MIX CHALLENGE - MC071 November 2020 - Winners announced

[JohnK]

I come back to a very important concept that is very often misused and understood by many people.
"Automation", the magic tool that allows you to do everything ....
In the case of the title that interests us, how can (abusive) automation serve us ? Take the example of singing:
there is nothing to "automate" if we want to keep the "emotion" there is in the voice, even the last sentence
which is at the maximum crescendo expressed by the singer. . No need for a boost.

Automation is a pseudo-myth associated with today's DAWs and is certainly not the silver bullet, unless of course
the recording is really catastrophic. And that is quite common, already decades ago, groups recorded in studios
in a rather questionable way with as only credo of the musicians the following sentence "one will arrange that with the mixing".

It's interesting to hear other peoples mixing philosophies, I love it.

Regarding automation, especially on vocals - I don't think it's a myth at all, it has been used forever on consoles. Automation is a tool we use to emphasise syllables to have equal gain through a record and have it sound "good" on all systems.

If you zoom out and think about it for a second. When you listening to a song when you take a walk, on the subway, in downtown with a lot of traffic, working out or something - personally, I use earbuds a ton. It's easy to bring at any point. I don't want to wear my HD600 on the subway for example.
Using earbuds, you don't want the listener to raise or lower the volume on the phone constantly, just because an engineer wants to be as "authentic" as possible.
When I listen through my earbuds, I want to hear the emotion the singer is singing about, in equal volume. Second is that I think most don't keep in mind is - people have a ton of different devices listening to music on. If a song sounds good on hi-fi for $4k but not on the average $30 headphone, I'm sure that artist or label wouldn't hire that engineer again.

Last but not least. I see what you mean, I personally like having a very dynamic song when I want to "enjoy" music. But we nerdy tech guys who is listening what ratio the compression was on that vocal or what kind of reverb they used on the guitar - is not the average listener, sad but true.

[Mister Fox]

Just a friendly reminder:
We have a point on the "Statistics Sheet" that is called "File Issues", which will trigger if you didn't name your entry properly and your forum username can not be associated with your entry.


While "Patrick Lord" is indeed the songwriter, the artist name/music project is "Digital Genes".

The suggested filename is (see first post):
MC071__Digital_Genes__Blue_in_Grey__ForumUsername.wav


I will not disqualify entries up until this point due to a different filename, as long as your entry can be associated to your forum account. For all future entries, we have Rules and Guidelines, please use the naming convention above.

[Franz]

Hi JohnK,

Yeah, I totally agree with the way you think about "consuming" music today.
The song must be a clean product and completely sanitized, what our great sound engineers
(all Grammy Awards, nominated by whom anyway ?) do to be in "the standards of the musical industry".
The same in almost every country in the world.

What I wanted to say is that it is not interesting to waste a lot of time to correct a bad singer, a minimum
of technique is essential, otherwise it is better to drop the matter.

Of course, there are many computer tools to overcome these deficiencies.

But on the other hand, do you believe that a great and reputable opera singer will accept that you "arrange" his voice
to be in the standards of current phonographic production ?

These are two extreme examples, I know. And it is an endless debate. Thanks for reading me.

Cheers

Franz

[Sam V]

Hi Patrick and Everyone,

Let me start by saying that I am not very familiar with electronic music and some choices may be unusual.
I tried to give space to what I liked best so, if you have the time let me know what you like but above all what you don't like about the mix.
I would like to have different perspectives from different people for personal growth.

Here is my mix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9sk5j9otjr5z ... V.wav?dl=0

Documentation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vjha8bnzh0ory ... s.pdf?dl=0


-High / low pass filter on most tracks to cut excessive low end

-Guitar: Eq + reverb left pan and right reverb

-Drums: Eq + compression (for sound) + eq + room reverb + de-esser (some parts) + extra reverb (some parts)

-Voice: Eq + compression + de-esser + plate reverb + automation + mic room (at this point I didn't like the sound with the mix so ... I added another eq an extra reverb and a Lesley) started to sound good but still a little "static" and "flat in the song", so I added a tape echo to make some movement and in the chorus I added an ''pitch shift '' octave to another voice channel at very low volume in few words

-Bass (parts) Eq + some saturation + pitch shift on some parts for "sound clarity"

-The (sub-bass), I used an eq to make it less harsh, if it were up to me I would have changed the sub-bass and the hi-hat but it's not allowed ... so ... as is... I did just a shift in pitch on an off-key bass note.

A bit of harmony on the vocal line I think would help but to be honest I don't know much about the genre and may result too much, so I didn’t try that idea, I hope what I have done will go well.

44/24 bit
19.2 Integrated LUFS
16.6 LUFS short-term max
-2 dB peak real max

The song needs some mastering to push it up, I tried with my plugins and it sounds good but then I turned it off to follow the rules of the mix challenge

All the other tracks are just eq and reverb, if someone in the forum wants some more specifics they can ask me directly, I have no problem to share the information.

Have a nice one ...

Sam V

[hjchjc]

This was fun to mix! A good distraction from the chaos.

The vocals remind me of Bernard Summer, so New Order was a reference. Also used "Lifetime" by Romy as a reference

My main challenge was making the space between lines feel less empty. This involved getting everything REALLY in the pocket, even more than usual. I opted for a more vocal-centric mix because this is a pop song, but made sure that the vocals didn’t sit above the mix. This led to a lot of drastic cuts and side chaining, as well as a ton of automated delays on the main vocal (without overwhelming the rest of the song).

Going to document a bit differently this time because often when I mix I don't even understand what I'm doing lmao.

Every track and summing bus has MAAG EQ4 and CLA-3A for some minor EQ and compression. If I don't mention the track in this breakdown, that means all I used was those two plugins.

DRUMS:
Kick 2 has PSP MixPressor instead of CLA-3A, along with bx_subfilter and Boz Digital Labs The Wall. One of my favorite sounds on here, especially at 4:17 when it kicks off the last chorus.

Snare 2, originally had a lot of plugins but I bypassed them since they were muddying the sound. A send to IMGL’s 1989verb.

intersnare has Airwindows Neverland insert.

Downer SFX has automated Crystalizer.

Crash has F6-RTA side-chained to vocals.

Entire drum bus has MAAG/CLA-3A, then sent to Aberrant DSP's ShapeShifter for parallel compression.

Bass: API-2500, Decapitator, EQ with peak at around 200 hz for better small speaker translation

Bass stabs: Heavier compression from CLA-3A Vacuumsound ADT

Pads:
Blue in Grey has Logic's Channel EQ then some pretty big cuts at 600 and 1.2k from Focusrite's Red 2 EQ

BinG high has Arturia's Rev PLATE-140 before the color plugins, then a dip at around 2.7khz

Pad summing buss takes a bit out from 250hz, an API-2500 side-chained to Snare 2, and FabFilter Pro-MB side-chained to the vocals (with some mid-side EQ so the pads don't get in the way)

Guitars:
No processing on the individual guitars, but the Maag EQ is doing a lot of work on the guitar buss -- air gain +10db at 5khz, a -4db cut at 160 hz, slight increases at 2.5khz. Also Voxengo's OldSkoolVerb and a Logic EQ taking off 4db from 600hz. Apparently I really hate 600hz lol

Synths:
SQ Soft has a huge boost on the low-end and a -15db high self starting at 2.5khz

Sparkle has a 16th note EchoBoy, a PanMan, another Logic EQ taking off -15db at 6350, and the TDR Molotov compressor side-chained to the vocals

Synth boost has Fielder Audio Stage and a cut at 300.

Harsh synth:
Newfangled Audio Punctuate and Valhalla Vintage Verb:

Violins:
CLA-3A bypassed, LOTS of aggressive EQing and side-chaining to the vocals.

Vocals:
Alright this is where things get complicated:

After the EQ from the Maag and compression CLA, there's an extremely subtle 1/32 delay on the vocals mixed at 6.5%, then McDSP De555. I also put another Maag EQ4, boosting the “air” to make up for the de-esssing. It helps that the vocals were so well-recorded.

Vocal busses:
Reverb: Space Designer with a gunshot impulse response (!) and Seinnheiser's binaural AMBEO Orbit plugin.

Delay 1, with an 8th note echo delay, Valhalla's Frequency Echo, and another PanMan.

Delay 2 (spin), has Tonebooster's Sibilance, Echoboy, CLA-3A, Logic EQ, and Waves Brauer Motion

Reverb 2: Native Instruments RAUM

Serum lead:
Valhalla Frequency Echo, Linear Phase EQ to filter out mosts of the side signal, and Overtone's Gem EQ550 for additional harmonics and a 2db cut at 1.5khz.

Surprisingly enough given all my fussiness elsewhere, nothing's on the mix bus! Everything's been compressed and side-chained so I didn't feel like I needed to do anything, even an analogue emulation.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BB3ELp ... sp=sharing

[Alex Van mixland]

Hello,
Here is my mix:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpewoaa4tbnc6 ... d.wav?dl=0

Vocals: I try cut out harsh frequency from vocal(around 3k) and control low end with multiband and add a little bit high end. It was hard to control ssss,ttt.
Drums: Stays the same. I just added reverb on snare and control low end.
Bass: Stays the same
Instruments: I added a little reverb and delay on guitar and on other instruments.
In compare with demo track only vocal is a bit different and much more controled but in general i try to stay in taste of demo mix. In demo song drums doesn't move the song so i try to get better ballance in drums.

Cheers!

[BrunoBennett77]

Too much to list.. Ill try to be quicker this time.. 1st step was to address gain structure.. I used gain plugs, and set the gain at -12db on all the channels, and bounced them all in place to save CPU.. I did EQ work next.. You can get a general idea how I addressed the elements from the screen shots of the console at the bottom.. I tried to be mindful of my lows, and low mids because it's easy to let too much build up with as many similar sounding instruments.. anyway.. as quickly as I can do this..
Kick- enhanced with additional empty channel- loaded tone generator at 50hz+noise gate keyed to kick slow attack/release.. also enhanced on a bus with overdrive+noise gate triggered by the main kick set for upper mid support
Snare- enhanced with additional empty channel- loaded white noise+noise gate keyed by the 1st snare+ additional enhancement on a bus with overdrive into a short gate triggered by both snares
HiHats- I used a spreader
Other drums were just EQed to taste.. Here's some screen shots of the channels if you'd like to take a peek- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e3wdd8j51gv3 ... cxxHa?dl=0

Bass- I used a ducker to move the bass out of the way of the kick drum for a brief moment to allow the speaker more thrust.. Here are some screen shots of the channel strips- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dtniuvb7gx4v ... liI9a?dl=0

Synths- were EQed, and some were sample delayed in order to Haas pan them out of the center to make room for the vocal.. here's some screen shots of the chanel section where the synths live in the v-console- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/857kd5wstxuw ... FQCKa?dl=0

Vocals- I used SPL-Deverb to remove some of the reflections coming back into the mic from the room then into a compressor and then into a plugin called proximity.. I wanted close and dry at this stage.. That was sent into 2 busses, on the 1st bus I used a de-esser, and some EQ... On the 2nd bus I used overdrive distortion, and EQ to focus on low mid content to mix with the main vocal.. theses busses then went to a bus where these 2 busses were summed and compressed.. here's some screen shots- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ftpbb1cm7hnj ... Qpk_a?dl=0

Effects/Reverb- I have a super long delay that is being pulled back by a compressor that is side chained to the vocal so that it's out of the way during the main lines, but fills the space between on a bus I went ahead an screen shot the chain from left to right..here's what it looks like.. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qbt2yujpsk6l ... fQOEa?dl=0

Mono reverb on the vocals
A 3 second reverb that I call my bigverb.. I use a gain plug to flip the stereo field.. then a pitch plug to detune a few cents.. then logics space designer into an EQ where I pull some of the highs out.. here's a shot of that..https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x2ljz5ik0adl ... m9mSa?dl=0

Heres the left side of the V-console- https://www.dropbox.com/s/nv5xv3qnfqyr9 ... N.png?dl=0
And the right- https://www.dropbox.com/s/zv1j96zq8anrc ... 7.png?dl=0

My Mix- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1nh0g0jdodyg ... XtHLa?dl=0

[BrunoBennett77]

Too much to list.. Ill try to be quicker this time.. 1st step was to address gain structure.. I used gain plugs, and set the gain at -12db on all the channels, and bounced them all in place to save CPU.. I did EQ work next.. You can get a general idea how I addressed the elements from the screen shots of the console at the bottom.. I tried to be mindful of my lows, and low mids because it's easy to let too much build up with as many similar sounding instruments.. anyway.. as quickly as I can do this..
Kick- enhanced with additional empty channel- loaded tone generator at 50hz+noise gate keyed to kick slow attack/release.. also enhanced on a bus with overdrive+noise gate triggered by the main kick set for upper mid support
Snare- enhanced with additional empty channel- loaded white noise+noise gate keyed by the 1st snare+ additional enhancement on a bus with overdrive into a short gate triggered by both snares
HiHats- I used a spreader
Other drums were just EQed to taste.. Here's some screen shots of the channels if you'd like to take a peek- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e3wdd8j51gv3 ... cxxHa?dl=0

Bass- I used a ducker to move the bass out of the way of the kick drum for a brief moment to allow the speaker more thrust.. Here are some screen shots of the channel strips- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dtniuvb7gx4v ... liI9a?dl=0

Synths- were EQed, and some were sample delayed in order to Haas pan them out of the center to make room for the vocal.. here's some screen shots of the chanel section where the synths live in the v-console- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/857kd5wstxuw ... FQCKa?dl=0

Vocals- I used SPL-Deverb to remove some of the reflections coming back into the mic from the room then into a compressor and then into a plugin called proximity.. I wanted close and dry at this stage.. That was sent into 2 busses, on the 1st bus I used a de-esser, and some EQ... On the 2nd bus I used overdrive distortion, and EQ to focus on low mid content to mix with the main vocal.. theses busses then went to a bus where these 2 busses were summed and compressed.. here's some screen shots- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ftpbb1cm7hnj ... Qpk_a?dl=0

Effects/Reverb- I have a super long delay that is being pulled back by a compressor that is side chained to the vocal so that it's out of the way during the main lines, but fills the space between on a bus I went ahead an screen shot the chain from left to right..here's what it looks like.. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qbt2yujpsk6l ... fQOEa?dl=0

Mono reverb on the vocals
A 3 second reverb that I call my bigverb.. I use a gain plug to flip the stereo field.. then a pitch plug to detune a few cents.. then logics space designer into an EQ where I pull some of the highs out.. here's a shot of that..https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x2ljz5ik0adl ... m9mSa?dl=0

Heres the left side of the V-console- https://www.dropbox.com/s/nv5xv3qnfqyr9 ... N.png?dl=0
And the right- https://www.dropbox.com/s/zv1j96zq8anrc ... 7.png?dl=0

My Mix- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1nh0g0jdodyg ... XtHLa?dl=0

additional things I missed since I timed out on the first try at listing what I was actually doing with all this.. I used sample delays to clear the center to seat the vocal, and I also used an additional aux on the bass to focus upper mid for small speaker playback.. I have no idea if it worked.. anyway.. I hope I caught it all.. I didn't automate anything.. the mix is fairly static.. I felt like the way the synths were laid out was intentional... so I just balanced levels, and carved out EQ here and there so they could all occupy the same spaces, and then some light panning to make sure the vocal owned it's space... at least to my ears.. good luck everybody..

[Samonov]

Hi everyone this my mix

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aqin1t2swcwkg ... v.wav?dl=0

Screenshoots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wm3y7gwv2xdcr ... 1.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cmaht7w7n6vsw ... 2.jpg?dl=0

[dozzer61]

Hi everyone!

Thanks again for the opportunity and to Patrick, I loved the song even if I never mixed this kind of song at all.

Here the details of my mix :

I tried to kept the groove of the original mix and give an emphasis on Patrick's directives : Electric Guitars, Synth and Violins.

It has been mixed in Reason 10.4 and summed on analog

Every single tracks have been processed mainly with SSL 4000 E channel strip emulation

Drums

• Kicks : HPF + EQ + compression (ssl) -> kick bus -> Drum bus

• Snares: CLA-76 / HPF + EQ + compression (ssl) -> Snares buss (waves L2) -> Drum bus

• HH: HPF + EQ (ssl) -> Drum bus

• Rise : HPF + EQ (ssl) -> Drum bus

• Downer : HPF (ssl) -> Drum bus

• Crash : HPF (ssl) -> Drum bus

• Drum bus : bx_townhouse compressor, slightly compressed, reverb

• Parallel Drum bus : bx_townhouse compressor, over compressed, put a tiny amount of this bus in the mix

Bass

• Sub bass : HPF + EQ (ssl) / multi band compression on 160 and below / waves MV2

• Bass : HPF + EQ (ssl) / multi band compression on 160 and below / waves MV2 / waves L2

Vocal

• EQ out some frequencies (REQ6) / HPF + tiny boost (200 - 7k -14k) + little remove (1k) (ssl) / CLA-76 / CLA-2A / RVox / Deesser / Puigtec EQPa1 (little shelf 1at 10k) / Deesser. Automated some volume and 2 different reverbs and one delay

Guitars

• HPF + EQ + compression (ssl) / CLA Guitars / reverb -> Music Bus

All the others

• HPF + EQ (on some) + compression (on some) (ssl) / reverb (violins) -> Music Bus

Music Bus

• Side chain compression with the vocal so it removes 2 db on the loudest parts

• MS EQ : I removed 1.75k and 200 in the Mid to give place to vocal and bass elements, HPF + slight shelf starting at 5k on the sides

Master Bus
PuigTec EQP1A (little smiley face EQ) / Saturation (not the lows) / bx_townhall buss compressor (2 db filtering out of the compressor 150hz) / Kramer Tape Stereo

Summing Mix
Then I went crazy and I decided to sum the mix in my analogue console and analogue compressor (dbx 1066). I took a picture if I ever need to recall it

I hope that your ears won't be suffering to much and that you have little fun to listen to it!

WAV : https://www.dropbox.com/s/j6t7nuvul7xhu ... 1.wav?dl=0
Photos :

• Mix Bus : https://www.dropbox.com/s/vs3htb012567u ... s.png?dl=0

• Analogue Console : https://www.dropbox.com/s/iif3k3e9d7pph ... e.jpg?dl=0

• DBX 1066 : https://www.dropbox.com/s/v4ryzyq38q8hd ... 6.jpg?dl=0

Good luck to every one!

Dozzer61