MIX CHALLENGE - MC30 March 2017 - Winners announced

[M.O.R.K.]

Sorry Dave!

This is why I checked everything with my DT 880s

HA, the mix should translate well, since I checked a lot with my 880 Pros
@Dave, I heard that too about the harshness, a friend of mine even switched to Senn HD400s because of that. It was always puzzling to me as I always found them to have a really nice and warm, almost huge character but without being muddy or pushing the low mids too much. So quite the opposite of harsh They're also very "airy", as sometimes you're not even aware of listening to them. Once I thought "I should listen to my 880s again", while doing so.
You can tell I like em! A lot!

@fese
I definitely come back at you, but I'm out of town until sunday because of work.
But I can answer how I made it work:
I pushed that one red button on my secret plugin Sorry, couldn't resist.
There are really no secrets. First of all balancing, then balancing, after that I balanced some more. Then the usual: eq, compression, modulation, delay, reverb. It's all about perspective and relationship. What's huge, what's small, what's important and what's not... When you have done all the eq, compression and so on, rebalance. But I guess that's how everybody is doing it here anyways, so sorry for a very lame answer. But I will share my vocal chain when I get home, maybe that will be of some use.

@Compyfox, should I do that here or via PM? I don't wanna exploit a threat and I'm still not that good in forums

Cheers
Mork

[Compyfox]

Sorry - in that case I'll pass this time around. No biggie - I just picked up the HoRNet ChannelStrip MK3. So far, I'm really liking it. Maybe next time...

Okay, cool.
See you in the next Challenge then (at the new place)

ChannelStrip MK3 is a fine piece of equipment btw (the compressors alone). I have it myself, but honestly barely use it due to the fact that I do mix/match to my own needs.

@Compyfox, should I do that here or via PM? I don't wanna exploit a threat and I'm still not that good in forums

IMO it's fine still. It adds to the general discussion / interaction and bumps the thread... so it's a win-win.

[thiagoam88]

This is why I checked everything with my DT 880s

@Dave, I heard that too about the harshness, a friend of mine even switched to Senn HD400s because of that. It was always puzzling to me as I always found them to have a really nice and warm, almost huge character but without being muddy or pushing the low mids too much. So quite the opposite of harsh They're also very "airy", as sometimes you're not even aware of listening to them. Once I thought "I should listen to my 880s again", while doing so.
You can tell I like em! A lot!

That was actually me asking

Cool! I'll definitely try them!

[fese]

How do you like the DT880, @fese? Been thinking to get them myself. I've heard that it was a very high peak at around 9Khz (which might explain some of the harshness you perceive?). Do you think it is a "too bright" headphone overall?

@Dave, I heard that too about the harshness, a friend of mine even switched to Senn HD400s because of that. It was always puzzling to me as I always found them to have a really nice and warm, almost huge character but without being muddy or pushing the low mids too much. So quite the opposite of harsh They're also very "airy", as sometimes you're not even aware of listening to them. Once I thought "I should listen to my 880s again", while doing so.

I like them because they are very comfortable, at least on my head. This I think is very important, because what use is a top notch sounding headphone when I don't want to wear it for more than five minutes?

Generally I think it sounds really good, pleasant and mostly neutral (at least compared to a DT770 which I use for recording). Harsh I wouldn't say. There is a certain hi end presence, or airiness, as MORK called it, and if I mix only or a longer time with it, I tend to cut too much hi end. Recently I used it with the Toneboosters Morphit which really helps with that.
The only thing that really bothers me about it that it has only a spiral cable. Totally annoying when sitting in front of the computer, that cable always gets in the way And it's a fixed cable, you cannot easily swap it. Beyer should really work on that...

[fese]

@fese
I definitely come back at you, but I'm out of town until sunday because of work.

No problem, take your time, I'll be away next wednesday anyway for a couple of days.

There are really no secrets. First of all balancing, then balancing, after that I balanced some more. Then the usual: eq, compression, modulation, delay, reverb. It's all about perspective and relationship. What's huge, what's small, what's important and what's not... When you have done all the eq, compression and so on, rebalance. But I guess that's how everybody is doing it here anyways, so sorry for a very lame answer. But I will share my vocal chain when I get home, maybe that will be of some use.

Yeah, well, that's what I do, too, but I find the balancing (an eqing) really not easy to do. Might be of course a problem that I mix my own stuff and it's not always easy to keep a distance when you worked on every little bit and like it and are not ready to push it in the background Or I just need more practice...
Vocal chain, especially EQ, would be interesting, I really like how the vocals sounded!

[M.O.R.K.]

Hi again,

finally my vocal chain as promised. Sorry for the delay (work again )!

First of all, I split the lead vocal into verse and chorus, due to the huge difference in level. The different parts are processed similar, so I will stick to the verse and the group processing. As you will see, there is quite a lot going on, as I was really not happy with how the vocal sounded raw. It came in really harsh, a bit boomy and somehow distorted, yet it felt a bit dull to me as if it was low passed. I tried to sculpt my way around all that.

Verse

1. ReaEQ

Cutting down the nasty stuff! No mercy
You can see the greyed out 5th band. I tried to get some air into the vocal but it didn't do it for me.


2. VComp

I used the VComp more for its dark character to further de-harsh that beast, than for compression. Of course, there was some slight levelling going on.


3. C6

I used only one of the tunable bands to keep an area in check that felt really weird and annoying. It was not just the esses, but it really pierced the ear.


4. The Rocket

This was the main 1176-style compression to get the vocal in your face and keep it there.


5. VEQ4

Neve-style presence goodness! It's not much but gave the vocal another boost after the compression. This one's missing on the chorus because the whole song felt more "togehter" without. See the high shelf at 15k? Yet another failed mission to get some air.


6. Luftikus

Finally... AIR, lots of it!


7. DeEsser

Now we got some esses after all that processing. But that's fine and easily delt with, as it's not that peaky 8k hell anymore but the usual broadband sibilance.


8. H-Delay

Just a little mono slap to get some mass and glue.


Woohoo! The channel is done.
When the mix came together I added some global processing on the Vocal Group/Bus/Buss/Sub/Stem.

Vocal Group

1. ReaEQ

A slight midrange cut to open up the vocals.


2. DeEsser

A final DeEsser that catched the last survivors.


3. Luftikus

Now that the esses where in check I could squeeze in just a bit more air


4. Niveau Filter

The final touch: just a little bit more chest. 0.4db more chest to be exact


All that seems like a lot, and it is, but bear in mind that most of these plugs are doing one specific task which they do best and the source material wasn't the... let's say easiest to work with
I also send the vocals to a small room, a plate, a stereo slap and a ping pong (verse 1/8th, chorus 1/4th).

Okay, hopefully all this is of some use to someone
I'll be back with the promised overhauled mix.

Cheers
Mork

[fese]

Hi again,
quite a lot going on, as I was really not happy with how the vocal sounded raw. It came in really harsh, a bit boomy and somehow distorted, yet it felt a bit dull to me as if it was low passed. I tried to sculpt my way around all that.

All that seems like a lot, and it is, but bear in mind that most of these plugs are doing one specific task which they do best and the source material wasn't the... let's say easiest to work with

Thank you, I think one of the key points here was the drastic cut around 3KHz, at least that is something I've never tried before. I know about the 8/9 KHz problem, this is something that haunts me regularly. It might've even been my old Rode NT1A in this recording which seemed to be particular horrible in that area, but all in all a regular living room combined with limited recording and vocal skills don't make for the best vocal recording quality and I always struggled with that (I tend to believe I've gotten a bit better nowadays ).
Thanks for the tips anyway, really helpful!