MIX CHALLENGE - MC061 December 2019 - Winners announced

[alelachowski]

Hello,

here my mix, I liked to work on it because I never mixed so much brass instruments. Nice experience.

Well, about my mix, there is no much secrets. In the printscreen on the link bellow, it´s showing everything I did. Just created some buses for each kind of brass, the drums I just cleaned the kick and snare inserting a gate, I created a fake drum room just to make the drums more present... and, that´s it!
As this is a mix contest, I kept levels with -6 dbfs of headroom (so, turn up the gain to real listen the mix) and no compression in the mixbus, I focused in try to keep the dynamic of the song.

Regards

Wav:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jm5aGw ... sp=sharing

Mp3:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QGavsq ... sp=sharing

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

Alexandre Lack

[MixAndry]

Hello,

Here is my work, for the first time I am mixing such a number of copper instruments, for me it is a good experience.

About the mix.
At first, I created several subgroups - these are drums, saxophones, trumpets, and trombones, turned on low-cut, and added a little reverb and slap delay.
At some points in the solo part brass, I added reverb automation

I added a few low harmonics to the kick
On the snare drum, I added a little long hall
On master, I put a little compression.

Regards to you

Wav:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=14Jo9o ... naERPQA5ah

Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BWP2Sw ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f8BCVV ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JxR9wm ... sp=sharing

[Mbarathi]

I've always loved listening to big band, and I also love Al Schmitt's mixing method. But I have never had an opportunity to mix one myself.
There's always a first time for everything...so here goes!

Logic was my DAW of choice on this project and I worked the tracks in 'buckets' as below:

1. Drums
Summed the tracks and ran a dbx-160 with very mild compression
I use an SSL EQ on Kick, Snare
Waves Smack Attack on the snare
Waves CLA Drums for the overheads


2. Bass
SSL EQ - HPF at 70Hz
Amplitube - amp simulation and equalisation

3. Electric guitar
Logic default channel EQ - HPF at 200Hz, 3db cut at 500Hz
Waves CLA Guitar for some compression, delay and reverb

4. Piano

Scheps Omni
CLA76 Compressor


5. Brass
TR5 Mic room, for Ribbon Mic simulation
SSL Channel EQ HPF 170Hz and LPF 4.7KHz
Logic Space reverb -3db dry & -25db wet
API 2500 compressor on the groups


6. Stereo Bus

Logic Compressor - 1.4:1 Ratio, Attack - 10ms, Release 81ms, threshold adjusted to only compress 3db
Clariphonic DSP EQ for some “Jazzy Air”

Link to Wav file:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AomlDRYyT4B42zKDGd9 ... i?e=f0Jtdk

Screenshot:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AomlDRYyT4B42zFNk6o ... I?e=atxHLf

Regards!

[kirurg]

Hello everyone,

Thank you Francis and the band for this challenge.

Here is my version:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pp0nkquxijxnu ... g.wav?dl=0

Grouped the horns by sections as trumpets, trombones, sax+clarinet.
Every section has Acustica Audio Pink compressor, Pink PreAmp,
also parametric EQ. The trumpets has some hi-mids cut and lower
frequency boost, saxophones got a bit high-mids boost. There is
standard m/s widening used for every horn section.
Volume automation used in many parts for horns.

Drums also going to the Pink comp and Pink PreAmp.

Bass has UAD UA 1176 comp and got EQ (mostly cut around 200Hz)
Piano has Glue Comp, EQ narrow cut around 2000Hz, HPF as well.

The guitar is the most modified one, edited some parts by EQ to decrease
the popping-up frequencies. Then added SoundToys Decapitator, a multiband
compression and The Glue Comp.

There is a plate type reverb used (UVI plate), added a little amount
to the all horns sections and bit more to the trombone solo and guitar solo.
Piano has UAD Ocean Ways room.

Main bus: Acustica Audio Pink Pre, El Rey compressor, Purple Pultec style EQ
and UAD Ampex ATR-102 tape saturation.

[DennisBastioni]

Hi everyone!

Really happy to became part of this beautiful family. Thanks to Mix Challenge to give us the opportunity to partecipate at mixing contest. This is my first contest here and i'am really excited for that, i hope you like this mix and how i interpretate the space, the depth and the soul of the song.

Here is the link to listen and download the wav file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nK4COd ... sp=sharing

I start my mix grouping trombones, trumpets and sax in three different groups, same for drums.
the chains for every instrument and groups are:

Kick: ssl g, pultec eq, api2500, l1.
Snare: pro q2, multi transient, pro l.
OH: aphex aural exciter, api2500 (in non-link mode to spread the stereo image)
DrumBus: saturn.
Bass: pro q2, ozone exciter (triode mode), maxxbass, voxengo tube amp.
Guitar: cla76, pro c, transX, aphex exciter.
Clarinet: pro q2, saturn.
Piano: aphex exciter, pro q2, saturation knob, pro c.
Sax: i eq them separately and compress some of that and put pro q2, pro c2, neutron transient designer and pro q2 in the sax's group.
Trombones: i eq everyone and compress just both then i put Veq and api560.
Trumpets: same as the trombones but api550a, kramer Hls and pro MB on the trumpet's group.

After that i choose to give the sense of space sending my instruments in some delay (to simulate the first reflections) and different stereo and mono reverbs. I also create two different but similar rooms to place (a bit) separately my groups. I send in:

ValhallaRoom: trombones and really tiny amount of bass.
Another ValhallaRoom: piano, clarinet and a bit of drums.
Valhalla vintage verb: Sax group and a bit of guitar.
True verb: trumpets and piano.
EchoBoy: Almost every instrument except bass and sax group.
IR1 mono: just a touch of drums, clarinet, bass (really subtle) and guitar.

The last send track is a parallel but serial (lol) compression where i send the drums group and the bass. I push this compression really hard but before that i put a pultec eq enhancing some low around 30Hz and some high around 8K. (i use cla76 and Tan in series).

Now, that are all the process for every instrument and the final step is the treatment of the master bus. Is not required a lot of loudness so what i decide to do is just saturation for warmth, eq for the tone and a bit of compression to make feel better the vibes of the song. I use Pultec eqP1a(without pushing anything) just for the colour and Pro c2 in M/S mode to feel a bit more groove and push gently the Side information and Saphira to add even and odds harmonics (i use them while mixing). For final step i put a reasonable amount of saturation with Saturn in Warm Tube mode and mix knob at 67%.

That's all. I hope this will be useful for everyone and thanks to you all for this experience and it's a pleasure to share this with you!

Ciaoo

[zell]

hi everyone, this is my first contest here, so hope I'm submitting this right.

Screenshot + wav

this link contain the screnshot and the song. The mix is ITB

I have not done editing, in my experience in these situations it generate more trouble than helping

first I made a general mix of pans and volumes,
then I tried to clean the various tracks with eqs,
then I put gates, and I compressed slightly where I felt the need trying on the winds to compress the group to get more glue.
then I used eq and saturators to color. and I added a bit of reverb to give more space and depth

[Waleed Morris]

Hello everyone, Merry Christmas !!
Actually I enjoy working in jazz I like the big band very good composed, good recording, cool stuff!
My general idea keeps the song very dynamic, natural, live, like big band sound in the stage!
I started with drums nothing unusual processing, except with the kick I want to make it natural without high-end clicky sound so I kept high end as it is.
Then Snare, Eq'ed /Compression, as well I fixed the phase issue in OH so Eq'ed .no compression!
-Brasses section > grouped every section sax, trombone, and trumpet to another 3 aux and started from there! Eq'ed and compression /saturation
-Bass, Piano, Guitar >> Eq'ed and compression I used also waves PRS Dallas amp plugin with the guitar.and finally A lot of automation.

Loudness: -20.9 LUFS, TP Max -3.0 dBTP (By NUGEN), any comments or feedback are most welcome.

My submission.

MC061_Jazz MUK_Two Seconds To Midnight_Wizzo.wav
MC061_Jazz MUK_Two Seconds To Midnight_Wizzo.mp3

Cheers!

[beyondthemind]

Hello! This is my first contribution to the mix challenge. First time I'm mixing a big band so it was challenging but very fun! This is also my first post here on the forum. I'm from Sweden so please excuse my "broken" English ;-)

Wav: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Vr35A ... qNrvZmfxPF
Screenshots: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1goo5d ... R53yijP4sF
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TkNhM ... pLFGjchnrY

Sax, trombons and trumpets: Since its my first big band mix i did some studying first. Since the different kind of instruments have different placements in the room, i also tried to mix it like that. So basically with a lot of work with EQing, reverb and panning i made the sax right in front (closer to the listener), trombones in the middle and trumpets all the way back. (far from the listener)

Kick: I wanted it to be both full and beefy but still with the typical klipp-sounding drums in a jazz-setup. Some light compression, EQ:ing, added som transients around 60-80Hz with Voxengo Marvel and finally some waveshaping distortion to make it stand out a little bit.

Drums: Basically the usual stuff. Some compression and EQing. Also a drumbus to make the drums sound a bit fuller in the mix. Also some reverb to make it sound more like a live recording in a little bit bigger room.

Bass: Compression, some EQing to remove boomines, and a smal cut around 100hz to make it work better with the kick. Then some waveshaping distortion and finally Transient shaping around 50Hz and 2-3kHz to make it a bit fuller and more noticeable in the mix.

Other: Piano a little bit panned to left, some EQ. Guitar panned in the middle, even if it should be a bit to the left. Some compression and EQing on the guitar.

Other notes: Overall my goal was to keep the live feeling, and to have an "airy" and dynamic sound but still with some fullness and clean and noticeable lowend. No automation is used, i did however make som gain adjustments on some quieter parts on some of the tracks, especially on the trombone solo and guitar. I didn't on the drums even if it were needed, especially on the snare because the drummer didn't hit it spot on all the time, and it's because i wanted to be able to hear the different players skills on the instrument.

I used Reaper 6.01
Some of the plugins: MeldeProductions MCompressor, Cockos ReaComp and ReaEQ, eaReckon FR-Comp on all the brass'es mixbusses, MeldaProduction Convolution for the reverb.

[JonasLasse]

Hey there,

in General i fixed the wrong numbers of Players. For example, the "Sax3" plays the lead. I mixed it as the german vdt mentioned (http://www.sengpielaudio.com/DerReizDerBigBand.pdf) . I grouped the sections and equlized resonances, also i balanced the 1. harmonic. I listened to my favourite record by Kenny Wheeler before mixing. Reminded myself that one need Phase linaer eq for best results.

Used Fabfilter Pro Q and Pro C on Bass, Drums and some mediocre played Instruments. It was hard to mix, because the 2nd Tenor was Kind of missing, the 2nd melodie was missing sometimes.

Actually for me helped having studied jazz and playing in a professional Bigband for years.

My Approach is the most natural one, please tell me if you like or not.

WAV 24/48
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QfgTBC ... sp=sharing

Mp3 320kbit
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eixLA8 ... sp=sharing

Edit:
In R2 i would lower the solo trombone in the beginning and overthink balances of sax/tromb/trump.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
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