiting happening, just as a safety mesure so I don’t go above -1TP.


Here's my mix, I hope you like it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QG4uXy ... share_link

[Waleed Morris]

Hello everyone,
After a long time I'm glad to be back to Mix Challenge.
Greetings to the band, great performance and thank you for providing the song.

First this is a live song so my main perspective is two things :
1-Keep the live performance as it is as possible
2-Maintain the groove and enhance it because I liked it.

I used Softube Console 1 MK2 SSL4000 E for mixing and I've attached all Group_Aux screenshots
Drums and Drums NY(Parallel)-Bass-Guitars-Banjo-Fiddle-Accordion-LeadVocal-BGV-Stereo Out (Mix bus)
Please don't deceive by numbers maybe + 1db is all you need or sometime cut 10 db is add something
you need to the whole picture so don't take a numbers as a guide.

► Show Spoiler

Analyze Audio


Group_Aux Screenshots Download

My submission.
MC092_Salige_Syndere_Lord

Cheers !
Waleed Morris

[monjeco]

Hi everyone!

Glad to be back for more fun.

First thanks to the song provider for making this possible.

So here s my process.

Well i tried to keep it simple and be true to the emotions the music is conveying. No FX at all wanted it to sound organic

Most of the work was carving out some space for more articulation in the low end and the midrange.

Did some dynamic control on the LV with an la2a and then some tape compression and tape delay for a classic sounding tone. Also used an 1176 on parallel for aggression and adding a little bit of transient perception.

On Acgtrs went with a 670 for control and tone.

Most of the work on drums is carving out space with PROQ3, went with a 1073 on the snare and then a townhouse comp on the drum bus followed with a FF PROMB

j37, massive passive, noveltech s vocal enhancer and 33609 chain on the vocal bus

On bass besides EQing i used a dirty tape for color and some compression for leveling.

Finally used an EMI preamp on the mix buss with a little bit of buss compression for beefing up.

here s my mix.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R760xy ... sp=sharing

[FromAtoZMix]

Hi there, here is my version, live recording, a lot of fun with those, everything to the taste, SSL bus comp on master plus little touch of limiter, I will update the process later on. Regards.

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

[jetwolf]

Here is my submission.

Thank you for the song; it was a pleasure to mix.

Acoustic instruments recorded live always present some unique challenges. I tried Soothe on the acoustic bass for the first time, and I found it useful.

Mixed on Pro Tools. Still trying out Softube Console 1 and Fader using the SSL G on all tracks, but still annoyed that there is not yet better integration with Pro Tools with the Fader (still holding out hope).

I was going for a plush acoustic sound with a bit of punch, so I found that using a 660/670 on most tracks seemed to work for the sound I was going for and hopefully hit close to the mark.

The singer had a nice, rich voice which sounded great.

The BGV got some old school Eventide H910 and Ox Inflator to add width.

Percussion got some Overstayer MAS treatment for punch.

Thank you for the music!

Cheers!

Jetwolf

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

[Davias]

Hi all !

Glad to participate again.

Very good recordings to work with despite the bleed and cool track, very bouncy ^^

I tried to keep the ambiance from the bleed but I tamed it here and there with transient designers. I parallel compressed the beat to give it more punch and grit. I added some ambiance to the violin and the vocals by using different reverbs/delays. On the master I have a combination of a SSL comp and a vari-mu, with a tape at the end. I saturated globally with britson and bx SSL channel for some mojo. Beside that I did the usual EQ cleaning/balancing, compression/gating when needed, stereo placement etc... I normalized to -16.0 LUFS-I with Reaper Render option.

Here is the mix : Lord mix by Davias

Hope you'll enjoy the mix, the hardest part for me was to balance the main vocal.

Best of luck to everyone !

[Piranha]

Top-down mix with a old school console style approach with Lindell 50 channel (espanded API 550 emulation) on all channels, supported with MDynamicEq when needed. Compressors used where mostly analog emulations by IK Multimedia and Plugin-Alliance.
DRUMS:
Fattening the kick and shaping drums mostrly carving cardboardy low-mids. Dynamics controls mostrly via parallel compressions: DBX-160 for punch, Distressor to tame peaks, Fairchild to shape attack and made drums pump a bit more. Clipping on drums bus.
BASS:
Filtering the extremes to get rid of the bleed. Controlling dynamics with GemCompLA in 3A mode and eccessive bass with Smooth Operator and Trackspacer in sidechain with the kick.
ACOUSTIC/BANJO:
Mostly eq shaping, boosting hi-mids and a bit of dynamic control via 1176 emulation compressor.
FIDDLE/ACCORDION:
More or less like acoustic/banjo, with some low-mid control on the fiddle via MDynamicEq.
VOCALS:
The usual strong dynamic control, parallel distortion (Waves Berzerk) and taming low-mids and high-mids (~3k)

My Mix

[rbwolk1]

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

Let me first say that it's such a pleasure to mix a group that recorded live and did it well, which is also to say that I really didn't do much to this mix because I didn't have to. I was very happy to simply balance and let the band play.

EQ: Logic stock across the board. Just taking out low frequencies where they weren't needed, besides add a little 1k to the fiddle and 2k to the banjo.

Compression: besides some light fet+opto on the vocals (PA Purple MC77 and Waves CLA-2A), I used Omnipressor for some light expansion on the lead vocals and guitar. I just wanted to get some intimacy from the leads without adding "reverb" as it were...

Reverb: I mostly relied on bleed, but I did run everyone through Waves IR1 Ryman patch. I wanted a liiiiittle bit more space and a famous Nashville venue happened to feel right.

Master Out: just the Maag EQ4 for some polish.

Other than that... it's all levels and panning. Pretty much mirrored the recording other than not centering that repeated fiddle line, felt like a little too much studio magic for my approach. I did have the cajon/percussion more up in the mix though. I know (as a drummer) that's not how the cajon sits in real life, but I felt like it added some energy. Same with the bass, I love hearing the fundamentals big and center while all the other strings dance around and embellish it. I found myself lowering the accordion almost constantly. It's still in there and at a realistic volume, I think, but hopefully not as distracting as I kept finding it. Maybe just my personal taste, but, there ya go.

Cool track, lots of fun. Cheers!

[dagovitsj]

Hi all!
Really enjoyed mixing this one! I love bluegrass and I reckon this is the first time I've mixed a song in this style.

I tried to be true to the acoustic recordings, and put Sonimus N-console on all tracks and also some slight saturation.
The bleed wasn't such a big thing, I think as the tracks blended really nice overall.
I reckon I struggled the most with the low end, and I probably featured the drums a tad too much?

Curious to listen to the other submissions. I went for a rather dry sound at first, but used some more reverb in my final version.
I used a spring reverb (Softube) on the banjos and BX20 on the violins.

Thanks again to the band for providing the multitracks and to the organizer of Mix Challenge to let us mix this

Here is my submission:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Shp6l ... sp=sharing

[Mister Fox]

It is the 22nd June 2023, 00:05 UTC+2/CEST - the first Mix Round has officially ended

Another very warm welcome to all new participants, nice meeting you and I hope you'll enjoy your stay. Also, a huge "welcome back" towards old regulars. It's a pleasure seeing you again. As usual, a huge thank you to everyone that is spreading the word about the Mix Challenge.

Please help get the Songwriting Competition as popular (less than 3 days left, currently 3 entries).


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 75 submissions this month (75 prior to the deadline, 02 after the deadline)
• We have 2 submissions after the deadline (as of 23-JUN-2023 6:00 UTC+2/CEST)
• We have 3 submissions that could not be downloaded by the time of this post and is therefore disqualified (re-checked 23-JUN-2023 6:00 UTC+2/CEST)
• We have 0 submissions not submitted in public, but via PM (see Rule Book, post #6, Upload and Submission Guidelines)
• We have 0 submissions that have been withdrawn (but counts as entry within the deadline)
• Overview of Submissions - is your entry within given parameters? (PDF - updated: 24-JUN-2023 07:45 UTC+2/CEST, full sheet)
• Overview of Submissions (disqualifications only) (PDF - updated: updated: 24-JUN-2023 07:45 UTC+2/CEST)

INFORMATION:
Statistic Sheets have been updated (on 24-JUN-2023 07:45 UTC+2/CEST)
Statistic Sheets are not available yet, please wait for the official announcement post -- sheets will arrive by mid 26-JUN-2023 latest
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⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	Important Update: As of MC081, the Song Providers can now decide from the start, or once the Statistics Sheet has been provided, which route to go in terms of providing feedback. You can read more about this in the Mix Challenge - changes to main game (October 2021) thread. Our Song Provider for this month, @Naturecord, decided to go the "(Feedback for) Top 15" route. We will keep you updated.

.


I now open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however.


Please watch this spot for the statistics sheet, client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.

Good luck to all participants.





The Songwriting Competition 070 (SWC070) is still in full swing.

The deadline is 24-JUN-2023, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST. The genre is "free to select" (Theme: "Arts and Crafts"). So far we have 5 entries, with some interaction. Please share feedback, and maybe join yourself.

Please spread the word!