Mix Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Mix Challenge 69 - September 2020


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (source files, submission information, sponsors), start of the evaluation process and the first post for re-submissions for Mix Round 2.



This month we have the chance to work on an "Alternative (Pop)" production by fellow Mix Challenge regular hjchjc under his moniker "Fell From The Tree". The song is called "Control".

Our "client" went the extra mile for us, and reconstructed/re-arranged his song for the purpose of having material for the "Mix Challenge". This is a more sparse arrangement compared to his official releases from January 2020 and May 2020 (remastered by Ryan Morey). The biggest challenge this month (IMO), is to clean up the vocals and create a suitable "sound cloud" with the various layers of percussion.

Please read about the details and special requirements for handling this mix further down below.




Please take note of the following

• Please consult the official "Rules and Guidelines" for the Mix Challenge regarding principles of the game, recommendations and upload/submission guidelines
• IMPORTANT: please only provide WAV files, files need to be accessible/downloadable, try to work within suitable work levels (the focus of this game is "mixing", not mixing and finalizing), document your edits (ideally also with screenshots), name the files properly to distinguish your edit from all others.
• please use the following naming convention (Contestant Name = Forum Username):
  • MC000_ArtistName_TrackName_ContestantName.wav
  • MC000_ArtistName_TrackName_ContestantName_R2.wav for those that go into Mix Round 2
  • Example: MC069__Fell_From_The_Tree__Control__ForumUsername.wav
• please only upload to cloud storage spaces (DropBox, GoogleDrive, etc), not SoundCloud - and check that your material is downloadable
• It is highly encouraged to give feedback to each other, to share tips and tricks. Ideally, this should happen after Mix Round 1 has ended, to not influence each other during the main competition round

Also please take note of the following

• Our Song Pool is on the verge of drying up! We're looking for new source material for future competitions. Please follow our official campaign. Your only investment is time in turn for a free mix by our very talented participants. No new tracks mean no more challenges! Please reach out!

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information, Source Files, Sponsors
Mix Round 1 Statistics/Data Sheet: Overview of Submissions - is your entry within given parameters?
Mix Round 2: Global Feedback and Round 2 Participant Announcement
Results of the Mix Challenge: Winners announced

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Tuesday, 01st September 2020 to Monday, 21st September 2020 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 21-09-2020, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST (Germany) - until further notice.

Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please consult the following options:
The Global Countdown on it's dedicated page or the countdown on the home page. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



Song Provider: Fell From The Tree (Joshua Copperman / hjchjc)
Song Name and Length: Control, 3:50 min
Song Information: 86 BPM / Signature: 4/4
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: Alternative


Preview of the Song:


Official releases (for reference):
https://fellfromthetree.bandcamp.com/track/control-4
https://fellfromthetree.bandcamp.com/al ... remastered


A word from the song provider:

Fell From The Tree wrote:This is a remake of a song I made a while ago - I didn't like how it turned out because it had too many tracks but still felt lacking in the energy I wanted. This is a comparatively sparser arrangement, but with a longer ending and a rejiggered structure. I'm still not happy
with my original mix. One thing that's very important to me is low-end *thickness* and *warmth.* The issue is not sacrificing the top end, making the whole mix sound dull. About that - there's a lot of noisy lo-fi hand percussion in the tracks, so that might require some noise reduction (Bertom's Denoiser is a great pay-what-you-want plugin for that)

As for reference mixes. Half Moon Run's Full Circle, specifically the US mix by Ruadhri Cushnan (the one on Spotify, Qobuz, et al) is a perfect reference point. I love the percussion specifically, which influenced how I approached this song. For the official release, I even contacted that song's mastering engineer, Ryan Morey, who did a great job. Other mixes to reference include Rylan by the National (Peter Katis) and Wreath by Perfume Genius (Shawn Everett).

Because this is kind of a slow-burning song, it's pretty important to capture the listener's attention before the whole arrangement kicks in. If you have a way to make the vocal at the beginning sound very upfront and intimate (which I tried but couldn't do) definitely do that.

I want the ending, specifically the segment around 3:21, to be the widest, most dramatic part of the song - the challenge there is making sure the rest of the song doesn't sound small in comparison.

Lyrically it's about being controlled and exploited by some sort of power imbalance, but not wanting to speak up because it only makes things messier.



(more technical details in the Mix Pack bundled TXTs)

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote:This production is very interesting as it feels fairly minimalistic, but it's actually quite far from that. Lots of intricate details, a lot of sound layers that need to bounce off from each other.

Remember - this particular version is different compared to the original release. But you can still use that release along with the provided references for inspiration for your own mix.

The biggest attention in my opinion, needs to be on the vocals. There can be a lot done still, and certain clicks/pops can be repaired with both conventional means (proper fades) and the occasional repair tool. Sound wise, personally I'd use something to "lift" the veil from the vocals - but this is just how I would work.

Read the lyrics, let yourself be inspired by the original mixes (check in with Bandcamp), the demo mix, the references... then go by your gut instinct.

Please also consult the TXT files that are bundled in the source files package below. There you can find more information about the individual files and changes to the time signature.

Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:

• try to create a mix that complements this production (in your own style)
• Clean / Alternative versions can be used if you need more flexibility over a certain sound (if present for this production)
• make the best out of the provided audio material (EQ, compression, transient tools, etc), no "drum sample triggering / replacement"!
• summing bus processing is allowed, as long as the dynamic range (average signal strength to maximum signal strength) doesn't suffer - artistic use only!
• the focus of this game is "mixing" - NO MASTERING
• render the edited material in the same sampling rate and bitrate as originally provided (MC069/September => 44/24)
• ADD-ON RULES - PRODUCTION RELATED:
  • <no additional add-on rules specified>

Please consult the official Rules and Guidelines for a more detailed set of rules. Failing to adhere to the rules will result in instant disqualification


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Source Files:

Main Mix Package - Mirror on the Mix Challenge Homepage (669,56 MB, LZMA compressed, zip)
IMPORTANT NOTE: file unavailable after 21-SEP-2020


The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 2700,61 MB, packed 669,56 MB (ZIP, LZMA)
In order to extract the files, we can recommend these programs:

Macintosh:
The Unarchiver - get it here
Keka (open source) - get it here

Windows:
7zip - Installation / Portable


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Mix Challenge - Gossip and Discussion

If you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months:
Please consider supporting us

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for Mix Challenge participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



Acon Digital is kind enough give away a single plugin of winner's choice
License will turn into NFR
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.com



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of T-RackS ONE to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.com



Metric Halo is kind enough to give away a single plugin of winner's choice
License will turn into NFR
More info about Metric Halo: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/



NOS Audio is kind enough give away one license of NOS Roomer to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on NOS Audio: http://www.nosaudio.com/



Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of Ultraspace to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



THANKS FOR THE LICENSE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on mix plugins, bundles and the likes), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account or Facebook Page

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

Hello.

I found some time to join this challenge, been a while.

The song was surprising, those vocals are superb once sitting in the right place. Lot of subtleties in the arrangement. Very cool Joshua and hjchjc !


I have used digital eq on the tracks, searching for a cohesive background for the vocals more than a perfect separation of the instruments.

My only 2 compression instances were on lead vocal and 2bus. Hardware.

I also went hardware Eq and transient design on the lead vocal. Not perfect, clicky, but I got the emotion I was looking for.

I used some saturation on bass 1 and some percussions tracks.

Everything else is delays and automations.


See you later, have a good time mixing.



https://www.dropbox.com/s/ugz1s7ka7doft ... 1.wav?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tzuc4ft08twhh ... 1.mp3?dl=0

Hello,
Nice song. I try to add new ibe to song and here is what i get:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8p682i91owmxi ... d.wav?dl=0

Drums - i cut at 500hz(8db) and add 8k (3b)
Vocals - all vocals has pretty much the same eq - i cut a little bit low end, because it was too boomy. Also i manualy automate eq on some parts, because in referene track some parts had another eqs. Also i corrected some not in tune vocal parts.
Bass - i add a little bit phase thing, because it was too dry(I always try to leave bass mono but in this case i think it was good idea)
Intruments - i didnt do too much, but i add reverb on piano which makes it huge and if you check from 1:51 to 2:10 it adds fatastic vibe to song)


Cheers!

Hey,

here is my mix:

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

- Tuned the vocals to get nice harmonies
- Fixed some timing issues in the bass and vocals
- Some volume automation for more/less impact (deessing, harsh transients, more impact from the drums for the ending etc.)

I was looking for that "radio sound" with clean and bright vocals and a solid, round and polished low-end complementing the percussions/drums nicely. Because I was running out of DSP on my interface the vocals were bounced to track using a Neve Preamp before applying EQ, compression etc. to get more brightness.

I really like the song btw.

Feel free to ask for more informations.

Greetings!

Hey everyone! Glad you seem to like the song - it's a very personal one to me so I was a bit nervous submitting it haha (not to mention how strange of a production it is). Looking forward to listening to everyone's mixes

hjchjc wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 07:37 CEST

Hey everyone! Glad you seem to like the song - it's a very personal one to me so I was a bit nervous submitting it haha (not to mention how strange of a production it is). Looking forward to listening to everyone's mixes

I think the production is pretty cool actually.

Good day

I tried to build my own mix, almost no referencing on the final master.

Here it is with tons of screenshots because it's too long to describe my work on this mix:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

I went with a softer mix, less aggressive, less compressed - all because the song doesn't have a massive low-end punch.
In my opinion, there was no need for tuning and excessive timing so I went as it is.

Greetings, from Russia with love.

Interesting song. Lot's of possibilities.

I separated the softer and more pronounced vocal and processed them separately. Add some autopan to make the percussion a little more fluid.
A lot of leveling and automation of the vocals. 1DB compression on mix buss as well as Tape emulation.

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

Cheers.

Hi this is my mix
i tuned the vovals
removed some bass freq from the bass
boost some low freq and sub in Kick and remove lots of middle freq
pan the guitars and pads
lots of compression on the vocal and short reverb
aim to have radio quality and clean clear sound everything is limited -3 db

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