MIX CHALLENGE - MC091 April 2023 - Winners announced

[EchoOread]

Thank you for the music. Awesome song. I enjoy mixing it.

The hardest for me was to sit the kick/bass and snare in the mix. The kick got huge cuts up to 400Hz to battle with the boominess and boost on top+paralleled to get beater. The snare got a boost on top to help cut thru the mix, cut some low mid to contain woody/boxiness. The bass got a distortion. Guitars got some LP to ~ 4kHz to 10kHz. The rest got normal processing treatments.

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

[Punchipum]

Hello and welcome to the community.

This is my first time trying to participate and I made the mistake of reading the rules after mixing and not before. So I think that my mix is ​​disqualified because I have used samples in the kick and snare and also compression in the Mixbuss and some tape emulation (things that I still don't quite understand why they are prohibited). ...

For clarification:

Yes, since you used drum sample enhancement/replacement, your entry would unfortunately be tagged "OUT".


And with the following - I do not understand where you got that notion.

No, there is no prohibition on using summing bus treatment. You can use "mix glue" tricks, even "fairy dust" treatment. However, the lines are thin and the focus should be "editing/mixing in such a way, that barely any after-touches other than proper fade in/out and finalizing for distribution is needed for a possible follow-up mastering step". Everything else is allowed - within reason and given boundaries, of course.

I had misunderstood the rules. So, since it was only removing the drum samples, I remixed the song to be able to participate. I added "[OK]" to the file name at the end so there is no confusion with the one I uploaded earlier. I hope that this is how my mix will be accepted.

Here is the new link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ktR2Mn ... sp=sharing


Now I'm going to talk a little bit about the mix. I usually use an SSL Channel Strip on almost all channels.

DRUMS:
I like to use Hoser EQ in the Kick and I use a lot a plugin called DF-XCITE in the Kick, the Snare and the DrumBus. I use StandardCLIP to control the dynamics of the Kick and the Snare. Some parallel compresion in the bus with an API-2500. Some reverb in parallel. I squash the Room track with the Arousor. Extreme parallel compression with a dbx-160 and TransX Wide for the Kick and the Snare.

BASS:
Some C4 to control the low frequencies, SSL for EQ, Black Box and Ampeg SVT Suite plugin. I'm adding some distortion in parallel with TSE BOD and Devil-Loc.

GUITARS:
I have discarded some tracks. I added Tonex plugin to some tracks and Wavesfactory Spectre to anothers. Dual mono compression in the GuitarBus.

ORGAN:
S1 Imager and H-Delay.

VOCALS:
CLA-76 as the main compressor. Some parallel compression in the bus. PuigTec to EQ and soothe2 to fix the quality. Short and long reverbs in parallel, some delays with EchoBoy and H-Delay.

MIXBUSS:
Some SSL style glue compression, Satin tape emulation. StandardCLIP to control.

I think that's all. Good luck to everyone.

[Mister Fox]

I had misunderstood the rules. So, since it was only removing the drum samples, I remixed the song to be able to participate. I added "[OK]" to the file name at the end so there is no confusion with the one I uploaded earlier. I hope that this is how my mix will be accepted.

As per the Rule Book and in fairness to every other participant:
You have already submitted an entry. And since your entry is final, you're unfortunately sadly out of the game.

Apologies for the inconvenience.


However, I did grab a copy for both the Statistic Sheet and the Song Provider.

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

I had misunderstood the rules. So, since it was only removing the drum samples, I remixed the song to be able to participate. I added "[OK]" to the file name at the end so there is no confusion with the one I uploaded earlier. I hope that this is how my mix will be accepted.

As per the Rule Book and in fairness to every other participant:
You have already submitted an entry. And since your entry is final, you're unfortunately sadly out of the game.

Apologies for the inconvenience.


However, I did grab a copy for both the Statistic Sheet and the Song Provider.

I have decided that, although I was planning to only comment on the top 15 mixes, to comment on all of the mixes this month. I think that is fair because of all the hard work everybody put in the mixes. And @Punchipum although you are out of the game I will also include some comments on your mix.

Jeroen

[Punchipum]

I had misunderstood the rules. So, since it was only removing the drum samples, I remixed the song to be able to participate. I added "[OK]" to the file name at the end so there is no confusion with the one I uploaded earlier. I hope that this is how my mix will be accepted.

As per the Rule Book and in fairness to every other participant:
You have already submitted an entry. And since your entry is final, you're unfortunately sadly out of the game.

Apologies for the inconvenience.


However, I did grab a copy for both the Statistic Sheet and the Song Provider.

[Punchipum]

I had misunderstood the rules. So, since it was only removing the drum samples, I remixed the song to be able to participate. I added "[OK]" to the file name at the end so there is no confusion with the one I uploaded earlier. I hope that this is how my mix will be accepted.

As per the Rule Book and in fairness to every other participant:
You have already submitted an entry. And since your entry is final, you're unfortunately sadly out of the game.

Apologies for the inconvenience.


However, I did grab a copy for both the Statistic Sheet and the Song Provider.

I have decided that, although I was planning to only comment on the top 15 mixes, to comment on all of the mixes this month. I think that is fair because of all the hard work everybody put in the mixes. And @Punchipum although you are out of the game I will also include some comments on your mix.

Jeroen

Thank you, Jeroen!

[sirmonkey]

My submission: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f24ca77vcnlg1 ... y.wav?dl=0
I didn't try to replicate the existing mix...It's a great mix, but it already exists! So I stuck closer to the supplied
guitar tones, with subtle saturation and a bit of parallel re-amping here and there. So this mix is way less hard rock sounding
(Maybe 95% of people are going to go for the harder sound anyway - right?).
I manually gated the snare top & kick, then experimented with tone using compression. Blended with a heavily FET compressed OH.
On the other OH, I cut the lows, and compressed it, to bring back the rides. Then I duplicated it and manually gated everything except
the crashes, and sent the result to a reverb. I wanted those rides & crashes back! * I hope your drummer approves!
Used "vocal thickening" on the vocals, using 3 instances of Eventide Quadravox, utilizing Studio One DAW's splitter (very convenient!).
After figuring out what the the guitar tracks were doing, setting basic levels, adding reverbs, pan & automation etc,
I did more fine automation using Studio One's clip gain. It's basically volume automation, but it shows changes in the waveform as
you edit. This is a handy guide when evening out bits that poke out! I did the initial automation BEFORE compression for most tracks.
* Clip gain is prefader, pre-effect...pre-everything. I use it before adding effects, and then again after. Seems to work well.
** Only effect on the master is an EQ. No compression there. No tuning adjustment needed on vocals: I just cut a bit of high freqs, and used relatively sparing reverb.
Again, this is not hard-sounding. I tried to bring out subtleties in the song, and stay close to the tone of the original recordings.
Mixed on tiny 3" inexpensive Alesis monitors, and two $100 pairs of headphones. Very curious to see how it translates to others on better
equipment!

[Mister Fox]

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


So many new users this month as well, welcome!

As of this moment, we have about 51 mixes. Let's see what the "final rush" will be about

If you've been sitting on your mix, now is the time to get everything sorted out, post both your link and documentation. Do not forget the deadline. And please triple check that everything is in order (file format, signal strength, accessibility -- your entry is final!).

[MartialFromentin]

Hi there!

I didn't find too much time to work on this one, I hope it won't be too bad...

I have tested an Helios channel strip on every track (saturation and eq).

- Kick, snare and toms: transient shaper (and comp on the snare).
- Drums bus: saturation, transient shaper, eq.
- Bass: eq, comp.
- Guitars: no reamp, I grouped same the amp and DI tracks to aux tracks and balanced them. Aux tracks: oto comp. Guitars bus: eq.
- Vocals: as there are 2 voices for almost the whole song, it reminded me Alice in Chains, so I tried to get the same vocals style. I kept the voc 02 track as main vocals track. The voc 01 has been sent to 2 aux tracks : the first one in stereo with a chorus and delay, the second one in the center with a pitch shift, a distorsion and a delay. Light phaser effect on the bridge.
- Mix bus : vari-mu comp, Pultec eq, tape saturation, tilt eq.

Good luck to everyone!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j9hlr- ... share_link

[Valter Zape]

my submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Oc5wji ... share_link

Good Morning. In this mix I practically used eq, compressor and gate. I duplicated the snare track with a very tight gate and added a reverb. I really enjoyed mixing the guitars, understanding the function of each one. The voice has reverb, delay and chorus. On bass, slight distortion. Good luck to everyone!!!