Hello Rich and everybody,
Firstly, I'd like to say that it's been more than a pleasure mixing this song, not just because it's a great punk rock whose reference track I couldn't stop listening and singing together while mixing -- "Never say no to a reefer" is one of the best verses I've heard in music in many years, funny and so punk, so...us! [lol] --, but also because I'm a huge fan from long ago and when I found this challenge I almost couldn't believe it. I'm an underground music artist and producer from Brazil, multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, songwriter/composer, arranger, amateur audio engineering aiming to go pro; I've been playing and singing in some local bands here in the countryside of São Paulo state (Itapira City), mostly punk bands, I love punk rock, have been into punk since I was a kid, pogo dancing since early childhood, nowadays have my bedroom-produced electronic projects and am completely fascinated by production, mostly mixing and mastering, especially mixing, I mix "in the box" with my outdated computer, DAW and editor as I have no resources to have an studio with a hardware console etc, and many professional engineers are dropping the hardware to mix in the box only, so I think hardware is no longer that issue anymore, and I'm learning with friends, some from UK too, who are professional with extensive curriculum, and I try to produce like a pro and make it sound as if produced in a good studio, I listen to music since before I was born, in my mom's womb, and am really familiarised with every music style, genre and sub-genre, and I was looking for some mixing contest as I really love mixing, producing and aim to get known as a producer and the way I think it has to be -- by showing up my skills, which I'm just starting to develop, of course --, so a contest, a challenge like this, is much more than something for us to try to win a prize -- of course it's amazing to win, but, much more than that, it's a great opportunity for us producers, especially mixers, show up our work, and to have such an opportunity of mixing this punk rock (and a classic punk the way I like the most) by Danny & the Deadbeats, a punk band I came to know from some rock zine here in Brazil many years ago, a song recorded at the legendary Subway Studios, it's a blessing, I would say a dream coming true if I could at least have imagined that one day I'd have such an opportunity. So, regardless the competition, thank you so much for this song and the opportunity of mixing it, Rich and all you guys from the band and the Mix Challenge. And, please, if you appreciate this mix of mine and have any other song that you'd like to be mixed and/or mastered, just let me know, get in touch, and it'll be a honour and a pleasure to mix it/them for you. Actually I could mix punk 24/7 non-stop (yeah, I'm that kind of fascinated by mixing, not to say obsessed).
Here goes the technical note, I mixed it strictly as you demanded:
Bass - just reamp'd and EQ'd (all the records are really good and it's a punk rock so I just wanted to mix it in a very simple way, preserving the sonority, just improving the punk imprint it already has and the way it has to be, to sound).
Drums - all tracks were used (those trigger tracks, especially the kick, made a good difference!); some adjusts in panning, phase corrected, EQ'd and slightly/softly compressed, and some room added.
Guitars - all tracks were used; panned according to the reference track as that panning is really perfect (you mix very well, Rich!); EQ'd, gently/lightly compressed, little bit of saturation added just to give them more edge and presence.
Vocals - bits cut as demanded; panned according to the reference track too; EQ'd; some room/reverb slightly/softly added to every track, mostly the chorus (also delay added to Chris Chorus), but in an almost imperceptible way that just gives more definition, ambience and presence to them, making them sit in the mix.
Basically I tried to just give it a little improvement to let the mix sounding ready to be mastered, hope I did a good job. Did cut all the noise, background talking etc from 0 (zero) second/time until before the correct kick off (clicking drum sticks) the same way as it is in the reference track, but preserved the mix duration of 2:44, which can easily be changed/cut further, when mastering, for example, if you want. Please, just let me know if you'd like it to be mastered further in case that you like my mix and would want to give me an opportunity. Didn't cut anything in the end of the song either as it ends perfectly well too. High and low pass filters gently applied accordingly to every track and the mix bus. No overuse of mix bus treatment etc -- just EQ, slight/soft compression to better "glue" all together, correct dither applied, no limiting, no mastering, just mixed and ready to be mastered; 6 dB of headroom (-6 dB).
Hope you like the final result. Please, just let me know in case that you want any change and I'll proceed accordingly and give you a feedback as soon as possible.
Thank you so much for such a great opportunity, and good luck to all the fellow competitors! All the best!
Files:
24-bit/44.1kHz WAV:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tFmdK ... k-r9jp8G5N
320kbps MP3:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Yj_gP ... TJCUjUZBSv
Cheers,
Sam
).