KVR Audio

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:18 pm

Hello and welcome to the KVR Mix Challenge 12 - July 2015.

This is the introduction post, where we link directly to the challenge corresponding files (source files, submission information, sponsors), start of the evaluation process and maybe even the first post for resubmissions.

Please take note that as of MC10, we will now be more strict regarding the rules. The submission period will not exceed 21 days anymore. Unless there is a very special reason for an extension. So please have an eye on your schedule.

Additional to that, we overhauled the rule set(!). As of MC11, an active client involvement is now mandatory. Please consult the sections on "Song Provider" and "Voting Rules" in the official Guidelines thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2&t=415154

IMPORTANT:
We're looking for new source material for the KVR Mix Challenge 13 (August) and up. If you have a track that gives you headaches and you want the talents of this challenge have a stab at it, please get in touch.

We also highly recommend to sign up to our official Twitter account to stay up to date regarding news. Though we will try to answer short questions as well of course.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KVRMixChallenge
Hashtag: #kvrmixchallenge

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, 48h extension of the Submission Period
End of the first mix round: End of Round 1
Mix Round 2: no Mix Round 2
Results of the Mix Challenge 12: Winners announced

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:19 pm

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Monday, 01st July 2015 to Tuesday, 21st July 2015 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 21-07-2015, 11:59pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) - 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 "Los Angeles" as location 1, and your location as location 2:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Song Provider: bzur (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Earth 03, 4:33min
Song Information: 75bpm, 4/4, in Key of D min
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: Ambient Downtempo / IDM

Preview of the Song:
https://soundcloud.com/bzur/earth03

A word from the song provider (edited):

bzur wrote:I'm seeking for... "energy", especially for the percussive part (minimizing muddiness, if and when possible) and a good balance between a crispy / warm mix regarding the mid-high freqs.

I expect a mix which preserves the dynamics, which is a very important part of the composition. I'm not seeking for very long reverbs / delays, as well.

Any creative idea would be greatly appreciated but only if it adds a substantial contribution to the track - so, be careful with that

Good luck to everyone!

RULES:
Find a balance for a dynamic mix, yet energetic sound for the percussions. All tracks need to be featured

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

Staff (Compyfox) wrote:Before you start to mix, you should properly level in the individual tracks.

On top of that, the RAW files offers a sub-folder with two FX guide tracks. You don't need to use them, but let yourself be inspired by the FX usage in general.

There is nothing much to add from our side. Just stick to the clients' wish to preserve the dynamic balance between the percussion and the synth sections. But also try to find a mix between an "ambient" sound while not overdoing it with reverb.

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:
- find a balance for a dynamic mix, yet energetic sound for the percussions
- Focus on mixing
- No rearrangement of the song structure (all tracks need to be featured)
- No omission of any track/no muting/deletion of channels other than to cut noise or using a custom reverb
- no drum replacement
- try to not(!) pre-master the track

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Source Files:

Mirror on Studio Compyfox (151MB, LZMA compressed)

The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 1360 MB, packed 151 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:
KVR Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
KVR 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.
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.de

IK Multimedia is kind enough to donate any one plugin of their T-Racks Singles range. Winner's choice.
More info on IKM: http://www.ikmultimedia.com

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

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

Tone2 is kind enough to donate either a bundle consisting of AkustiX Enhancer and WarmVerb, or a license of Ultraspace to the winner.
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com

KVR user Karten (CEO of Ghostwave Audio) 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/

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/

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 headmaster of the competition.

Also, please spread the word of the challenge. We now have a dedicated Twitter Account:
https://twitter.com/KVRMixChallenge

You can also still use the hashtag #KVRMixChallenge

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

photonic · Post by **photonic** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 7:12 am

Oh WOW, a track from Bzur

He is one of my all time favorites from the OSC-group. Great to get the chance to put my hands on one of his tracks. Wonderfull cinematic track.

Thanks for providing this track

Kolyev · Post by **Kolyev** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 7:15 pm

I guess I'll go first this time.

mp3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xez7unqcosoyn ... v.mp3?dl=0

wave:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmvu04tz9ym84 ... v.wav?dl=0

Ok, so here is a rough summery of what I did:
Drums:
Only EQ adjustments on the individual channels. I used a small room reverb (steinberg revelation) to glue the individuals elements together and additionally a bigger cathedral type reverb on the hi hits and snap (those were also treated with a ping pong delay).
The drum bus was slightly compressed (steinberg vintage compressor) and a small amount of tube saturation (fabfilter saturn) was applied.

Bass:
Bass was EQed, compressed, sidechained to the kick, the stereo image was narrowed on the low end and again a bit of saturation was used. Additionall I applied some distortion using steinberg quadrafuzz II via a send channel on the highs/high mids to help the bass cut through the mix.

Pads & Guitars:
only EQ

Intro Lead:
EQ and a slight treatment with quadrafuzz II

Riffs & Arp:
EQ, narrowed the stereo image on the low end on one of the tracks

Glissando, noise & sweeps:
only EQ

Bells:
EQ and gentle saturation on the highs (fabfilter saturn)

Two different reverbs (large room and cathedral type) were used to create a sense of depth and a ping pong delay was applied to some of the channels.

This was a great project to mix. Good luck to all contestants.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 7:22 pm

A friendly reminder:
A little bit more than 6 days left to mix.

3ee · Post by **3ee** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:19 pm

Very cool song, hope I can make it!

bzur · Post by **bzur** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:25 am

Hello everybody... just a brief message to inform you I'll be off until 24th. Until that, I'll try to reply to your questions - unfortunately I'm not provided with a proper listening device during my holidays.

Meanwhile, I wish good luck to all contestants!

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:35 am

I know there are a couple of heatwaves ravaging over our planet. But I'm still ringing in the last 4 days of this mix round.

Please don't forget to finish and submitting your mix.

photonic · Post by **photonic** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:41 pm

Here is my mix of Earth03

MP3: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/717 ... otonic.mp3
WAV: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/717 ... otonic.wav

Reaper v4.731

Drum-Bus: FerricTDS
Loop02 – ReaEQ, G-Stero to mono the low
Hit – ReaEQ
Kick – ReaEQ, ReaComp
K2 – ReaEQ, ReaComp
Snap – ReaEQ, reverb
Hi Hit 01&02 – reverb
Basses:
Loop 01 – Gstereo to mono the low, ReaEQ, MJUCjr
Main loop - Gstereo to mono the low, ReaEQ
Sub bass – ReaEQ, ReaComp
Intermezzo - Gstereo to mono the low, reverb
Pads:
Drone01, Rhytmic, Pad01, Pad02 – ReaEQ, reverb
Rhytmic01 - ReaEQ, G-Stero to mono the low
Arps:
Riff 01&02 – ReaEQ
Arp 01&02, Bells – ReaEQ, reverb
Intro Lead – reverb
Guit01&02 – ReaEQ, reverb
Noise, Sweep, Glissando – ReEQ, reverb

Reverb: Tone2 Ultraspace

Master: MQ57, TDR FeedbackCompressor II, Satin, Span

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:42 am

A short reminder that a bit more than 48h are left for submissions.

Only two submission so far, please send in your track.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:33 am

A final reminder for the MC12:
It is 4:32am in Germany. You have a bit more than 24 hours left to submit your mix!

So far we only have 2(!) entries, which is not much. So please get your tracks in!

3ee · Post by **3ee** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:21 am

any chance for extending the deadline?
The reason for so few entries on this one (my guess) is that's the peak of summer and people are on vacation. (I just came back from the mountains yesterday, was awesome!

)

vasdim · Post by **vasdim** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:47 am

Hi all,
this is my attempt to mix:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/700 ... VasDim.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/700 ... VasDim.wav

Good luck to all.
VasDim

erictracks · Post by **erictracks** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:48 pm

Here is my submission. My goal was to make it very dynamic between the pensive beginning, and the huge ending.

I mostly used Studio One's Pro EQ. Klanghelm's new compressor is all over it, and on the mix buss, as well.

Good luck to everyone.

http://www.erictracks.com/wp-content/up ... tracks.mp3

http://www.erictracks.com/wp-content/up ... tracks.wav

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:08 pm

3ee wrote:any chance for extending the deadline?
The reason for so few entries on this one (my guess) is that's the peak of summer and people are on vacation. (I just came back from the mountains yesterday, was awesome! )

Sorry, but we can't make constant exceptions.

We know that it's Summer and that not everyone can participate. But the same would happen around Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. The other challenges on KVR also have a tight deadline without overhang. And we do this monthly (as long we have tracks).

So sorry, no extension unless the participation is really devastating low. And even then, we'd rather stick to deadlines.

We currently have 4 entries and still 14h to boot. Plus maybe a couple of hours (as "academic 15 minutes") until I'm back up and on KVR to post.

I am actually more surprised, that a well known OSC participant, and our second collaboration with the OSC doesn't work out. Probably due to lack of promotion?

KVR MIX CHALLENGE - MC12 July 2015 - Winners announced