Mix Challenge

One of the main problems was getting the cello evened out - the tonality was different on different notes. I used MDynamicEQ to balance the tone and level the volume. I used Elysia nvelope to control the transients on the acoustic guitars. I used Goliath for my saturation plugin of choice on the Bass/Drums bus, Instrument bus and on the Main bus. The rest was mostly EQ and compression. Nothing too drastic.

Mp3 - https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... vk7mDk4MRV
Wav - https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... kjQR4m3hwk

It is the 22nd March 2018, 3:45pm GMT+1/CET - the first Mix Round has officially ended

If I didn't miscount, we have 22 entries this month (not counting banned and therefore disqualified users)! 2 participants less than last month (24) and 12 participants more than 2017 (10).

There has been been no submission after the deadline.
No other "warnings" due to rule violations (yet) - but plenty of users that did not provide minimal documentation (examples: Coiled_Ear, Crownoise, satyatunes, VasDim, jetwolf, Arthur Labus, Wizzo - please update your posts!)
Nobody has been penalized for due to drastic rule violations



Please check all if your links again, make them downloadable. Those that uploaded MP3s only, please take note: providing a FLAC (on low bandwidth)/WAV (on DSL and higher) file is mandatory now. Those of you that only uploaded a WAV, a MP3 version would be nice. Please also update your posts with minimal documentation for others to learn from (see Rules & Guidelines).


I now open the field for everyone to give each other feedback (highly encouraged). This will be independent to the client feedback however.


Please watch this spot for the client feedback and Mix Round 2 participant announcement.

Good luck to all participants.






The Songwriting Competition 07 (SWC07) is still in full swing.
The deadline is 24th March 2018, 11:59pm GMT+1/CET

I finally had some time to put down a few impressions of some of the mixes submitted.

Kevin:
Pleasant sounding guitars, brave move with the warm room ambience and it works, although the snare is very wet and sometimes undefined as a result. But it adds to the dark feel of the mix. The snare muting idea works great. Bass is loud but at the same time sweet that it is hearable. The entire mix is a bit 200 Hz heavy and clashing down there on my system. The panning decisions work. Engaging mix, dark and emotional. It stands out in this regard. In a good way.

Octononfire:
Open and nice clear mix. Super punchy snare drum. Super dynamic. Lots of really great effects, I really like them all except the sometimes overly wobbly effect on several tracks, which makes me a little sea sick. Killer drums. I notice a weird disturbing noise on the left channel in the "climax" piece (starting at 1:36) - delay? Great overall balance.

Photonic:
Again, open and lovely clear mix with good punch. Loud strings compared to the rest of the instruments, otherwise good balance. Nice to hear the ride clearly. I think the snare hits in the "climax" piece (starting at 1:40) should be levelled out to be more similar sounding. The "issue" is part of the original tracks, but I think it should be adjusted a bit to not fluctuate so much.

Mork:
Dark mix, but a fairly good separation counters the darkness, though quite a lot of 200 Hz here also. (maybe I should check my monitoring, lol). Good point on the hole in the middle and the panning decisions as a result are great. Here we have the same issue with the different sounding snare hits starting at 1:40. Overall a very pleasant sound once my ear adjust to the warm signature.

That's what I had time for now, sorry for not reporting on all mixes
And don't feel obliged to report on my mix - we all know it's flat and bright, move along!

lol Henrik, thanks a lot for your comments!

I do not feel comfortable to comment anyone's mix yet, I still need a 1st prize to dare...

However I can confirm that I've heard great ideas from everyone, and a wide variety of styles for this one, I really appreciate that.

200Hz is EVIL, we all need to check!!! Ahahaha

Hey Henrik, thanks for the feedback!

It really isn't THAT dark if you compare to references from outside this contest. I wanted to treat it like a soundtrack which are a little darker to begin with, and I wanted it to have that huge signature with an "immersive midrange". I couldn't figure out a way to get any brighter and not feel "fake", if that makes any sense. I referenced to "Soldiers" from the Stranger Things 2 OST (very different, but OH YEAH) a lot, which is kind of the ballpark I aimed for in terms of brightness. I also gave Conan OST a spin which is a lot shinier but still retains enough of the root notes to not feel thin (especially the choir), but I felt that the source material benefits from being darker. I used some Aphex and Vitalizer to get me some "non-brittle" highs and tried to use guitar, strings and drums to still keep it somewhat in your face and not feel dull. I knew being that dark is a stretch, because of the rough and probably any other submission but it is what I felt for the song, so why not? Take a listen to DaVinci Code OST, now THAT'S dark.

The second snare I used more in conjunction with the "strummed guitar hits" than snare 1, to give it some pulse that opens and closes from mid to side. I found that to be interesting, seems it's not.

Henrik Hjortnaes wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 23, 2018 23:09 CET

Overall a very pleasant sound once my ear adjust to the warm signature.

And that's the key: turn it up until you feel it, sit back, enjoy. If you then switch to something brighter it feels thin or you will have to repair your face from all the clicks and clacks (overexaggeration).

But all in all you might be right. I had to upload the mix early because of time issues and could have used another day of automation (which is non-existent) and final tone adjustments with fresh ears. That's the reason I unfortunately can't return any feedback at this point, because I want to re-gain some distance and hope that I'll make it to the next round. But I will give feedback once I am back on this mix and really like the idea of giving each other this kind of advice.
By the way, I've really enjoyed your (winning) mix last time. Very glued and cohesive! Absolutely deserved win.

Cheers
Mork

kevin gobin wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:24 CET

I do not feel comfortable to comment anyone's mix yet, I still need a 1st prize to dare...

I am definitely not comfortable doing it either, I tell you that. But Fox encourages it and I can see why - feedback from someone of the same profession or hobby can be very valuable and not easy to get elsewhere.

But it is difficult, because giving feedback is flawed.

• We don't have a good language for audio sound.
  Our ears are unique.
  Our monitoring is unique.
  Our room (defects) are unique.
  Our minds are unique.

And our experience is unique, so any advice given today, you may not give in 2 years time - when you are more experienced, both artistically and technically. But don't hold back because of this, because the learning never ends. You will never be fully educated in sound.

So, to receive feedback, we have to have these flaws in mind and try to extract the broad strokes from a review - and not get too upset about it.

There have to be this mutual mindset between the reviewer and the recipient to make it work despite the obvious flaws. Take it with a grain of salt. Show tolerance. We don't have a proper language for sound and we all perceive sound differently. It's flawed as hell, basically!

Mork wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 24, 2018 17:17 CET

And that's the key: turn it up until you feel it, sit back, enjoy. If you then switch to something brighter it feels thin or you will have to repair your face from all the clicks and clacks (overexaggeration).

I totally agree, so true.

I was just kidding myself Henrik Hjortnaes!!!

You should be totally comfortable with your post and intention. Both are very nice.

Especially if you write good words about my mix! (french humor here too).

It is true that we rarely comment each others here, and the only uncomfortable feeling I have commenting others is the potential interaction between our thoughts and the client's ones.

Once again please do not feel embarrassed by my poor way of expressing good feelings.

It's all good, Kevin. And keep the French humour coming

Hello everyone ,

You should be totally comfortable with your post and intention. Both are very nice.

Totally agree . we all learning by several resources like (honest) feedback from each other ( not each other like me i meant from who won 1st to 3rd place before ) I think the most important step in learning process is sharing thoughts and mix doc !! this is how we can learn from the masters.