MIX CHALLENGE - MC103 April 2025 - Winners announced

[Miłosz]

Hi,
Here is my mix:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b2cdofh2 ... mlblt&dl=0



Super positive song!
Thanks, Strange, for providing the tracks for mixing.

First, I listened to the original mix several times – it was really enjoyable. I wrote down the first associations that came to my mind:

Lead guitar licks – Dire Straits

Rhythm clean guitar – "Another Brick in the Wall"

Keyboards – 60s vibe

Congas – Lenny Castro from TOTO


Next came the more analytical part. I asked myself what I could improve to further emphasize the happiness and love present in both the lyrics and the music. I decided to:

Bring the sound closer to my initial inspirations

Add more low end

Reduce harsh frequencies, especially around 3 kHz on the drums

Apply a pleasant reverb to the vocals

Add some "air" to the whistles

Highlight the congas with reverb, inspired by Lenny Castro’s performance at a TOTO concert I attended

Shape the kick drum to resemble the sound of an excited heartbeat


I mixed with all the tracks enabled from the start. On individual tracks, I used EQ, occasional compression, but mostly relied on fader levels for balance. On the mix bus, I quickly added compression, a bass enhancer, EQ, and a stereo enhancer.

For monitoring, I used Yamaha HS-80 speakers with a +2 dB boost at 2 kHz. I controlled harsh frequencies using AKG K141 MKII semi-open headphones and checked the amount of low end on Sennheiser HD 280 Pro closed-back headphones.

Finally, I checked the LUFS requirements.
I hope you like my mix – for me, it was both an enjoyable task and a lot of fun.
Also, my long-ago German lessons came in handy – I was able to understand many phrases just by listening.

[siniq]

WAV file is here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FJ9AH2 ... sp=sharing


Goal for mix
The song feels like a journey through some emotions. It starts off happy - looking forward to getting home and seeing your loved one. But then it feels like the journey has some hiccups that affect the mood, an emergency vehicle going by - culminating in the bridge - a wall of bad emotion (I imagine the person ran into a major traffic delay) this lasts for a moment until the person realizes the journey is worth it for the goal and we return to the theme of being happy to be home. There are parts that are bouncy in the guitars in the chorus and have been lifted a bit as I imagined a dog being at home being bouncy and happy and that is also one of the emotions that travels through the person.

I did not try to emulate any references instead stuck with the theme above to create the feeling of the journey both good and bad. References were used for level setting.

Monitoring situation:
Primarily mixed in headphones: Sennheiser HD 650 through soundID (headphone individually calibrated) and in room monitors (Yamaha HS8s through an ARC Studio room has been minimally treated) used for checking space.


Of note mixing decisions:
I opted to used both the wet and DI tracks in the guitars - re-amping the DIs to a matching but complimentary sound and splitting them out wide to create a larger guitar sound.

Lead vocals were clip gained to allow less compression usage.

Valhalla reverb was used in the bridge vocals to throw that sound into a distant feeling of frustration.

Room spatial scheme (from SOS’s Going Deep by Christoper Heimer) was used to create a sense of space for the song.

Thanks to the song provider for such a fun song and to all who operate this. It is great to have these contests!

[Michael_K]

Thank you @Strange for providing this great song.
I use Gelelec 8030s, and Barefoot Micromains for monitoring.'
The room is treated for the most part.

Kick: API copmressor, eq
Snares: 1179, eq, dbx compressor
Toms: FF C2 compressor, eq
All guitars: LA3A, eq, dbx compressor
E.Piano: eq, CLiB compressor
Synths and whistles: eq, a little dbx compressor
Lead Vocals: 1176, eq, neve compressor, de-esser
Backing Vocals: cl1b, eq, C2 compressor, de-esser
Mix Bus: C2 compressor, auto release setting
Good luck to everyone:
The mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BNjMNs ... Sfy4T/view

[asiohead]

Hey everyone, here is my mix
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10jUP6N ... sp=sharing

Thanks to the song provider and Mister Fox !!

When I read the notes from the song provider and listened to the Pharrell Williams reference track I had an idea where to go. I tried to mix it very open, spreading out all the instruments and backing vocals. I tried to make all the vocals sound as warm as possible. And keep it a bit playful through the interaction with vocals and backing. By adding a phaser on the electric piano after the break and emphasize the claps here as well, which I really liked in the ref song.

I have the KRK VXT8 series that I own for a lot of years and know pretty well. I use a MOTU 828 interface and run Presonus Studio One for mixing. I sometimes use some small ESI Near05 speakers for referencing, they are pretty flat. Or I go to studio B to have a listen .. which is my car


workflow:

setup
gain staging, basic EQ to cut some low and highs if needed, keep the essential frequencies for that instrument. Setting some preliminary levels and panning Grouping, bussing .. etc ..

drums
gate, EQ and comp on the kick to make it a bit punchier and get rid of the tail which interfered with some other sounds I felt.

basic EQ for the other drum sounds, toms to a separate bus with its own reverb. Same for the congas.

bass
pick a nice blend of the amp & DI recordings, EQ and some compression

guitars
a lot of them, so needed some special attention really nice recording
EQ all of the guitar tracks and added a touch of chorus on sometimes

e-piano
I thought was an important instrument in this track to create this warm vibe, warm and nice harmonics. Used EQ and my fav PSP Vintagewarmer compression/saturation, and a phaser for a certain part in the song

synths
basic EQ

vocals
basic EQ
sent the lead vocal through a short Magic7 plate reverb
and the backing vocals through another Magic7 instance that had hall reverb loaded



added automation for the different sections in the song

[rbwolk1]

On a bit of a time crunch so I have to brief, sorry!

I mostly did my typical EQ and compression across all tracks, just managing low end and smoothing out peaks. My focus was mostly on creating width in the choruses and bridge. I ended up using Waves Reel ADT a number of times to make a mono/undoubled track seem like it was doubled and panned wide. I hope that doesn't feel like a new arrangement, it's just space! It's mostly an effect, so I'm ok with those not necessarily being upfront.

I did end up using the suggested drum room reverb, but I also glued the entire ensemble with a little Valhalla Vintage.

Also, I'm monitoring on ADAM A7X's in a treated room.

Cheers and thanks for the tracks!


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

[Crazy Loco]

Hello everybody,

Thank you for the opportunity, it was fun and educating.

Here is my mix:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ILGAYJ ... drive_link

My monitors: Neumann KH 310 A
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 650
My room is well treated and I use Dirac for correction.

I mostly tried to match the vibe and the feeling of the references, I hope I succeeded.
I re-amped the guitar in the verse using my tiny Orange amp and cabin, recorded with three microphones blended together for a bit more characterful guitar that matches the vibe as well as my taste.
I re-amped the bass using my Kemper for a bit more low end, blended with the original amped bass track.
All the rest is the regular moves and tools - eq, compression, reverbs, delays, saturation, etc.

I hope you enjoy it.

[sj25604]

Hello! Here is my mix

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

For emphasis of the monotonous feeling of the road i pushed every rythmic element of the arrangement a bit forward, but it's road to the loved ones, so it had to sound rather light. For me the verses are moments of losing focus, hence they're almost fully mono, with not too much reverb. Only rare synth drones are put deeper and wider in the mix, like if they were sounds from the other world, barely noticable by person immersed in thoughts. For the contrast chorus is more like focusing on the road, where is a lot of action, and the only thought is that I'm going to my loved ones, and it is so bright, and joyful, that it takes away any other thought and instantly brightens the mood. So there is more reverbs and delays in chorus. Vocal is occupying a bit more space, thanks to chorus and stacked reverbs and delays of different lengths. Longer reverb is also used for chorus snare and claps, so they don't stand out from the vocal. I made percusions and guitar also prominent in the chorus, to create feeling of time passing faster. The philosophical bridge is heavier, thanks to deep sounding toms, that reinforce the snare, and the vocal is even wider, with some additional doubling, to create effect of voice from everywhere and encircling the listener. After the bridge is short part of telephone voice, to add a bit more variation and get listener attention before last part, that relieves the tension. I think that the telephone effect is natural here. The backing vocals are pushed forward for the last part, they are almost as important here as the main vocal.

I'm mixing in the box. My monitoring is AKG m50 with dSoniq Realphones for monitor room emulation and some equalization. The fundation of my mix is Brainworx AMEK 9099 channel strip, supported by some effects from Universal Audio, Soundtoys and Plugin Alliance.

Thanks for a chance to work with material that is so much fun. Now i can't stop listening to this song.

[ggibson1988]

Thank you @Strange for providing this fun song & @Mr Fox for keeping this thing going and putting up with us not following the rules.

My mood / inspiration was etched into my mind reading the provider notes. Who doesn't love "Happy"?

After rough balance and truly listening to this song, hit my first derailment... that bridge, oh my that bridge...
So dark yet the message is still so positive. As if the door is a barricade, but a temporary one. So I leaned into the darkness only to be pulled out by the whistle.


My Mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gK46DK ... sp=sharing

The technicals

Mixed ITB using Pro Tools, Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO Headphones and Sonorworks Reference ID correction.

All Drums processed with EQ / Compression using Pro-Q3 and SSL Channel Strip

Kick & Snare sent for parallel compression using dbx 160
Snare sent for additional parallel processing using lockless for added sizzle
All drums sent for parallel compression using distressed.

Used both bass tracks with different EQ curves. DI was left clean and just used as weight. LA2A in limiting mode on both of these tracks.
Bass Bus used multi band compression and LA2A.

All Guitars, Multi band compression, LA3A, and Helios Preamp.

Lead Vox, Slight pitch correction, Neve 1073 Pre, 1176 and LA2A.
Sent to Vocal Chorus with automated send level. Also sent to slap delay and 1/8 note delay and plate verb.

Backing Vocals, not much processing. Sent to chorus, delay, and plate verb.

All Group busses, ATR-102 and VMR for console / tape emulation.

Mix bus, ATR-102 and VMR for console / tape. BX Digital V3 for stereo width and Pultec EQ. No compressor was used on the mix bus.

Master fader only included SSL Meter, Mastering the Mix Reference, ISOL8 to easily convert to mono (Rough mix is always in Mono) and Sonarworks.

[w4t30]

Thanks to @Strange for the song
Short story
I use Edifier MR4 and ATH Audiotechnica ATH-M20x for monitoring
The room is not treated

NOTE: Mostly I used Ableton Live Native plug ins as EQ eight (EQ), Glue compresor (GC), compresor(C), a little of saturation (S) and reverb (S) and native Bus (B).

Drum Bus: (B) (EQ) (GC)
Kick: (EQ) (S)
Snares: (EQ)
Toms: (EQ)
HH:(EQ) (R)
OH: (EQ) (R)

Bass bus: (EQ) (S)
Guitar Bus: (GC)
individual guitar tracks: (EQ) (S)

Keys and Synths: (EQ) (S)

Lead Vocals: (EQ) (C)
Backing Vocals: (R)

Whistles:(EQ) (R)
Fx: (EQ) (R)

Mix Bus: (GC) (EQ)


The mix link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--e017 ... sp=sharing

[Mork]

Hey and Moin,

catchy song that stays in your head!
With the mix notes in my head (vibey like Happy etc) I set up the session and literally let the song guide me. It inspired me to do a lot of things different than usual. I started the mix with everything open and just hit play. I never do that... until now I mixed a good portion with only a little tape (UAD Ampex) on the mixbus, usually I have most of my chain set up from the get go. This results in only a 2500 on 1.5:1, which is even dialed back to 50% Mix, on the Mixbus. Usually there's an additional DynOne and maybe Weiss. But the funkiest thing is, there is no limiter... I actually think there isn't one in the whole session. Yes, in 2025

So while I'm balancing and getting a feel for the song, Falco and Bilderbuch where constantly popping into my head (I actually referenced neither). I don't know why, but that set my goal to land between my idea of those two. In my mind the Falco part is the not-so-subtle and bright reverb vibe with proper action drum room. Drum room is the original drum room nuked with a Distressor (it's actually on 20:1 not Nuke). I tried to enhance it with some other fancy reverbs, but it just worked best on its own.
The Bilderbuch part is more the spectral shape and attitude. Heavy and crisp. The vocal recording kind of dictates a little crispness. There's an Sonnox Surpresser on it, but that can only do so much. The body of the lead vocal is maintained by a parallel all-buttons-in UAD 1176E. Peaks are generally shaped and conrolled by saturation. Decapitator, KClip, MH Character, UAD Ampex... things like that. Snare 2 for instance is driven heavily into an API Vision Channel to get rid of the "plastic" edge.

While mixing I imagined the lead vocalist, racing in his cabrio towards his girl, singing this song and getting maybe a little careless... But who cares, he's in love and hyped.

Mixed in Reaper on Audeze LCD-X, EQed on my ADI-2 Pro FS.

https://icedrive.net/s/G4ujDN8CVN9BG5abX815Gb89taGi