MIX CHALLENGE - MC103 April 2025 - Winners announced

[Drannob]

Here's my mix for round 3. Unfortunately, I only had about fifteen minutes to make it, no time because of my crappy day job!
@strange: I didn't understand the request to "cut off at the beginning"?

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

[Mork]

Hey,

here's R3:

https://icedrive.net/s/kkADPwtifXbAGQbTt9jkiYzk17gV

LV got a slight chorus lift while zu dir was turned down just a hair. (scottfitz: thanks for your feedback! I actually didn't split the vocal, but still know what you mean)
Bass got another dynamic eq band around 90 to clean the area up a little
Lo Tom high bump got turned up a dB or two, low cut got adjusted slightly.
Who turned down piano2 by 30dB? Must have been piano1! But we agreed that every piano is equally important and should have its place in the mix

Thank you Peter for providing all the valuable feedback in great detail to everyone!
And special thanks to Mr Fox for keeping this place up and running!

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your edit for Mix Round 3.


So far, we have 04 out of 07 entries, with 21 hours left on the clock.

There will be no deadline extensions! Please get your edit submitted today. Please also pay attention to detail still.

[titantraxx]

Here’s my submission for round 3.

I’ve been getting over covid the last couple weeks and the congestion in my head has had my hearing so muffled. It’s very frustrating, but it’s slowly clearing up.

Again I applied the suggestions @Strange made.


Here is my mix for round 3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ea8n35 ... sp=sharing


I accidentally muted the risers in round 2 and didn’t notice.
I reduced the bass resonances with a dynamic eq about -5db and boasted the overall volume 0.5db.
I applied an eq to the mix bus and cut the low-mids a bit and boosted a high shelf about 2.5db at 6khz.
I applied more volume automation to the lead vocals cutting between 1-2db in various sections.
I also lowered the left and right guitars -0.5db because they poked out a little too much after the high shelf boost on the mix bus.

I think the mix improved significantly.

[Strange]

Here's my mix for round 3. Unfortunately, I only had about fifteen minutes to make it, no time because of my crappy day job!
@strange: I didn't understand the request to "cut off at the beginning"?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U5yUBy ... sp=sharing

Hi Drannob,
thank you for your work inspite of your crappy day job!
You cut off the first milliseconds of the first whistle at the first beginning of this song.

greetings
Peter

[GeorgeCorg]

Hi again,

Thanks for this opportunity again

I tried to follow the requested changes, and came up with the revisioned version.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ET7c0L ... sp=sharing

Hope it's according to expectations.

Cheers.

[Drannob]

Here's my mix for round 3. Unfortunately, I only had about fifteen minutes to make it, no time because of my crappy day job!
@strange: I didn't understand the request to "cut off at the beginning"?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U5yUBy ... sp=sharing

Hi Drannob,
thank you for your work inspite of your crappy day job!
You cut off the first milliseconds of the first whistle at the first beginning of this song.

greetings
Peter

Ok thank you @Strange

I quickly updated my submission: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WvICHZ ... sp=sharing

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

Thank you Peter that I can participate in round 3.

I almost missed the R3 announcemend because I was working on my SWC song ;-)
I am glad that making the adjustments didn't took much time.

Here is my R3 voor the MC103.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hzpmmc8h ... yq196&dl=0

I simply followed your directions and I think the balance is better now,

Cheers,

Jeroen

[Mister Fox]

It's the 24th May 2025, 00:05 (UTC+2) - the 3rd Mix Round has officially ended.


STATISTICS

• Everyone has sent in an edit (I count 07 out of 07)
• No Wild Cards were possible to be used for Mix Round 3

I will reach out to @Strange and forward all entries/statistics by sometime tomorrow (Sunday, 25-MAY-2025). Please have an eye on this thread for more feedback and an announcement of the final results.



I'm now opening up the room (again) for Q&A's and giving each other feedback.

Please check out all other games on the community. Most notably our Songwriting Competition - which runs for another 24 hours.

Please also consider becoming a Song Provider. Our Song Pool is dry! We have no more content after May 2025! No more material means no more Mix(ing) Challenges. The genre is not important -- but it must be a finished production.


See you on the flipside.

[knob_Houdini]

“Hey everyone & @Strange—first off , deeply grateful for the time you took to share feedback on my mix! I’ll be honest, I totally thought I was still in the running for the competition—oops! But hey, your notes (and others’) inspired me to take one last swing at this mix, just for the love of it.

Quick backstory: I’m currently recovering from an accident, so I’m stuck working in headphone-land while I piece together a makeshift setup at home. Fair warning—the mids and bass might feel a little… questionable (cheap cans + no calibration = a mix engineer’s nightmare!). That said, your feedback’s been a lifesaver for tweaking things on the fly.

Even if this isn’t ‘competition-ready,’ I hope you dig the vibe! Huge thanks to @Mister and his team for this community and the platform for letting us all geek out together. Can’t wait for the next challenge—keep those tracks coming, and stay inspired!

P.S. If you blast this, maybe do your ears a favor and skip the $10 headphones. Just sayin’…”
here is my 3rd round final mix => Click here to Listen the MIX

Wow,
Round 2 was a clear sound win. I can only congratulate and thank everyone. The song really gained from your editing.
Since I'm the “client” this month, I have to be honest with myself and with you: I would ask every mix I receive here for improvements. These are not fundamental mixing decisions, but rather specific "small" adjustments that would be important to me.

MisterFox has suggested the possibility of a third round. And I think this is the best way to improve these final details in the mix. Seven mixes will be invited to round 3 and I am sure that each of these mixes can exceed my expectations.

I will ask these seven mixes for further adjustments in this round 3
(and please read the third line, too, you're really on the right track) :

► Show Spoiler

@VividPhase
- sounds cleaner, but a bit too hollow, maybe too much EQ?
- too much low end, especially in the 100-150Hz range
- BGV a bit too quiet compared to LV

@GeorgeCorg
- too much low end
- the mids sound a bit too hollow/empty
- 3.5 kHz range was reduced a little too much and too tightly

@JeroenZuiderwijk
- too much bass, approx. 180 Hz around 3 dB
- sub bass too much
- HH still a bit too harsh in the 4-5 kHz range
- Toms too quiet, too insignificant
@Drannob
- cut off at the beginning,
- LV 1dB too loud
- still a bit much HH and emphasis in the 4kHz range, approx. 1.5 dB
- funky Gtr too loud
- outro- gtr right and left a bit too loud
- Toms too undefined and a bit too quiet (especially from 2:27)

@scottfitz
- HH still a bit too harsh in the 4.5 kHz range
- Toms too quiet and undefined

@Mork
- why is the piano 2 so quiet?
- too much bass in the 80 Hz range
- LV too quiet compared to BGV, or BGV (“zu Dir”) too loud.
- auto pan funky Gtr is great
- Toms are very good, maybe LoTom a bit clearer

@titantraxx
- what happened to the input risers?
- overall very balanced and tidy
- Bass resonances at 45 and 150 Hz (narrow band about -5 to -7 dB )
- Low mids at 260 Hz should be a little less
- LV should be 1-2 dB quieter
- more air, around 3 dB from 5-7 kHz and above

@Mister Fox will tell you more about the round 3. It's not the usual way, but he approves this proceed.
I hope you will agree, too, and you're "happy" to present me your best mix for my unimportend taste. Thank you!


This is bonus information, if you want to continue editing I would like to ask for these customization requests for the other mixes in the second round:

► Show Spoiler

@Miłosz
- LowEnd too loud, pushes too hard into the bus compressor
- Bridge BGV too loud and muddy/boxy
- Outro Gtr right and left too loud
- the overall mix lacks clarity, becomes increasingly indistinct at the end

@LowlandsWave
- far too much low-mid around 200Hz
- about too much 3.5 kHz removed
- Toms too unclear/quiet

@MartialFromentin
- too much low end,
- a bit too much low-mids
- a bit empty, the mids of the various instruments/vocals could be worked out better (see 2kHz range).

@Mellow Browne
- almost 10dB too much low end below 100 Hz
- therefore everything is a bit uninhibited

@MadMav
- LV a bit quiet
- Resonances in the bass range (60 and 150 Hz range)
- overall a bit dull and midrange-heavy

Other participants who asked for feedback:

@Crazy Loco, this is definitely also a good mix, would also have fitted into the 2nd round. I noticed the following things:
- LV too loud
- Gtr too muffled, too quiet, not spatially integrated
- a little too much low end
- the end seems too contrived
- Mids a bit too weak, hollow
Thanks for the discussion about my song

@knob_Houdini, thank you for taking the trouble to adapt your mix outside of the competition. I like the result much better. I noticed the following things:
- Drums very hollow, without mids
- Vocals without treble, somewhat nasal/ mid-range and too loud (2dB or more)
- too much sub and bass

Greetings
Peter