MIX CHALLENGE - MC073 February 2021 - Winners announced

[pabloAT]

Dear all,
Please find my mix for challenge MC073:

[Dropbox link to mix challenge MC073]

DAW = Cubase 11.0
Integrated LUFS = -18.2
True Peak = -3.83 dB
WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

Preliminary raw balance: cleaning-up, balancing, panning/stereo spreading, check/invert phase, HPF on most of the tracks, LPF on some tracks. Macro and micro automation during the final steps of the mix (quite a lot…).

Drums group
Create sub-groups for kick, snare, rides, jembes, etc. Check and correct phase issues in particular for jembes. I’ve used Waves iPhase (quite a tough piece of software but I think it did the job). For some of the drums, I’ve sent the signal to a gentle spring and IR reverbs and mix with gusto. Very gentle compression (SSL) to the drums group. I didn’t use VERSE LOOP (premix) and CHORUS LOOP (premix).

Bass
I’ve worked with 4 different bass channels: DI, chorus (I applied a bit of the nice Jun-6 Chorus), distorted (I’ve used Parallax) and sub (bx subfilter). Then a lot of macro automation to introduce the different bass elements in the mix.

Rhythm guitars group: I didn’t use the AT mic guitars.
I’ve created two groups with GTR Rhy 1&2 SM and GTR Rhy 3&4 SM. I struggled a lot with the 3&4 group until I found the balance I was looking for. For group 1 & 2 I’ve mainly applied a transparent CLA-2. For the group 3 & 4, I’ve done a lot of sound manipulations (mainly used Soundtoys). But in the end, with help A LOT was a touch of reverb that helped me to push back the track in the mix, while keeping its vibe.

Solo guitar on verses and bridges
Almost unaltered: some frequency cleaning with Trackspacer, and a bit of Kramer Pie compressor that I like a lot (thanks Ken Lewis…). Forcing to the center with the wonderful MSED. Gentle reverb + delay.

Piano
A touch of Kramer Pie + True Iron for vintage vibe

Synth
FrontDaw for meat

Master Buss
A touch of SSL compressor and Black Box to open the mix (thanks again Ken Lewis…)

All the best to the participants!
Pablo

[Cadence Soundlabs]

Greetings everyone!

Here is my mix of "Selga" for MC073. I really enjoyed working on this song. I really dig the vibe of the band.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oqi79z920rkw2 ... s.wav?dl=0

On this song, I decided to use my Waves Non-Linear Summing plugin. I haven't used it in forever but for whatever reason, I decided I wanted to use it. So I brought it up on every track with the "Spike" channels selected and proceeded to gain stage the mix per my usual workflow. Next, I brought up the Waves SSL E-channel. On this, I low cut everything. The degree to which I cut is dependent on the instrument.

Then, I start utilizing the EQ section of the E-channel to create the tones. On the drums, I cut at 200-350 Hz, and again, at 800 Hz. This was followed up with some compression. After the drums are in a good place, I moved on to bass. I ended up duplicating this. One track was high passed more aggressively and was intended to be edgy and the other was low passed and clean. I put an 1176 style compressor on the low end bass track and compressed it hard to even out the dynamics of the performance.

I didn't do much with the guitars. I had a high pass filter and that was about it.

After I had my tones, I moved on to create my depth. I brought in my reverbs. I have a couple that I use on drums (not the kick or "impactful" percussion but rather the cymbals just to create a little ambience). I also had a couple short room reverbs that I used sparingly on some instruments. I also had a slight delay effect going on the mono leads to give it a little bit of a stereo spread.

What I thought was my last step was automation (I'll explain momentarily). I used automation to build up some parts and carve out space when parts came in. That kind of thing. Now my explanation of the final step... After I thought I was done, I was doing a final check of my levels with my loudness analyzer for delivery specs, and I was reading about -14.5 LUFS... So I had to go through and carefully take things down ever so slightly here or there. Wherever I could spare it. But it's all good. I got it to where I wanted it.

Again, I would like to state that this was a fun opportunity. I would like to thank Treeeye. I thought the song was cool and had a blast working on it. I would also like to thank Mister Fox for organizing these events.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working on it!

[m_tree]

I had fun mixing this, nice vibes. Thanks
Cool track with interesting rhythmic elements! For instance 8th-triplets combined with 8th-notes at the same time.

>> MC073__TREEEYE__Selga__m_tree.wav <<

-18.9 LUFS Integrated
-2.9 dBTP

I emphasized a balanced mix and did, as always, a lot of (volume-)automation to maintain the feel and the musicality of the song.
Further I like to clear things up and make sure that every element has it's own place in the mix, but at once keep an eye on that the mix sounds 'all of a piece' and consider a kind of a 'central theme'.
I mixed the choruses more dry than the verses.

Tracks that I didn't use:
'AT' tracks of the rhythm guitars
'SM' tracks of the solo guitars
Premixed drum-loops

Drums
Effects on the drums are mainly EQ and reverb. I compressed them with soft-clipping on the drumbus and slight limiting at some points only. And I tamed the sharpness of some cymbals (especially the hi-hats) with a transient-designer.
Finally the kick sounded too 'heavy' in the whole context to me, so I suck out some dB in the subbass-area with a broad shelf.
I mixed the verse and chorus drums separately (but with the same EQing on the busses) and set an inverted gate on the kick and snare of the chorus drums, to bring up the volume of the delays on them.
In addition I made shure that my mixbus-compressor is truly in time with the rhythm and tempo (especially the kick) -> automation of the release-time (verse vs. chorus).

Guitars
As I already mentioned, I used the SM tracks for the rhythm guitars and the AT tracks for the solo guitars. I experimented with blending the tracks before, but didn't like it. In my opinion the SM tracks sound fine on the rhythm guitars in the whole mix, same with the AT-tracks on the solo guitars.
Gentle EQing in three different steps. Selective compression and volume-automation -> e.g. I didn't compress the rhythm guitars (with one exception), but I automated the verse-solo guitar pre-FX, compressed it in two different steps and automated it again post-FX.
I added parallel distortion to all guitars and created space mainly with EQed delays.
To further separate the rhythm guitars from the solo guitars, I worked with two busses and different, gentle 'finishing' EQing on them.

Other instruments
The bass-DI goes through a virtual amp and miced box, otherwise just compression and slight EQ.
EQing of the piano and synths in favor of the guitars and the bass, otherwise just slight soft-clipping for dynamic control. No delays and reverb there.
I used parallel compression for the djembe, apart from other small treatments.

Masterbus
On the masterbus is my (max. 2.4:1) mixbus-compressor with 1.5:1, an average 2dB gainreduction and automated release as mentioned.
Followed by a mastertape-emulation and volume-automation. That's it.

I rendered my mix with a time-selection, because I don't like to wait several seconds for the beginning of the song.

Good luck to all participants!
Cheers

[taznum]

Greetings!
Here is my take on this fantastic composition.
__________________________

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

__________________________

As with everyone, I, too, enjoyed mixing this tune.

I listened to the pre-mixed loop and tried for a while to recreate/enhance it. Soon I realized that the loop is full of reflection of the bands' intentions, and the vibe it carried had to do a lot with the texture of the verb and the delay. I decided to go with the pre-mixed.

Then create the accompanying feel for the rest of the perc tracks with EQ and verb to do what they are supposed to do against the main loop, arrangement-wise.

Guitars, the first thing on my mind was this organic feel and these great musicians' playability. Because this obviously is a guitar-oriented track and the way guitars being laid out essentially dictates what the focus would be in any given moment, I try not to stir away from the focal point by providing perc or rhythmic elements too much shine.

Using multiple reverb textures and carefully chosen EQ+dyn characters gave a hybrid classic fusion feel that this track deserves in 2021.

Bass, I realized it played a rather vital role in establishing chordal intervals for the verses and acting as the main riff for the chorus, which played along (or against) the wide distorted guitars to manifest the particular counter groove. It needed to be heard the different ways in different sections.

Keys, these were playing a response to the chorus guitars and bass riff. No brainer, they just needed to work as such.
__________________________

Tools I used are as follows;

DAW: Cubase 10.5

1,Master Buss: Waves SSL, Stock EQ
2,Pers+Loops: Pultec, PhoenixVerb, Virtual Tape Machine, Denise Saturator, Oxford Dynamic EQ, SSL E.Ch, Neve 33609 Parallel
3,Bass: SSL E.Ch, CLA Bass, 1176 Rev.A, L2
4,GTR(Rhythm): Helios Type69, LA-3A, Focusrite Red2 EQ, Soothe2, Oxford EQ
5,GTR(Top): LA-2A, LA-3A, Valhalla Vintage Verb, Phoenix Verb, True Iron, EP-34, Soothe2
6,Piano: SSL E.Ch, Stereo Delta
7,Synth: Moog Multimode Filter, MXR Flanger, Wider


The average mix level hovers around [-20/-2VU @-18=0VU]for the quiet section, then moves up to [-18/0VU] for the pre-chorus, then hit [-16/2VU] for the chorus where the peak occasionally exceeds. The sample peak position is -2.11dBFS.

Huge thank you to the Mix-Challenge management and the band for this opportunity.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your mix.

[s&f]

hi, thank u for the chance to mix ur song.

I never heard this kind of genre, so not sure if my mixing fit the style or not.

here's the WAV MIX:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g4bcqr4y2ega6 ... F.wav?dl=0

here's the MP3 mix:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8z5afbar4568 ... F.mp3?dl=0

the screenshoots:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7n5gryko6p3tz ... M.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ksa8l48iqiht ... M.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4kzfzdhqmxme0 ... M.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vii60ksjnlsis ... M.png?dl=0

the raw tracks were very dynamic, so there is lots of compression, limiting, distortion. lots of saturation and automation too. cleaned up all tracks.

Drums
the delay that came with the tracks made it very difficult to mix, so instead, I tried to make it a feature.

Bass
very dynamic, lots of compression and then automation.

Guitars
while very dynamic, I tried my best to keep the natural and live feel of the takes, so lots of automation.

Keys
were very hard for me as there were lots of guitars. I'm not sure if that's the direction that the band wanted too, so if any change is needed let me know.

Thanks!

[EchoOread]

Hello Everyone!

Great song! A pleasure to mix. Thanks to the band for allowing us to participate in the mix.

The beginning of the song sounds a little sad to me, so I try to preserve the feelings by working on the guitars and give them space. Nothing special, just add a bit of reverb and delay to push the kick and the percs farther in the mix. EQ and compressors on all tracks.

The second part is a lot harder for me to tackle, a lot of masking on the guitars. Cut a little on 3-4Khz on the rhythm guitars (pan slightly L) to get the lead show (pan slightly to the R).

Very little EQ moves except for HP/LP, mostly cleaning up the rumble and the sizzling top end.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/471jjpcx27tqj ... d.wav?dl=0

[ProfBlank]

Hi,

Thank to the band for providing these stems !

Here's my submission. I've checked the rules about naming, sample rate etc... so hopefully it's correct (this is 44.1khz / 24bit). Only processing I've done on the Master Buss is some gentle compression and light EQ (low and high pass).

I chose not to go with the V/CH Drum stems and instead chose to mix them individually. I did use the Drum Stems as a reference though, to make sure I wasn't making things worse and that I was honoring what the band had done in the rough mix (e.g. only using the one hi hat in the chorus, rather than the two provided). I focused on the choruses to begin with as I wanted to ensure it they were as impactful as possible. I spent a fair amount of time on the guitars due to both the rhythm guitar and lead guitar parts being doubled. The instinctive move with doubles is to pan them hard Left and Right, so I did a healthy amount of sculpting to make sure they both sat hard in the Left and Right positions, without masking each other. What really helped here was side-chain compression. This meant the Rhythm guitars could be loud enough for when the Chorus started, but then ducked down a bit when the Lead guitars came in. It also meant I avoided spending a long time on manual automation.

I got creative with the bridge parts where other drum loops come in. I put a fair amount of reverb on one of these loops to create a change of scenery and to make the chorus feel like it comes right at you after this distant section.

For the Bass I didn't end up needing to do to much. Just some compression and a slight boost around 2-3khz to bring out some of the note rattles.

Lastly, I did quite a lot of automation for the outro. Once the Chorus finishes and the wailing guitars begin, I gently increased the level of all the Send FX (reverb, delay etc...) to make it feel like things were disappearing to the distance. To enhance this I also automated a low-pass filter to steadily come down from around 15khz until it gets to around 4-5khz just before the song ends.

Thanks again for organising this and looking forward to the next one!

LINK - https://ln2.sync.com/dl/094ffa060#3tw35 ... y-u7h9uk5v

[Green-Dog]

Hi guys,

Here is the mix: MIX

Thank you Treeeye for providing the song. Was pleased to mix.

As it seemed to me, the raw mix was quite bright. But still, I took a chance and made a darker version because the title of the song plunges us into the depths. So I quite a lot used hi-cut filter. To get the guitar sound floating at depth, I automated the treble trimming. Then I sent the guitar track into a parallel channel with two modulation plugins infused at different speeds to get a slow vibration.

If anyone has any questions, I will be happy to answer them.

Good luck to everyone!

[trager]

I’m new to the mix challenge, thank you for the opportunity and listening.

Link to my submission:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fgog0o56lo2gt ... r.wav?dl=0

I don’t mean to write a book hear, but it is the only way to explain the mix.

I went for a soft intro and built up from there. Used a total of 41 tracks including duplicates and 4 busses, light compression on master buss. Automation only used for volume adjustments. Mixed in the box, ProTools 12

Tracks as follows:
Bass DI – Edits to clean up artifacts, fades- WAVES JJP-Bass plugin only.
Bell – No effects or edits
Bridge Riser – Edits to clean up artifacts and fades. Plugins WAVES JJPStrings and Brauer Motion.
Chorus Piano- No edits. Plugin Eventide Ultra Channel, lots of EQ to shade sound
Crash – No edits, extremely low in mix.
Chorus Synth – No edits, Plugin Brauer Motion
GTR Bridge – Edits to clean up artifacts and fade. Slate TH-U Transparent Strat Clean reamp.
GTR Bridge – Duplicated track, WAVES Morphoder minor organic to shade tone.
GTR Bridge 2 - Edits to clean up artifacts and fades. WAVES CLA Guitars plugin.
Rhythm Guitar Buss 1 Tracks: GTR Rhy1 AT, GTR RHY1 SM, GTR Rhy2 AT, GTR Rhy2 SM, Edits to clean up artifacts and fades. WAVES CLA Guitars, Unplugged and JJP Guitars plugins. No processing on buss.
Rhythm Guitars Buss 2 Tracks: Edits to clean up artifacts and fades. GTR Rhy3 At – Waves JJP Guitars plugin, GTR Rhy3 SM – Waves Morphoder plugin, GTR Rhy4 AT – WAVES CLA Guitars plugin, GTR Rhy4 SM – Slate TH-U plugin reamp. SH compressor on BUSS.
GTRSoloVerse SM - Edits to clean up artifacts and fades WAVES CLA Guitars, Ozone Neutron Eq, SH compressor.
Guitar Solo Buss Tracks: Edits to clean up artifacts and fades. GTR Solo1 AT – Ozone Neutron Eq, GTR Solo1 SM – Ozone Neutron Eq, GTR Solo2 AT – WAVES JJP Guitars, GTR Solo2 SM – WAVES CLA Guitars. Slate FG Compressor on Buss.
JEMBE AT – Edits to clean up artifacts. WAVES JJPCymPRc Plugin, Fab Filter Pro-Q3 Plugin.
Intro Verse Buss Tracks: Edits to clean up artifacts and add fades. Shaker – WAVES JJPCymPrc, VerseLoop HH – WAVES JJPCymPrc, Verseloop Kick - WAVES JJPCymPrc, Verseloop RID1 – no effects or processing. Verseloop RID2 and duplicate track - WAVES JJPCymPrc and Morphoder, Bride Loop 2 – WAVE BF76 compressor and WAVES JJPCymPrc, Verseloop Snare – WAVES Mophoder WAVES JJPCymPrc and Brauer Motion plugins, Bridge Loop 1 - WAVES JJPCymPrc. No processing or effects on Buss.
Chorus Loop H1 - Edits to clean up artifacts and add fades, WAVES JJPCymPrc.
Chorus Loop H2 - Edits to clean up artifacts and add fades, WAVES JJPCymPrc.
Chorus Loop Kick – WAVES JJPDrums, DBX 160 Compressor
Chorus Loop Ride - Edits to clean up artifacts and add fades, no effects or processing.
Chorus Loop Snare - Edits to clean up artifacts and add fades, WAVES JJPDrums.