KVR MIX CHALLENGE - MC07 December 2014 - Winners announced

How to do this, that and the other. Share, learn, teach. How did X do that? How can I sound like Y?
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Then it will be 4 entries still...


My proposal to the participants:
We extend this one until New Years Eve or rather the 4th January (about 2 weeks from now). This way you can also try out new tools you might have gotten during sales or as gift during the "12 days of christmas".

The evaluation will then go through the first 1-2 weeks of January. In the meantime, we will take a (much needed) winter break and start MC08 fresh in February.


This way, more people have time to join. Including Satya, Eric and me.


Feedback welcome.
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I'm fine with whatever you decide.

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Green light for an extention from all directions so far.
We're currently setting the final submissions date.


So those that still struggle to get their track uploaded in time, can relax a bit.


EDIT:
We just set the new final date for the submissions. Sunday, 11th January 2015. Plenty of time to pass this one on to your friends, enjoy the holiday season and(!) try out your new tools for this challenge.
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Thanks! I started a mix a while back, and the extra time is most appreciated. I hope to finish up and submit once I'm on vacation between Christmas and New Year's Day.
Seasoned IT vet, Mac user, and lover of music. Always learning.

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You're welcome. :tu:
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Count me in!

Nice tune and good mixing project. Hope you like what I've done, Doc!

mp3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxuC5 ... authuser=0

wave: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxuC5 ... authuser=0

https://soundcloud.com/fender19/doc-jon ... 7-fender19

What I did:

This composition reminds me of a “calm before the storm” scene so that was the mindset I took while mixing. I arranged the tracks in my DAW (Cubase 6) to group them in the “calm” and “storm” sections.

The calm section: Very mellow and serene. Added some little touches but kept it calm.
80’s synth: added peaking EQ at 1.3K to bring out the clarity
Bell FX: used GFM psypan to enhance special placing and a touch of AnwidaSoft huge bright reverb
China drone: the trickiest track in this section – has beautiful hidden deep base notes that I brought out using Melda MDynamicEQ. I used dynamic EQ because the track itself has some DC offset shifts (thumps) on the bell sounds. A static EQ boost brought out the bass notes but also the DC thumps – so I went with dynamic EQ to boost the bass only when necessary. Also added a little EQ boost at 2.5K to enhance the bell clarity.
Cymbal Ambience: I wanted this track to have more of an “airy, mystic” quality so I high passed at 1.6K to cut all the low frequencies, added some high boost at 3.3K and added a very long bright reverb with 70% wet mix. Volume and panning automation made it “move”.
Warm pad: slowly faded tail end of track leading to “storm” section
Distant call: mixed static level, no FX or EQ
Ethnic bells: I wanted to create “sparkles” from this track. High passed at 800Hz and high boost at 4K. I used a pingpong delay with 75% feedback set at 1/16 tempo sync to widen and extend the “sparkles”. Slowly faded tail end of track leading to “storm" section
Ethnic pluck: a touch of stereo delay (20% wet, 12.5% feedback) set at 1/1 and ½ tempo sync. Slowly faded tail end of track leading to “storm section”
Abbey Pad: mixed static level, no FX or EQ

The “Storm” section: make it EPIC!
The main techniques I used here were dynamics-based. I wanted the percussion to be huge. In addition to adding some EQ to the individual tracks I added a touch of Antress Modern Expander to the Tribal Beat track. I submixed all the percussion tracks to a group channel where I applied Dynamic EQ used as an expander in “side” mode where it boosted the width, dynamics and EQ.
Drone Beat: mixed static level, no FX or EQ
Percussion Pad: peaking EQ boost at 1.7K
Drums Pan: peaking EQ boost at 870Hz
Tribal Beat: peaking EQ boosts at 62Hz and 3.8K. Touch of Antress Modern expander set to fastest attack and release.
String section: lots of automation to bring up the staccato sections. Volume swells on the Massive High String track to enhance timbre of entire section.
Massive Strings 2: EQ peaking cut at 132Hz, EQ boost at 3K
Massive Strings 1: no FX or EQ
Massive High Strings: EQ peaking boost at 9.5K
Seq Bass: low shelf EQ boost at 48Hz. Added “pulse” to this track using Cubase expander as an insert set to 1.40 expansion with fast attack and decay. This expander was driven by a sidechain from the drums submix to make this track pulse with the drums. I also split this track out to a second channel and pitch shifted it down an octave to create the thunderous subbass.
Distant Melody: I actually think this mix should end at 4:32 because the synths at that point finish on the root note and the song sounds complete. IMHO, this track seems unnecessary but, per the rules, I left it in and faded it out to close the mix.

No compression or saturation was used on any track or buss (kept it clean) and no global reverb as I felt there was plenty already in the stems.

Hope you like it. :)
Last edited by Fender19 on Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:19 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Great to see the entries coming in at last!
I was a little worried that I had broken the Mix Challenge Competition with my track :lol:

Compy sent me a PM and the decision to extend the deadline was a mutual one, seems to be sensible given the time of year, also gives me a chance to start listening to the entries so far - some great work there guys! :tu:

Jon
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.....

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Very different track from my normal works, it was hard to understand what role every instrument played and how to make it shine. Hope I've done a decent work :roll:
WAV:
https://soundcloud.com/roberto-ortenzi/ ... -piranha81
MP3:
https://soundcloud.com/roberto-ortenzi/ ... iranha81-1

When not written I equalized with the FabFilter ProQ.

PERCUSSIONS:
-Tribal beat: widened with the free Brainworx bx_solo, Waves RBass used to remove frequencies lower than 60hz and generate upper harmonics. Hi-passed, big cut @200hz and small @1.2khz, shelf boost @15khz and compession with the free eaReckon Free87 (I wanted to try this, not bad).
-Drone Breat: multiband compression around 13khz to kill harshness, helped with eq and huge dip aroun 200hz, GStereo to narrow lows and wider highs, saturation and compression. Verb only on hihat high frequencies.
-Drums and Percussion Pans: grouped, widened, hi-passed, compressed and saturated with NI Supercharger.
-Ethnic bells: widened, hipassed and air boosted, then compressed with reacomp. Delay and reverb
-Bell fx: only a small touch of exciter
-Chime drone: hi-passed, cuts @460hz, 1900hz and 2750hz.
-Cymbal ambience: Waves RBass used to remove frequencies lower than 80hz and generate superior armonics, hi passed and dips @300hz, 2.4khz and 5.5khz. Brightened with the free Elysia Niveau.

All the above bussedand then equalized to remove some of the excessive lows and brightened @5khz. Saturated and compressed

BASSES:
-Warm pad: eq to remove some resonances, hi-passed, multiband compression to help with low rumble, Gstereo to narrow low and enhance highs, then wideband compression.
-Seq bass: cuts @300hz and 1400hz, compressed with Supercharger and distorted with CamelCrusher. Parallex excited with amp simulation (Amplitube Free) only on high frequencies. Automation to grow from soft first part to the epic second part.

PADS:
-Astral pad: widened, hi-passed and hi-shelfed and narrow cut @530hz, saturated and compressed.
-Wide organ: widened, hi-passed, dip @440hz, cuts @820hz and 7.6khz and Supercharger compressed.
-70s brass: hi and low passed, dips @700hz, 1550hz, 3.6khz and big saturation with CamelCrusher.
-80s synt: chorused, mono made, hi and low passed @200hz and 1450hz, with some high resonance.
-All Massive strings: bussed, saturated, widened, high passed and cuts @500hz and 3.1khz, hi-sherf @11khz and compressed.
-Abbey pad: distorted, hi passed and various resonances killed, brightened.
-Organ pad: saturated, high and low passed @200hz and 1400hz.
-Monastery pad: widened, high and low passed @170hz and 3.8khz, compressed and saturated.
-Tremolo pad: high and low passed @280hz and 6.2khz, compressed.
-Ethnic pluck: widened, hi-passed and resonances corrected, compressed.
-Distant melody: widened, hi-passed, cuts @360hz and 2350hz, high shelf @11.3khz and saturated.
-Distant call: hi-passed and cut @670hz, widened with the free Voxengo MSED, compressed and saturated with NI Supercharger.

The above where bussed, equalized, compressed and saturated.

MASTER
A bit of saturation and transparent compression on the mixbus via the new free TDR Kotelnikov compressor.
All instruments but basses have some amounth of big, warm verb.

Good luck to everybody! :tu:

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Hello, here is my Mix:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/yzd ... d.wav?dl=0
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3ep ... d.mp3?dl=0
I tried to make a warm mix. Therefore I have almost every signal heavily processed with the EQ. In addition, I've used on some individual signals a compressor to keep the dynamics manageable. On a couple of signals I have used a chorus for the signal to get it better in the mix. On Mixbus, I have used a delay to generate more depth. I also have used a compressor on the Mixbus, so that the mix better glue together. Also, I've used on each track an analog console summing emulation. I hope, I was able to implement the requirements of Doc Jon good. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Hi,

This is my mix. It was quite a challenge to me. Up to 6 pads in parallel ... omg?! This resulted in a terrifying frequency butchery with a lot of EQs.

https://soundcloud.com/dilutedmind/doc- ... nd/s-jFpkl
ethnic bells: low cut: and dip at 3.2kHz (Pro-Q2), dip 700Hz and high shelf 12kHz (Scheps73)
ethnic pluck: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), MV2 mono, Pro-G gate

bell fx: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), low shelf 220Hz and dip at 700Hz and high shelf 12kHz (Scheps73), mono
cymbal ambience: preset big bass (TG12345), low cut and dips (Pro-Q2), H-Delay, low/high cut (Pro-Q2), auto pan (live)
distance call: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), CLA-3A mono, aphex vintage exciter, valhalla vintage
80s synth: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), MV2 mono, low shelf 220Hz and dip at 360Hz and high shelf 12kHz (Scheps73), mono

warm pad: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), split left and right and delayed one side and processed differently to fix phasing, way too many plugins used on this track ...
abbey pad: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), preset low-mid control (Pro-C), dips at 100Hz and 650Hz and 800 and bell at 5k (T-RackS EQ EB)
monastery pad: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), preset french horn warmth (TG12345)
chime drone: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), +6 low shelf at 56Hz and dip at 330Hz/470Hz and bell at 5.6kHz and +1.2 high shelf at 10kHz (T-RackS EQ 81), CLA-76, PS22 Spread, low cut sides (Pro-Q2)
70s brass pad: low cuts (Pro-Q2), CLA-76 mono
wide organ pad: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), preset string poke (J37), H-Comp, low cut mids (Pro-Q2), PS22 Spread

drums and percussion bus: Kramer Tape
drone beat: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2),preset drum room abuse (TG12345), -5 low shelf and -14 high shelf (REQ 2)
tribal beat: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2),preset drum loop 2 (TG12345),
drum pan: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), effect rack to split left and right and use different freq spectrums for left and right (live stock), CLA-3A, J37
percussion pan: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), CLA-76

seq bass: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), +5 low shelf 60Hz and -10 high self (PuigTec EQP1A), CLA-3A

massive high strings: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), CLA-2A, J37
string buss: low/high cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), CLA-2A, Kramer Tape, P22 Spread
massive strings 1: none
massive strings 2: none

distant melody: low cuts and dips (Pro-Q2), J37, -1 low shelf at 330Hz and dip at 330Hz and bell at 3.9kHz (VEQ4)

tremolo pad: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), preset wide screen strings (TG12345)
organ pad: low/high cuts (Pro-Q2), preset studio two stereo strings (TG12345), even more low/high cuts (Pro-Q2)
astral pad: preset studio two stereo strings (TG12345), extreme low cuts at 2kHz (Pro-Q2),


Send/Returns:
2 bussed with convolution reverb pro
2 bussed with valhalla vintage
aphex vintage exciter

Mix Bus: low cut and side low cuts at 102kHz (Pro-Q2), low cut at 50Hz and dip at 340Hz and bell at 5.6kHz and bell at 11kHz (CS Master EQ 432), Kramer Tape

cheers :phones:

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Ringing in the bell for the last 7,5 days of Mix Round 1.

We hope you had relaxing holidays and got some new tools that you could put to good use with this challenge.
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My Mix
https://soundcloud.com/dwgh/doc-jon-val ... stcoast2-1

Doing this mix was interesting and, at times, rather frustrating! The extra time was helpful.

Daw: Reaper
All tracks had Vos preFix for HP/LP filtering
Verb used was Ambience, except on Cymbal Ambience which
used NI Replika.
Eq is ReaEQ
There was some volume automation, especially for Massive.
In some cases 2 Eqs were used, the first to emphasize instrument frequencies, the second to cut overlapping frequencies from other instruments.
Some Tracks were grouped (:).

Intro:
Cymbal ambience - Eq, slim slow slider Linear Phase Graphic EQ 2,
JS:Stereo Width, Replika Verb
Distant call - Eq, Ambience
Bell Fx - Alex Hilton: A1 Stereo Control, Ambience
80s synth - Eq, Ambience
Chime drone - Eq, Ambience

Warm pad - Eq, Ambience
Ethnic bells - JS:Stereo Width, Ambience
Ethnic pluck - Eq, Ambience

Monestry:
Abbey pad - Eq, Ambience
Monastery pad - Eq, Ambience

70s Organ:
70s brass pad - Eq, Ambience, A1 Stereo Control
Wide organ pad - Eq, Ambience, A1 Stereo Control

Astral pad, Distant melody, Organ pad, Tremolo pad - Eq, Ambience

Massive:
Massive high strings, Massive strings 1, Massive strings 2 -
SolidEq, Eq, Ambience

Drums:
Drums pan, Seq bass, Drone beat - SplineEq, Eq, Ambience
Percussion pan - Eq, Ambience


Tribal Beat - A1 Stereo Control
- Send Tribal lo
- Send Tribal Hi
Tribal Lo - Eq, VOS Rescue AE
Tribal Hi - Eq, Ambience

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Here is my participation:
mp3: http://www.mediafire.com/listen/4gi8bc1 ... yannis.mp3
wav: http://www.mediafire.com/listen/l4fc50x ... yannis.wav

I have to say it was a joy to do this mix. I liked the sounds a lot and not much work was needed really.

The track was mixed in Cubase 6. I used Melda Production's MDynamicEq on every channel mainly for hi-passing, and boosting some frequencies I liked on a few tracks. In some cases I also used it's dynamic features for keeping the bass in check without removing it altogether (eg. on Cymbal ambience track).

Ethnic bells: CamelSpace for delays with high feedback. Some compression was used afterwards so that it doesn't stick out too much.
70s brass pad: CamelSpace used again for modulating a low-pass filter.
Wide organ pad: It was hi-passed really high (600Hz). Also used PM-Clarisonix to really boost those high frequencies.
Seq bass: I used the free TSE BOD for EQ shaping and distortion. After that a slight Autopan from Cubase for movement.
Tribal beat: got a lot of attention. After hi-passing at 50Hz I put a boosting low-shelf filter around 100Hz for mid channel, and a cutting low shelf on the side channel. Then boosted and compressed around 6KHz. Then boosted the attacks with Cubase's Envelope Shaper. Then used PM Monster Boost for some extra harmonics. Then T-RackS Classic Compressor was used for 4db of reduction and some stereo widening. Finally, Cubase's Tonic filter was used for a dramatic lowpass sweep at the end of the track.
Massive strings: Massive string 1 and 2 were hard panned left and right, while Massive strings high was put right on center and brightened up a little more.
Distant melody: I put a gentle slope hi-pass around 800Hz to get rid of that windy noise it had which I didn't like very much. This way it also sounded more "distant" to me.

A few of the tracks were sent to Cubase's Roomworks for some additional reverb.

Then a little volume automation was used here and there. For example, for fading in the Massive strings tracks, and lowering some hits on the Tribal beat track.

Finally, PM Analoger was put on the master bus for some tape sweetening.

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This one is really tricky. It's hard for me to wrap my head around this :) But I will send my mix tomorrow - even though I feel like I'm on some alien ship and I don't understand alien logic :D It's good for getting out of your habits.

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