GearFest Mixing Contest

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Chater-La

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Biggest Ever Audio Mixing Contest is ON!

Over $18K in high end Pro Audio equipment to be distributed to the winners.

puremix-596598.png


Starting April 16th 2013, the race for mixing the best sounding version of Liza Colby Sound’s
song ‘Oh Baby’ is on at pureMix.net. The contest is free and is sponsored by the following
companies : Dangerous Music, Focal Professional, Universal Audio, Blue Microphones,
Presonus, Lauten Audio, Vovox and Sweetwater.

Tracked live on stage in front of a rapt audience at Sweetwater’s GearFest 2012 during
Dangerous Music’s recording seminar, ‘Oh Baby’ will keep contestants on the
edge of their mixing chairs.

The contest is completely platform independent: any DAW, any
platform is welcome. The pureMix.net team and Fab Dupont will pick the 16 winners. Judges
will focus on mixing skills and taste to pick the winners, not on what equipment was used.

Prize list, audio stems, and contest instructions are available for download at
GearFest Mixing Contest | pureMix.net after free registration. As part of the contest
package, contestants can watch a free video on how the song was recorded, complete with stepby-
step explanation of every move, courtesy of pureMix.net

The contest runs between April 16th 2013 and June 1st 2013. Winners will be announced at
Sweewater’s GearFest 2013 on June 21st, contacted via email and announced on pureMix.net
homepage.

Good luck to us all and free feel to discuss the contest, mixes etc. here in this thread. Though keep it clean please!

[ModNote: To include a link to your SoundCloud mix in your post, get the "Share" URL from SoundCloud, then select the Go Advanced button at the bottom of the Reply box in your post and click on the SoundCloud icon. Add the URL between the brackets.]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Download Issues?

Is anyone else having issues downloading the stems? My browsers (Firefox, Safari on Mac) quit the download before the full file is received. Restarting the download is from the beginning, which then fails again. :(
 
yep download doesnt seem stable, maybe theres too much traffic? latest version of Chrome on Pc.
 
Yeah, me too, multiple browsers, going to try another (faster) connection later, but so far, no dice.
Might need to break up the files into several smaller sets for downloading.
 
Hi guys!
We are currently experiencing a HUGE download demand.
Our servers are having a hard time keeping up.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please try again tomorrow.
g.
 
All righ guys.
It seems that everything is back to normal again.
We added more servers and split the files.
You should be able to download them without any problem.

Anybody seen the recording video yet?
 
Down Loads

Hey guys, if your are experiencing any problems with the download not working, I used Google Chrome on my PC and it worked great!

Good luck to everyone!!
 
puremix.net said:
All righ guys.
It seems that everything is back to normal again.
We added more servers and split the files.
You should be able to download them without any problem.

Anybody seen the recording video yet?
Click to expand...

The recording video link just threw me back to the download page. Download worked fine tho. That was 5AM in US tho.
 
I watched the videos and downloaded the stems yesterday with no problems. Great videos and great tune.:thumbs up: This competition is going to be interesting. :eatpopcorn:
 
I see that they broke it up into several smaller downloads instead of one massive file, which was not working yesterday....but last night I manage to download all the smaller ones, though had to do a couple twice as they came in corrupt and would not open.
I have yet to transfer them to my DAW, but they won't play with the basic Media Player, so I am assuming the bit rate is something other than 16....?

Oh...question for puremix.net....
In the instructions you specify that this is a *mixing* contest and not a *production* contest...but I kinda wonder where do the lines really cross with that?
I mean....there are many production specific decisions that are made via mix decisions....like deciding to not have guitar come up in the mix until the 2nd measure....or dropping something out of the mix during the chorus....etc...
...so can you be a little more specific on where the mixing/production line stops?
IOW is this mix contest only about choice of levels, panning and FX/processing, or can the mixing go a little deeper, as described above?
 
Is anyone else having problems with errors happening when you attempt to open the zip files of these tracks? Any idea what that is guys?
 
Mixing "Oh Baby" by The Liza Colby Sound

Just finished up my mix. I really fell in love with Liza's voice. Since this was strictly a mixing contest and NOT a production contest, I kept it as organic as possible. All the tracks were recorded great which made it very easy to work with in terms of headroom and style. This a classic sounding Rock 'n' Roll tune, and I really tried to keep it as such.

One of the biggest obstacles I came across was that darn bleed in the snare mic! In the video sessions, that snare was poppin! I loved the way it sounded. After getting the stems, loving it became harder to do. BUT, I guess it served as experience to me that as a mixer you get want you are sent...and you make it WORK! :thumbs up: Another difficulty was not compressing Liza's voice to hell! She is soooo dynamic that its hard to keep her levels stable. I did what I could.

I have only been mixing since January 2013 (I'm 22 years old) so I realize I might not take the pie on this one, but I sincerely hope that we all can correspond with each other and share our thoughts. I've been pouring my heart and soul into this craft by watching videos and learning from others. I also just recently built a home studio that my friends and I can record in. FUN!

I always love criticism and most definitely need it. Please take a listen to my mix and be sure to comment :) Thanks guys!

soundcloud.com/isaacmurillo/gearfestpuremixcontest-the

Gob Bless,

Isaac
 
miroslav said:
I have yet to transfer them to my DAW, but they won't play with the basic Media Player, so I am assuming the bit rate is something other than 16....?
Click to expand...

24/44.1

miroslav said:
Oh...question for puremix.net....
In the instructions you specify that this is a *mixing* contest and not a *production* contest...but I kinda wonder where do the lines really cross with that?
I mean....there are many production specific decisions that are made via mix decisions....like deciding to not have guitar come up in the mix until the 2nd measure....or dropping something out of the mix during the chorus....etc...
...so can you be a little more specific on where the mixing/production line stops?
IOW is this mix contest only about choice of levels, panning and FX/processing, or can the mixing go a little deeper, as described above?
Click to expand...

I took from the comment to not get carried away, and reading between the lines I suspect that it means obvious re-arrangement might hurt your chances in the competition.
A little more guidance on limits would be nice though........
 
Hi guys!

About the soundcloud group:
Here is the correct link:

soundcloud.com/groups/gearfest-mixing-contest

We believe all the links are correct, if you see it different, please let us know.

About the fine line between production / re-arranging / mixing.
It is indeed hard to define. As specified in the instructions, you cannot add other instruments. You can duplicate tracks. Add effects like crazy if you feel like it is necessary (reverbs, delays etc...). Drum triggering is considered borderline but is accepted (but does not mean that you HAVE to do it!).
The song's structure has to remain untouched.

The goal here is to do a mixing engineer's job. Not a producer's job. The song is finished. The artists is waiting for you to do a mix that sounds like what they usually do and like. We are here to extend and better the view that Liza has of her own song. You can always listen to what she does and what she likes here:

thelizacolbysound.com/

If you want to go crazy and add padds, synths and triangle solos, please feel free to do so. But you might lose the gig. :-) Hard to be a mixing engineer...
 
Looking forward to this mix contest. Already downloaded the tracks but will check again in light of some of the above information.

Good luck to everyone!
 
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