MIX CHALLENGE - MC098 June 2024 - Winners announced

[Miha]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Hello, because I'm here for the first time, please don't blame me if I did something wrong.

Regarding the mix:

I use DAW Reaper and mainly stock plugins and some Tukan ones, especially in this mix there is Tukan sum channel 2 on almost all tracks.

There is a deeser on the vocals and a lot of gain automation, and for a more "robotic" sound in certain parts I used a pitch shifter

For a more distant feel, I put a lot of reverb on the TOMS and also on the vocals towards the end of the track

[Gertius]

Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1psNmto ... sp=sharing

I mixed the song using Reaper.
The tracks each have a convolution-based SSL EQ and where needed an SSL compressor.
I boosted the lows on Kick and Bass with a Nebula Neve 1073 program.
Main vocals have a Waves Deesser to tame sibilance.
Effects were small and medium room IR out of a Lexicon 480.
Delays short and long via ReaDelay.
Chorus is SPX Nevermore which supposedly is modeled after the Yamaha SPX90 Symphonic program and was used on bass and a little bit on vocals.

I tried to go for a natural sound with clarity and imaging, giving each element it´s own space in the frequency spectrum, while extending top and bottom from the original mix.

[Tony Black]

Hello people!

Thanks to Mix Challenge and Arnwyn for this great event.
This is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14JXtR1 ... drive_link

The song was mixed ITB.
The standard setup for channels was Softube Console 1 SSL 4000 channel strip + Fabfilter ProQ2 for surgical eq.
I used a multibus approach. Usually i have 4 busses at my disposal but i used only 3 in this case.
Bus A: Drums + bass; Bus B: Guitars + piano; Bus C: Background vocals.

Each bus is equipped with Softube Harmonics (saturation) + a compressor.
I don't really care about the type of design of compressors i use, for me it is about features.
The compressor needs to have dual mono operation and a clean but aggressive way to deal with transients.
Attack/release time are very important.
So for me the Vertigo VCA does the job very nicely on each of my busses.

Compressors on these busses work very lightly, usually around 1dB or less.
Sometimes the gain reduction meter doesn't move at all but this doesn't mean the compressor isn't working.

FX used are Valhalla Plate/Hall/Room tuned based on the bpm of the song.
Delays on the vocals. Very subtle.

My mixbus chain is: VU meter/Softube Harmonics/Vertigo VSC/Leapwing Audio StageOne.
I make sure i hit my mixbus between 0/+2 VU (my VU calibration is -14dBFS = 0VU).
I could watch the VU on the Softube but i use another one before it because the ballistics of the Softube are too slow for me, not very informative.
The Vertigo VSC is going to compress around 4dBs when all the music is playing. Dual mono operation, 30ms attack, fastest release, 4:1 ratio.
The StageOne is a stereo widener that gives me the sound of analog summing. It creates a bit of separation and depth which i can't get in other ways. I use it very lightly: Width at 5, Depth at 10. Mono spread is bypassed.

All the mix has parallel compression from an 1176 working in dual mono.
It compresses all the mix around 10dBs and it is mixed with the original sound at very low volume.
If you remove it, the difference is very subtle and the volume difference is minimal, but it gives a touch more density to the mix which i like.

The mixbus and the parallel mixbus go to a mastering channel where i have a clipper + limiter.
Clipper works around 2 dBs or so of gain reduction.
This eliminates some excessive transients from the mix and also gives the opportunity to get -8 LUFS just by normalizing the mix.
The limiter is not compressing at all and it is there only for "safety".

Hope you enjoy my work and good luck to all of you

[dstra]

Hi everyone,

Here is my submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ee2O20 ... sp=sharing

Many thanks to Arnwyn for providing the tracks. Compared to the original mix, I used less compression to leave a little bit more space to "breathe" and I also swapped the piano and guitar in the stereo field to have the high-frequency instruments hi-hat and guitar on opposite sides.

Track processing
kick: subharmonic, eq, widener, compressor, reverb (room)
stick, snare, tom2, tom3: eq, compressor, reverb (room)
hats: eq, widener
tom1: eq, reverb 1 (for sound design), compressor, reverb 2 (room)
crash: widener, reverb (room)
bass: eq, compressor, side chained dynamic eq (make space for the bass drum)
piano: transient designer (to increase dynamic), exciter, eq, reverb (room), volume automation
git: transient designer (reduce pick noise), eq, compressor, widener, reverb (room)
vox: eq, dynamic eq (de-essing), 2 compressors, reverb (room), volume automation
bv: eq, reverb (room)

Subgroup processing
vox bus (vox, bv): reverb (hall)
chords bus (piano, git): reverb (hall)
drums bus: reverb (hall)
bass bus: reverb (hall)
main bus: compressor ("glue")

Tools
DAW: Ardour (on Linux)
plugin bundles: Calf, LSP, Zam

[viklundorama]

Hello!

Here are my contribution in this challenge:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u9q0od ... sp=sharing

Thank you to Arnwyn for sharing this song!

Drums: I spent a lot of time working with the drums, removing boxiness and softening up the kick.
Guitar: Chose the DI guitar, used an IR of a coles 4038 to get a bit more miced up kind of sound. a widener to spread it out to the sides, lots o EQ and compression and some of eventides tricera chorus.
Bass: Logics amp sim, glow saturation, and comp.
Piano: Placed in the center, EQ and comp
Main Vox: Lots of EQ and comp. A bit of room reverb
BGV: EQ, comp and room reverb.

[Fabox]

Hi everyone !

This is my mix.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nz_xUk ... drive_link

My description :

For a lot of track, fabfilter compressor, gate and eq

Drums :
Reverb type plate for the snare
Reverb type plate for Cymbals
For the toms, SPL Transient and a reverb in bass for more sustain

Bass :
Melodyne for adjust the notes

Key + Guitar :
For the piano and guitar, stereo imager to expand the pan
1176 comp type on the buss

Vocals :
For all, melodyne and autotune for unhumanize with a lot of hall reverb
1176 comp type on the buss

Master :
SSL comp type

See you !

Fabox

[Vongluck]

Hello

I thank you for this new challenge, the style was different as the other. My goal was to have more relief during the song.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MMe987 ... drive_link

Thank, it was great.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your mix.


So far, we have 66 entries (compared to 146 Mix Pack downloads).

If you've been sitting on your mix, now is the time to get everything sorted out, post both your link and documentation. Please pay attention to detail. Do not put your entry at risk of being disqualified. Also try to prevent to post at the very last minute to not into server issues (see Global Countdown).

There will be no deadline extension!

[MattP]

Here's my mix

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rf8noaiq ... p8i7s&dl=0

Drums: Fattened up the kick and toms/ brightened up the snare. All drums ran through UAD Fatso for parallel drum bus

Bass: Ran through my Line6 POD Express pedal using the ampeg b15 setting + cutting some low mid with stock plugin + some compression with Softube Valley People.

Piano: Cut some low mid + brightened up at 8k and 10k + fairly heavy compression with UAD Precision Channel Strip

Guitar: HP/LP + cut a lot of 500 with stock + Slate Digital VTM + Waves Kramer PIE comp.

Lead Vox: 2 Waves DeEssers + mid cut and added upper mids/highs with UAD Neve Channel + CLA-76

BVs: Mild eq/compression with UAD Precision Channel

Mix Bus: Neve 5059 for summing, Manley Pultec for some 60hz and 5k, Neve MBP for mild comp/limit + tone shaping, Dangerous Bax Eq and Compressor for very mild eq/compression

[E.Rueda]

Hi, I want to thank all the members of this contest for the opportunity they give us to participate with these magnificent songs, both the organizer Mister Fox and the song suppliers, in this case Arnwyn.
In terms of processing the song, there were two main challenges in mixing, vocals and drums. The voice is quite bright, so I had to leave those mid-hi free from its other competitors. I also didn't have to process the voice too much so as not to take away its naturalness and at the same time I had to control those them to take away its harshness. The effects chosen for the vocals had to be a little darker so as not to dirty those it.
The other challenge was the drums, we had to make them sound as natural as possible, for this I did re-mic processing in parallel with UAD Sound City.
The bass sounded great at first so I just had to give it a little bite so that when listening with small speakers it worked well, for this I doubled it, kept the low end and processed it with a distortion pedal, it took the bite necessary.
As for the guitars and piano, it has been a fairly simple processing, they already sounded quite good, some equalization, compression and on the guitar controlling the transients of the strings.
Here's my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PJUQ0Y ... sp=sharing
Thank y good luck!!