MIX CHALLENGE - MC097 April 2024 - Mix Round 1 in evaluation

[hilladr]

Hi all, I think this is my first post here.
First of all, thanks to Mr. Per Bellener for providing the tracks. It is a good song, great singer! Also thanks for Mr. Fox for accommodating the Mix Challenge. I just found about this Mix Challenger this month. Almost don't have time for mixing it.

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

My few notes, as an amateur and doing music for my spare time:
1. "Glueing" technique/summing done with airwindows plugin Console 7 (I hope it is OK if I read the rules correctly), as I also was curious to "drive" the bus
2. Almost no compressor used, but lastly I used compressor (airwindows ButterComp2) on the lead vocals.
3. I contemplated using 2 reverbs , or a delay. But ultimately used only 1 reverb for almost all of the tracks. Of course with varying levels.
4. I was using LCR panning mostly, but for the choir I only pan about 25% respectively for the pair low-high tracks.
5. EQing was using FF ProQ3 and Kirchoff for surgical task and BCAudio Liny EQ 5 for broader Qs.

I also read some of the forum posts from others, which mentioned EQ freqs etc. and kinda overwhelmed with those and tempted to use it also but I chose to just go and learn by myself how I would go with each EQ moves and instruments. I didn't take note so if any one looking at my tracks please let me know. I enjoyed the most mixing the vocals , backing vocals and choirs. If I have more time maybe I will spend more time to do something differently..to fit the song better. As of now I feel like this should be my entry file.

[KicsiLevi]

Hello!
This is my first post on the forum, so welcome everyone!
Congratulations to the author of the song, it's a beautiful one.
My mix is an introduction to UAD Luna, so I mainly used uad plugins, API channel strip/2500/summing.
Thank you for listening.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/oob7bvsb ... n60er&dl=0

[Michael_K]

Hi everyone!
Thanks to the provider and Mr Fox for another mixing opportunity!

I tried to keep things as simple as possible.
Drums: Eq into 1176 style compressor and mixed in a little of the uncompressed signal for the kick and snare.
Guitars: same chain but using opto style compression.
All other instruments, eq and dbx style compression.
Vocals go through eq, de-ess,1176, neve style (Waves V) with slow attack.
The compression for each track was adjusted while listening to the full mix to hopefully make it sit well in the mix.
I automated the effects in the lead vocal in for more of a dramatic effect.
Same with the guitar solo.
On the mix bus I have a C2 with ssl bus compressor settings.
Here is the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14I-umJ ... Nonuh/view

Good luck to everyone!

[againstpower]

Hi,

For my mix, I tried to get a good balance of all instruments both in terms of loudness, volume and pan. I also looked for an atmosphere in which to place the voice and musical arrangement through the use of 4 reverbs with the Valhalla Supermassive plug-in. In particular, the characteristics of the reverb used for the guitars and vocals change depending on the sections of the song, automating the MODE parameter of the Valhalla plugin.
To characterize the sound with a vintage and analogue flavor I used the waves NLS plugin on the buses created to group the instruments by type.
In general for all the tracks I used compressor and equalizer, after an adequate gain staging and a raw mix.
For kick and snare I used the SSL EV2 channel strip and parallel compression with CLA-76.
For HH and cymbals I used a de-esser for high frequency harshness and then sent both to a compressor in parallel.
For the Toms I used a limiter instead of a compressor.
Finally I added a touch of tape saturation throughout the drum bus.
For the bass I used a vst amp in conjunction with the D.I. track. therefore compression and equalization and a bit of saturation.
Acoustic guitars are controlled with the LA-3A compressor followed by an EQ. Electric guitars have an additional 1-2 db compression. A dynamic EQ acts on the guitar bus, controlled for some frequencies by the bass and for others by the voice.
For strings I used Aphex to add harmonics as well as eq and upward compression.
The piano required some additional work to stand out in the mix. I used LA-2A followed by LA-3A for the faster peaks, an envelope shaper and then the Magma channel plugin and Aphex with very light blackbox saturation.
For the Cello, in addition to comp and EQ, a saturation to accentuate the sound of the strings. Trumpets: A-3A for dynamics and A-2A for tone.
Finally, for the voice I used parallel compression that returns to a bus together with the direct voice. On the bus I used a de-esser and 2 compressors an eq and the Magma BB Tubes plugin.
Vox under also has stereo delay.
The mix bus doesn't do too much processing: Kramer PIE comp for peak control, a Puigtec equalizer for 12K and 100K boost and the Shadow comp with 0-1db of maximum reduction.
That's all, here's my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/192p7SQ ... sp=sharing


Beyond the challenge, I hope to receive feedback to allow me to learn and improve myself : this is why I'm here.

[useruser]

MC097__Bellener_and_Friends__Get_A_Grip__useruser

Hey, folks, first time here. Not sure this uploaded right bur we'll find out. Thanks to the artists for giving us something to play with. As far as the mix process was, well, there wasn't much of one. For the instruments I just used the DI tracks and used the EFX tracks as a reference. I didn't go crazy with effects or anything really but the few I did use were kind of "baked into" the tracks. Instead of using sends for guitar delay and verbs i put them in the effects loop in some places to make the vibe a little more pedal style than send style. Most reverbs are mono with the exception of the drum room and vocal verbs at varying degrees of width. I wanted to keep things a little vibey with plugs modeled after stuff with tuuuuubes. Nothing crazy here, just recreating a chain in the box. Sound source>preamp>comp/eq whatever>surgical eq was the main chain with tape stuff on busses. master bus has tape on it with ozone for helping keep within loudness targets. No compression or eq was done on the master, just some fake tape glue.

[Clueless]

MC097__Bellener_and_Friends__Get_A_Grip__useruser

No access, you need to change settings in drive

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,
Here is my mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kl_97Q ... sp=sharing

Vocals: it was challenge to get vocals ear pleasant - so i cuted some high mids and added compression.
Kick: Normally i would add more kick, but from the notes what songwriter gave us - i leave it the same level as reference.
Acoustic guitar: there was a lot of tones that was harsh, so i added multiband compressor to get ride of it.
Wurlitzer: It has too much lows that was becoming track more boomy, so i cuted low mids.

Cheers!

[dstra]

Hi everyone,

Here is my submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wJl2zD ... sp=sharing

I used the instrument balance of the original track as a guide. My objective was to mix the instruments as transparently as possible and to keep the transients as lively as possible.

Tracks
Most tracks only needed eq, compression and reverb. Additional processing was applied to:
- vox_lead_cleaned: dynamic eq (for dessing), limiter
- vox_under, vox_wail: stereo widening
- e-guitar-solo_with_all_FX: stereo narrowing, transient designer
- wurlitzer_additional_tube-drive: stereo widening, transient designer
- bass-guitar_DI: saturation, transient designer, side chained dynamic eq (make space for the bass drum)
- snare: transient designer
- hihat: dynamic eq (tame open hi-hat), transient designer
- toms: saturation, transient designer
On some tracks, volume automation was applied.

Buses
- background bus (choir, guitars [except solo], wurlitzer, trumpet, strings): compression
- drums bus: compression
- main bus: saturation

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

Hope you enjoy it!

[Piranha]

The aim of the mix was to make every instrument clear to find in the mix and to give a vintage sound as expected for the genre.
To do this I mostly used analog emulations and a top down and bass heavy mixing approach.

DRUMS:
On the drum bus I used an API 2500 compressor emulation from Lindell and a Fairchild from Melda.
Then just eq shaping on the individual channels and compression for kick and snare.
BASS:
Eq, compression via Overloud LA2A emulation.
GUITARS:
Eq via Lindell API emulation.
KEYS:
Eq via Lindell API emulation. Compression on the buss with a Neve 2254 Lindell emulation.
VOCALS:
API channel strip, 1176 Purple Audio emulation and heavy de-essing for the main vocals.
The usual Lindel API channel strip on individual channels.
Acon Digital Verberate was used to create a drum room, then a hall and a small chamber algorithms on vocals.

My mix

[jeffssoloband]

Hello, please find my submission here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yapt3y4rpnudo ... d.wav?dl=0

Didn't do a ton. I used the electric guitar track w/fx (not the DI), and the "clean" wurli. All other tracks were used as suggested (i.e., both kick drums). I also started my mix the measure after the count-in tones.

I found it difficult to make the sampled tracks to not sound so synthetic, but just ended up embracing the fact that they are samples. Reverb helped a bit with that.

Kept the drums and bass pretty dry to imitate that 70s vibe. Cleaned up the vocals as best I could. That sibilance on the vox_lead_cleaned and that weird vocal thing at the end of the phrases of the vox_under were difficult to work with. I spent a lot of time in RX trying to fix those issues.

Everything else is pretty much EQ'd, compressed, and panned to create space.

Thank you for listening and for your consideration.

Best regards,
Jeff (jeffssoloband)