KVR Audio

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:27 am

Hello and welcome to the KVR Mix Challenge 15 - October 2015 - aka #Rocktober 2015.

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 maybe even the first post for re-submissions.

It's #Rocktober!

This month we're tackling the Alternative Rock / Post Grunge genre, recorded a couple of years ago in Australia by KVR user morelia. The major challenge this month is not only cleaning up old tracks from clicks/pops, but this time also Vocal Comping. So please read the rules carefully. And if in doubt, ask questions.

Furthermore: we're starting a day late, so the challenge does not end on the 21st as usual, but on the 23rd!
And if the #Rocktober challenge is being received well, we'd love to repeat this event next year. Feedback welcome.

Please take note of our overhauled rule set as of MC10 (strict time frames) and MC11 (active client involvement). Consult the sections on "Song Provider" and "Voting Rules" in the official Guidelines thread for further information: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2&t=415154

IMPORTANT (please spread the word!):
We're constantly looking for new source material for the KVR Mix Challenge. 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.

The focus has shifted, we're now heavily looking for a "Holiday Spirit" track for December (Deadline - 15th November) - ideally pop, but maybe we'll be surprised with carol singers as well. Additional to that, we're now also looking for more genre variety: Drum and Bass and/or Trip Hop. But also Pop, Hip Hop, Acapella, you name it. The more tracks in the song pool, the more variety to pick from for future challenge. So please spread the word, and get in touch with us.

Please follow the official campaign here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 4&t=443876

We also highly recommend to sign up to our official Twitter account to stay up to date regarding news.
We interact with our fans and participants, but also answer short questions.

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
Mix Round 2: Global Feedback and Round 2 Participant Announcement
Results of the Mix Challenge 15: Winners announced

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:28 am

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Friday, 02nd October 2015 to Friday, 23rd October 2015 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 23-10-2015, 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: morelia (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Can't Think of Anything, 3:00min
Song Information: 90 bpm, time signature 4/4, in E minor (acc. to Hornet Plugins SongKey: A min)
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: Alternative Rock / Post Grunge

Preview of the Song:
https://www.reverbnation.com/morelia/so ... f-anything

A word from the song provider:

morelia wrote:Sadly, I am not big on talking about my music. But if the mix is straight forward, has has that in your face, tough sound that Audioslave, Tom Morello and Slash have achieved with songs such as Gasoline (Audioslave) then I'll be happy.

If it makes me stomp my feet and head bang at the same time, we could have something I like a lot.

RULES:
- create a straight forward rock mix
- vocals and guitars need to be cleaned up (clicks)
- vocal coming is necessary

BONUS INFO:
- the Bass is a DI track
- the guitars are as-is, no DI tracks

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

Staff (Compyfox) wrote:The song provider would love to hear mixes that are on similar lines as Alternative Rock and Post Grunge tracks form the last one-and-a-half to two decades. Think of work form Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Audioslave and Slash. Among others (see Youtube, Search: Post Grunge).

Vocal comping is absolutely necessary. The focus of the track is pent up hate, without any idea how to channel it. The vocals need to reflect that.

The ending of the track can be handled in two ways. Either you go for a similar fade out, like with the provided demo mix. Or you cut away the drums in the end and let the guitars ring out. There are no withdrawn points if you go either route.

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 straight forward rock mix
- vocals and guitars need to be cleaned up (pops and clicks)
- 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 // exception: see next point
- vocal coming is necessary
- no drum replacement
- try to not(!) pre-master the track (please no overuse of mix bus treatment)

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Source Files:

Mirror on Studio Compyfox (248MB, LZMA compressed)

The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 575 MB, packed 248 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.
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, Vocalizer, 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/

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 the challenge staff.

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!

mwaudioprod · Post by **mwaudioprod** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:13 am

Vocal comping is absolutely necessary.

Where are the vocal takes?

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 1:49 pm

Did you check the ZIP file?

The vocals are tagged:
Vocal - Chorus/Verse/Harmony/Extra Lead

Your job as participant, is to create suitable vocal work out of this material (these 5 tracks).
On top of mixing the track of course.

mwaudioprod · Post by **mwaudioprod** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 6:18 pm

Thanks, I understand. I thought the extra lead tracks are doubling tracks, because they sounds different.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:28 pm

Listening to the demo mix also reveals that there is no vocal double tracking going on.
Don't now how to make it even more clear to be honest.

mwaudioprod · Post by **mwaudioprod** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:45 pm

Yeah, I listened again to the demo mix and I think I know what you mean. Thanks!

davemcisaac · Post by **davemcisaac** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:48 pm

"- 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 // exception: see next point..."

I'm not wanting to muddy up the water, but this is a bit confusing. It seems to state we have to use all the tracks supplied "as is" (No omission of any track/no muting/deletion of channels), which would mean we are required to include Vocal - Extra lead 1 & 2 along with Vocal Harmony (which is NOT used in the Original Mix supplied). The Vocal Chorus along with Extra Lead 2 both go up an octave at the tail and that is not in the original mix either. If we are allowed to cut & paste to make a cohesive Lead Vocal then I have no problem with that. But the rules seem to state that we aren't allowed to do that. Or am I reading it wrong?

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:29 pm

TL;DR:
- you need to create a suitable/consistent vocal track/mix with the provided material
- don't touch the rest

Suitable recommendations for a different wording of the rules are welcome.

---- (regular answer) ----

By that definition, yes...

But it was clearly stated "you have to use vocal comping". That means... create a consistent vocal take out of the provided material and the rest of the "omission restriction" rule is lifted in this case.

Furthermore, I explicitly wrote:

exception: see next point...

Which directly talks about the necessary vocal comping.

We had this topic months ago where there was the question "are we allowed to cut away the snare noise (bouncing/response to the kick drum) and I said "use your better judgement".

The thing is... with the first challenges, it was completely ignored what was given and people cut away and re-cut to their hearts content. This is not a producer/remix challenge. The priority is still being a Mix Challenge.

And frankly - I don't know how to make it even more understandable for everyone.
If I remove this sentence, then people think "oh, we can completely recut the track", if I keep it it's like "wait... we're not allowed to do this but still need to do 'that' ?!"

Actually, a future challenge might go the route that sensible muting of tracks are necessary to improve the otherwise busy mix, but the rule of "no omission of any track/no rearrangement of the song structure" still remains. This is to keep the original recording, and not to go too haywire during mixing. Hence also the "words by the song provider".

Suitable recommendations for a different wording of the rules are welcome.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 2:13 pm

Friendly reminder:
10 days left to mix

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:29 am

I'm slowly starting to worry a bit.
8 days left to mix, but no entry so far?

photonic · Post by **photonic** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 4:15 pm

Compyfox wrote:I'm slowly starting to worry a bit.

OK, to make Compyfox a bit less nervous, here is the first mix.

Edit: I removed my first version, due to a change of the rule. Please go to my posting from October 19th.

It was an interessting challange to make just one vocal track out of the provided choise. I tried to bring some variety to the vocals, so I used the one take where the voice goes up before the guitar solo part. To give the voice more grit, I used the QX24 to add some satturation.

DAW: Reaper v5.0

Drum Bus – Ferric TDS, ReaEQ
Kick Bus – ReaGate to shorten the kick, ReaComp
Kick beater – The Strip
Kick front – The Strip
Snare Bus – ReaComp
Snare top – The Strip
Snare bottom – The Strip
Toms – The Strip
Hihats – The Strip
Overhead – The Strip
Room – The Strip, ReaComp
Bass – The Strip, ReaComp, QX24, sidechained by kick
Guitar Bus – ReaComp, sidechained by vocals, ReaEQ, QX24, Reverb
Guitar left, right and overdub – The Strip
Guitar Solo – The Strip, Tkdelay
Vocal – The Strip, FerricTDS, Tkdelay, QX24, ReaEQ

Reverb – Verberate from AconDigital

Master – MQ57, Satin, Span

Ichad.c · Post by **Ichad.c** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:56 pm

Kind of late to the party but this sounds right up my alley. I haven't participated before so I have a couple of quick Q's before I begin, sorry if this was asked before, I read as many threads as I could before coming here:

1)Is outboard allowed?
2)Is 'personal' effects allowed? (I'm a hobbyist programmer, c++ and SE)
3)*Micro* time stretch/contraction allowed?

To explain no3 a bit - rock/metal/thrash is all about the editing IMHO. I don't mean time stretch as in up to wazoo or changing the tempo or song length, just stretching individual words or two by about 10% if there is groove problems, this is usually close to inaudible but I'm pedantic.

Regards
Andrew

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:39 am

Sorry that I didn't answer this sooner.

1) yes, any equipment at your disposal is allowed. There is no limitation to ITB usage only

2) if you program or create your own effecs (e.g. modular subhost), feel free to use them

3) Micro-Pitchshifting is allowed as long as you don't overdo it. Micro-Timestretching is something I don't hear often. I assume you want to change not only some timing you thing is being trouble, but maybe also wordlengths. I'd say try it - but keep the original arrangement intact.

Regarding the vocal comping again:
Please keep the original arrangement in mind, people. Have a focus on a powerful main lead vocal. If you want to double anything, then maybe only do it for the chorus.

6 days left to mix - please spread the word of #Rocktober

Ichad.c · Post by **Ichad.c** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:23 am

Thanks for the clarification Compyfox! This is quite an interesting arrangement - not your typical 'snare-driven' track. As for no3, I got what I needed from comping the vox. I'm a bit rusty and test-driving a new DAW, so this is gonna be fun.

Cheers
Andrew

KVR MIX CHALLENGE - MC15 #Rocktober 2015 - Winners announced