MIX CHALLENGE - MC18 February 2016 - Winners announced

[Compyfox]

Hello and welcome to the KVR Mix Challenge 18 - February 2016


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (source files, submission information, sponsors), start of the evaluation process and the first post for re-submissions for Mix Round 2.



Let us change the pace again and kick off the new year with an EBM / Electro track by epiphaneia. Attentive KVRians and Music Cafe listeners might have seen him regularly at the Music Cafe sub-board. We're happy to have this track at our disposal.

Furthermore, a thank you and shout out to Samplephonics Ltd, who gave permission to use their "clean cut" voice sample as part of this Mix Challenge.



Please take note of the following

• as of MC17, the rule set has been overhauled/simplified - please take note of them in the Rules and Guidelines thread.
• we're dropping back to a 3-place winners podium
• as you're probably noticed, the Mix Challenge sports a bit of a face lift. We now go by the name "Mix Challenge" only, the Twitter account name (Twitter handle) changed to just @MixChallenge as well
• a newsletter will be available in the imminent future (we'll inform you separately), it's planned to be sent out bi-monthly

Also Important:

• We're still looking for new source material for future Mix Challenges. Our pool is in constant fear of running dry. Please follow our official campaign for this in the Music Cafe. No new tracks, no more challenges!
• Please also spread the word on your preferred social media platform. Our Twitter Account is already a good start

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information, Source Files, Sponsors
Mix Round 2: Global Feedback and Round 2 Participant Announcement
Results of the Mix Challenge 18: Winnes announced

[Compyfox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Monday, 01st February 2016 to Sunday, 21st February 2016 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 21-02-2016, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (Germany) - until further notice. If you want to find out when that is the case at your place, please use the following tool and and select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html



Song Provider: epiphaneia (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Neon Sun, 3:53min
Song Information: 140 bpm, time signature 4/4, in A minor
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: EBM / Electro


Preview of the Song:
https://soundcloud.com/epiphaneia/neon

A word from the song provider:

The original mix was listed as "Industrial".

However, there are no artistic restrictions this time around. A downtempo / ambient mix might work well, but I´ll also take a reggae version if it´s well done.

Be creative - I'm curious where this will take us.
(note by the Challenge Staff: it is meant that the overall sound can be anything, do not change the BPM!)

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

Since there is no limitation mix wise this time around, I can't give any further hints.

If you want to educate yourself with this (sub)genre, take a listen to EBM / Electro, maybe even the more modern" forms of Industrial music (Post-Industrial)

Two links of interest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_body_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-industrial_music

Else - be creative.

Please also consult the TXT files that are bundled in the source files package below. There you can find more information about the individual files and changes to the time signature.

Special Add-On Rules:

• create a an interesting mix in your style
• creative effect usage allowed
• please take note of the Guide Tracks if you're stuck with "recreating" a certain sound (e.g. re-amping of the guitar)
• No rearrangement of the song structure
• No BPM changes
• try to not(!) pre-master the track (please no overuse of mix bus treatment)

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Source Files:

Main Mix Package - Mirror on Studio Compyfox (151,5MB, LZMA compressed)


The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 940 MB, packed 151,5 MB (ZIP, LZMA)
In order to extract the files, we can recommend these programs:

Macintosh:
The Unarchiver - get it here

Windows:
7zip - Installation, Portable


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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Mix Challenge - Gossip and Discussion

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for mix participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



Acon Digital is kind enough give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.de



Ghostwave Audio (KVR User Karten) is kind enough to donate MixRight (a Reaktor Ensemble) to the winner (until further notice)
License won't turn into NFR, you need Native Instruments Reaktor 5.8+ for this
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com/



JRR Shop will give away either one of the following plugins:
SONiVOX Wobble, Pulse or Twist (until further notice)
More info about the plugins on SONiVOX: http://www.sonivoxmi.com
More info about the sponsor: http://www.jrrshop.com/



Metric Halo will give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info about Metric Halo: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/



Nyrv Systems offers AGENT incl. all currently available NyrvDevices and free update to at least v1.5 of winner's choice (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info about Nyrv Systems: http://www.nyrvsystems.com/



Sound and Graphic, KVR user and Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/



Tone2 is kind enough to donate either a bundle consisting of AkustiX Enhancer and WarmVerb, or a license of Ultraspace to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



Two Notes Audio Engineering is kind enough to donate one license of Torpedo Wall of Sound III to the winner, loaded with 57 cabinets (equivalent to "Torpedo WoS II") (donation until Q1 2016)
License will not turn into NFR
More info on Two Notes: http://www.two-notes.com/en/



THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on mix plugins, bundles and the likes), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.


Did you know that there are even more contests / competitions / challenges here on KVR Audio?

• One Synth Challenge (see stickies) - a demanding game where you have to use "one synth only", tweak it to your needs and write song with it (the OSC offered us a lot of songs in recent months!)
• Music Cafe (KVR, see stickies) - A thematic monthly competition. Use recording, real instruments, synths and samples.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/MixChallenge

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

[3ee]

never mixed EBM before, sure looks interesting!

[Compyfox]

Welcome aboard then.

[camsr]

Guidelines seem unclear, tempo change is okay, free effects usage okay, but no rearrangement or sound replacement/cut?

[epiphaneia]

Guidelines seem unclear, tempo change is okay, free effects usage okay, but no rearrangement or sound replacement/cut?

Personally I´d be interested in hearing whatever you´ll come up with, be it glitch or reggae, as long as there´s at least some reminiscence to the original track

... but apparently the "Mix Challenge" rules say:

- the provided arrangement must remain the same (take note of a given audio demo). Unless otherwise stated, do not add an additional beat or instruments (e.g. replay a guitar), move parts around and therefore change the arrangement;

- it is allowed to edit and to a certain extend even mangle the source material, as long as this does not result in drastic sound design and a complete new sound, unless otherwise stated.

There´s that "unless otherwise stated" loophole in these rules... I don´t know, I´d be fine with that... Compy....?

[Compyfox]

Guidelines seem unclear, tempo change is okay, free effects usage okay, but no rearrangement or sound replacement/cut?

I did NOT mention anything about "Tempo Changes", neither did the Song Provider.
The song provide merely said that any "type of sound" is fine with him (even if it's a reggae type mix).


The official guidelines clearly state (as mentioned):

- the provided arrangement must remain the same (take note of a given audio demo). Unless otherwise stated, do not add an additional beat or instruments (e.g. replay a guitar), move parts around and therefore change the arrangement

To this counts: tempo change, rearrangement, sound replacement (drums triggering for example)


Reamping and "distorting" tracks (like in the original demo track) does count as "mix job" in this case. But I can make it more clear in the add-on rules, if it wasn't clear from the beginning (we're doing Re-amping for quite a while now - give me a minute to edit please).


You have a specific set of tracks, make the best out of it - in your own style while ignoring the demo mix, or in your own style while letting yourself inspire by the same. Doesn't matter this time around. If you want to use a rhythmic gate on a pad or something, and it is allowed by the song provider (read: "creative effect usage"), go for it.

But making a remix out of it, is not the concept of this challenge.
At least not yet.

[camsr]

I think I was just trying to grasp how a Reggae version would be made...

[Compyfox]

Think "reggae/dub", lots of delays with modulating feedback, etc...


I guess future commentary by the song providers will be fine tuned to evade this.
And I think this is adding to the spirit of the Mix Challenge - everything is a learning process.

[3ee]

guys, if the drum loop with it's guide track are still aligned up perfectly (no latency) ... try inverting the phase on one of them and play with the volume for a cool effect, even if you don't use it, might be fun to simply check out!

reference songs:

I do plan to make my own mix version, ultimately unrestricted by none but I'm not that familiar with EBM/industrial and I'm curious ...
does anyone have any YouTube examples on what this "suppose" to sound like?

[Jorgeelalto]

Yayy! I'm in! I don't know what genre I'll finish doing but I like the fact that we can be creative this time :3 .

[Compyfox]

does anyone have any YouTube examples on what this "suppose" to sound like?

Search phrase on Youtube could actually be "Post Industrial Electro" and "EBM Electro". There are a couple of playlists popping up.

epiphaneia may describe his initial idea behind his mix better than I can. But believe me, setting something into a definite electronic music genre is not easy. Because the thing is, this genre is just as crazy, to to mention walks just as thin lines as all of the offsprings of DnB.

The original mix has ideas/concept from "EBM" with distorted instruments and a(n early) trance type beat that also dives in the Psytrance/Goa genre. You just can't define it (just like modern day DnB - or example "The Prodigy" - is it "Bigbeat", is it "Dance", "Jungle" or the current new term "Neo Punk"?) - not to mention that everyone has a different opinion about it - so we set with "EBM / Electro" as hypernym.

You can still dive into the general topic with the Wikipedia links I posted. The old "Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music" (really outdated at this point, and full of sarcasm!) might also be of interest for you.

Yayy! I'm in! I don't know what genre I'll finish doing but I like the fact that we can be creative this time :3 .

Within given boundaries of course (the recent challenges also sported the "be creative" tag). Though the Electronic (hypernym) genre just offers so much more room than classic rock productions.

As long as this doesn't turn into a remix...

[Gamma-UT]

I do plan to make my own mix version, ultimately unrestricted by none but I'm not that familiar with EBM/industrial and I'm curious ...
does anyone have any YouTube examples on what this "suppose" to sound like?

The archetypes for EBM date back to the late 1980s with bands like Front 242 and Frontline Assembly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBIWW2bwfwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4oFcaVY8iQ

[epiphaneia]

epiphaneia may describe his initial idea behind his mix better than I can.

Would it be too disillusioning if I said I don´t care about genres too much and just throw whatever tickles my fancy into my tracks? I´m honestly not all too good with that genre-pigeonholing, and I gave up on it long ago, when people started coming up with new sub-genres merely based on different kickdrum-sounds etc. (I am probably just too old for that...).

As long as this doesn't turn into a remix...

Personally, I´d be /very/ interested in hearing all kinds of interesting/strange/genre-defying tracks that at least bear a slight reminiscence to the original song (hence the "reggae version" comment) ...but I have to stress here that this is merely my personal curiosity, and would not be a valid entry in this challenge.

[3ee]

Hey thanks guys!

@Compy ... yeah I know what you mean with the experimental nature of some electronic music. As I see it, the more original and "un-commercial" = the more experimental the nature and harder to define/label

I know Ishkur's guide, will give it a check for good ol' time's sake!

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While setting up the tracks I remembered of this tune, from a favorite SNES game from around 95.
I even colored some tracks accordingly to hint more to that sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svExK2jL1_8