GearFest Mixing Contest
- Thread starter Chater-La
- Start date
- Status
Papa Bojangles
New member
Me too. It was after your post and one by Dave Pendragon earlier that I decided to add my two cents worth to this...
I would have been perfectly happy to have woken up this morning, seen the results and listened to a bunch of great mixes. As mixers, we are constantly inspired by the work of our peers - be they Andy Wallace, Elliot Scheiner, Tony Maserati or any competent mixer that we come across, including Fab - whose work makes us think - Yeah, that sounds great!
Like many of you who listened to other submissions to this contest, today was a great disappointment. One has to assume that all our mixes were downloaded, despite no downloads showing in many of our stats.
During the last month, I downloaded some mixes along the way - the ones I COULD HEAR were really good. I would have been happy to have been beaten to the finish by any one of them. And they were streets ahead of most, if not all, of the top 16 I heard today.
I have no idea how Puremix arrived at their decisions. (And I understand how subjective the mix process can be).
But for those of you who mix music for a living and found today frustrating, take heart. There's nothing wrong with your ears, nor your monitors....
All the mixes started sounding the same. A lot of the selection came down to 3000 entries? f*** it. Just pick 500 and lets go with it. There were some really professional quality mixes in the group that got dropped. I'm not complaining about mine. Mine had flaws and I know where they are. I've fixed them, but it was past the deadline to resubmit so tough for me. You go with what you got, not that it would have made a difference anyway.
Every competition ends like this. I hate competitions. But I entered for fun. I just wanted the monitors anyway, or the UAD2, or the Lauten mic. Everything else would have just gotten flipped because I'm not set up to get any good out of it. I already have a copy of Studio One Pro.
Every competition ends like this. I hate competitions. But I entered for fun. I just wanted the monitors anyway, or the UAD2, or the Lauten mic. Everything else would have just gotten flipped because I'm not set up to get any good out of it. I already have a copy of Studio One Pro.
Anthony Alves
Banned
I'm so glad the contest is over and I'm delighted to say that my mix done entirely on my iPad 4 using only Auria and it's plugins by Fabfilter,PsPAudioware,FxPansion,MoRevox sound as good or even better than the winning mixes. Ok so they didn't download my mix nor did they listen to my mix so, I know that mine and hundreds more sound better than the winning mixes. So really we we were played here a bit by PureMix and Fav. I don't think their next mixing contest will garner as many entries as this one. Fab talks about the contest being fair. For that you really needed to download every track and actually listened to them. And saying you did won't work here. I love so many of the other mixes I wish I could pick 16 new winners but really there are literally hundreds of great mixes here to choose from. So why in the world were these mixes chosen I will never know. I think I brought enough attention to the iPad and Auria. My mix was played over 500 times and downloaded 14 times just not by PureMix. Thanks for all the support and enjoy your new toys winners.
AndyGallas
New member
Congrats to the winners!
I see a lot of upset contestants, and I had to offer my two cents. I feel that I am an unbiased party because although I submitted an entry, I never expected to be even considered for top 16.
First, I would not expect any one person to listen to the same mix thousands of times, especially considering some of the absolutely lame entries I heard. I would have expected a team to narrow it down for the expert. However, they made it sound like the guy would listen to every entry, which obviously didn't happen.
Second, I see quite a lot of people saying "my mix is better than that" and I listened to some of those and heard fundamental flaws in your mixes. Sit back down, and show some humility.
Third, quite a few people seem to have high level degrees and incredible hardware/software collections, and I thought that this was a home studio environment?
Fourth, the top 2 mixes are very very good. No, I won't say that they should be benchmark, but this was, as I've said, a home-studio environment. If I could have my home studio sound like that, I would be soooo happy.
Finally, there is merit to some of the complaints. Some of the winning submissions did not follow the rules (mainly description). The staff was obviously looking for artistic producer decisions, but some of the winning submissions went obviously overboard and sound harsh. Many winning mixes made amateur mistakes. One of the things I've noticed is this:
The kick track sounded pretty gnarly (as in, wtf, you put this here to mess with us and give us a challenge). All of the winners did a very good job cleaning up the sound of that kick. However, most of them turned around and made the kick absolutely overpowering in the mix, as if to say "Look, LOOK! I fixed it! I fixed the bloody kick!" This does not make for a good mix and is a very very amateur mistake, something I was very cautious of.
So, overall, yes: There were some bad decisions and unprofessionalism. No: Your mix isn't better, go sit in the corner and think about what you've done (there will obviously be some exceptions to this rule, but most of them will have the humility to not go around waving their mix about. They'll realize that they weren't selected for a reason, at least this is my hope).
First, I would not expect any one person to listen to the same mix thousands of times, especially considering some of the absolutely lame entries I heard. I would have expected a team to narrow it down for the expert. However, they made it sound like the guy would listen to every entry, which obviously didn't happen.
Second, I see quite a lot of people saying "my mix is better than that" and I listened to some of those and heard fundamental flaws in your mixes. Sit back down, and show some humility.
Third, quite a few people seem to have high level degrees and incredible hardware/software collections, and I thought that this was a home studio environment?
Fourth, the top 2 mixes are very very good. No, I won't say that they should be benchmark, but this was, as I've said, a home-studio environment. If I could have my home studio sound like that, I would be soooo happy.
Finally, there is merit to some of the complaints. Some of the winning submissions did not follow the rules (mainly description). The staff was obviously looking for artistic producer decisions, but some of the winning submissions went obviously overboard and sound harsh. Many winning mixes made amateur mistakes. One of the things I've noticed is this:
The kick track sounded pretty gnarly (as in, wtf, you put this here to mess with us and give us a challenge). All of the winners did a very good job cleaning up the sound of that kick. However, most of them turned around and made the kick absolutely overpowering in the mix, as if to say "Look, LOOK! I fixed it! I fixed the bloody kick!" This does not make for a good mix and is a very very amateur mistake, something I was very cautious of.
So, overall, yes: There were some bad decisions and unprofessionalism. No: Your mix isn't better, go sit in the corner and think about what you've done (there will obviously be some exceptions to this rule, but most of them will have the humility to not go around waving their mix about. They'll realize that they weren't selected for a reason, at least this is my hope).
soupiraille
New member
Congratulations to the winners
...and well done to everyone one else. I found it challenging and fun.
I'd try again next year!
Thank you...
AndyGallas
New member
Hey, there are way better monitors than the focals
You've already seen what happens if you judge a mix contest on them, no?
Just kidding!
Cheers,
anotherlooser
Mine was just an ironic note, just to say, to me, things have been chosen RANDOMLY.
It's not matter of "valid" or "not valid". It doesn't matter.
I'm not complaining of results and I really hope no one has intended my words such as a complaint.
Totally agree with who said "what do you expected?".
But, even with random choice, there were so many cleanest and finest mix. But this is only my point of view.
And I totally disagree with someone complained because big studios attended the contest. What's the matter? If you do this for fun… Well, you had your fun and experience. If you do this as job, it's real life, where you can daily meet someone else does the same job. Who does it worst and who does it better.
Don't be sad if you did't win. Again, "C'est la vie!". Everyone has its own lucky day! Try it again, practice makes you better and stronger!
AndyGallas
New member
I guess this thread pretty much sums it up ?
gearslutz/board/moan-zone/842603-puremix-gearfest-competition-starting-feel-like-good-joke
Huh! You mean the ugly noise thread?
For a spectacular mix you need first and foremost a spectacular performance and recording.
Really, I wouldn't take that all too serious. I think the goal of the gearfest event is not exactly to get a release ready mix.
But a mix contest is way better than a tombola if you know what I mean.
Still I think the mix contest is a great thing.
I heard a number of mixes I really liked although they did not win a price.
I realized that a lot of you are home recording guys (of course it's called homerecording.com) who mixed with cans, old hifi speakers, iPods and whatnot. While the sonics might not always be there for my taste you really earn my greatest respect for that and in EVERY mix I listened to, there was something really cool. So for me this was a nice journey here although I didn't win the damn speakers. But hey, that was already clear from the beginning... my mix has that ugly resonances
Cheers,
Andy
Judging from the winners, I was UNIVERSES away from what they were looking for. I probably would've had a better chance by just downloading the original stems, loading them into the DAW, and bouncing them right back down as my submission, maybe with an effect or two here or there. lol!! If I decide to do this again, I'll probably do just that, actually. 
Congrats to the winners!
And thanks to those who listened to my mix, downloaded my mix from places like Germany, Venezuela, and France; and thank you to those who spent time sharing their art and love with the world through this competition. Good job!!
Congrats to the winners!
And thanks to those who listened to my mix, downloaded my mix from places like Germany, Venezuela, and France; and thank you to those who spent time sharing their art and love with the world through this competition. Good job!!
puremix.net
New member
Dear all,
Because this is not the first mixing contest we organize, we are quite used to experiencing such an excitement when results are announced.
The current economic turmoil asking for absolute and complete transparency in every form of election, here was our protocol:
- The whole judging process was done in collaboration with the SoundCloud backend. On June 1st, SC provided us with the exhaustive list of all the entries submitted on or before this date and officially closed the contest.
- As per our rules, all contestants who submitted more than one mix where automatically removed from the list.
- ALL mixes that were still on the list have been played at least once. If you're mix has not been listened to, it is because you were either late in your submission, or submitted several versions, or did not share it with the official group, or did not follow the rules.
- No. We did not download all the tracks. Download of the original wav file was used in case of close calls between two mixes. SC does compress the audio but it is often enough to compare 2 mixes and tell which one is going to make it to the next round.
- There has been several rounds during which many people took the time to listen to all the entries. Last round was handled by Fab himself who took a ridiculous amount of time to analyze the best entries and choose the winners.
We understand that some people poured their heart into it and were disappointed by the results. That's normal, we are all human after all. But there is no reason for ganging up against the winners or the organizers who also poured their heart and time into this project.
We are very much at piece with the choices we've made, as all those mixes deserve to be on the list. Not everybody has to agree on the final results. This is music. This is art. It is subjective. There has been a lot of really good mixes but only 16 winning positions available. We'll try to do better next time.
To conclude on a positive note: this contest was designed to have fun and give everybody a chance, to watch, learn and experiment. No less.
We’ve all had a lot of fun organizing this contest and received all lot of positive feedback from all around the world. Everybody who took part in it got to watch an amazing hour-long video on how Fab and Ben recorded the Liza Colby Sound, downloaded the tracks of an amazing song with an amazing singer and got to sharpen their mixing skills on it. All of it for free. Amazing isn't it?
We are very much looking forward to doing it again! (soon).
pureMix
Because this is not the first mixing contest we organize, we are quite used to experiencing such an excitement when results are announced.
The current economic turmoil asking for absolute and complete transparency in every form of election, here was our protocol:
- The whole judging process was done in collaboration with the SoundCloud backend. On June 1st, SC provided us with the exhaustive list of all the entries submitted on or before this date and officially closed the contest.
- As per our rules, all contestants who submitted more than one mix where automatically removed from the list.
- ALL mixes that were still on the list have been played at least once. If you're mix has not been listened to, it is because you were either late in your submission, or submitted several versions, or did not share it with the official group, or did not follow the rules.
- No. We did not download all the tracks. Download of the original wav file was used in case of close calls between two mixes. SC does compress the audio but it is often enough to compare 2 mixes and tell which one is going to make it to the next round.
- There has been several rounds during which many people took the time to listen to all the entries. Last round was handled by Fab himself who took a ridiculous amount of time to analyze the best entries and choose the winners.
We understand that some people poured their heart into it and were disappointed by the results. That's normal, we are all human after all. But there is no reason for ganging up against the winners or the organizers who also poured their heart and time into this project.
We are very much at piece with the choices we've made, as all those mixes deserve to be on the list. Not everybody has to agree on the final results. This is music. This is art. It is subjective. There has been a lot of really good mixes but only 16 winning positions available. We'll try to do better next time.
To conclude on a positive note: this contest was designed to have fun and give everybody a chance, to watch, learn and experiment. No less.
We’ve all had a lot of fun organizing this contest and received all lot of positive feedback from all around the world. Everybody who took part in it got to watch an amazing hour-long video on how Fab and Ben recorded the Liza Colby Sound, downloaded the tracks of an amazing song with an amazing singer and got to sharpen their mixing skills on it. All of it for free. Amazing isn't it?
We are very much looking forward to doing it again! (soon).
pureMix
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Just a suggestion...
While I'm sure that besides the mix competition, and the prizes...the other main point of the contest is to generate large lists of new forum subscribers, potential customers for the sponsors, and marketing hype for all involved....and that's all cool and valid....
....but it might make for a better, more "tighter" contest if you limited the submission time and/or number of entries.
IMHO....it would help separate out the mixes without the tedious process of listening to the same thing 3000 times, which has the effect of making both the contestants and judges rather numb at some point as to what's what.
I think everyone was overwhelmed by the large turnout, and that's where both the objectivity and subjectivity end up suffering a bit.
Otherwise, I personally had some fun mixing what I felt were rather crudely recorded tracks (which might have been intentional, to give us more of a challange)...so in that regard I got to experience some different flavor from my usual projects.
While I'm sure that besides the mix competition, and the prizes...the other main point of the contest is to generate large lists of new forum subscribers, potential customers for the sponsors, and marketing hype for all involved....and that's all cool and valid....
....but it might make for a better, more "tighter" contest if you limited the submission time and/or number of entries.
IMHO....it would help separate out the mixes without the tedious process of listening to the same thing 3000 times, which has the effect of making both the contestants and judges rather numb at some point as to what's what.
I think everyone was overwhelmed by the large turnout, and that's where both the objectivity and subjectivity end up suffering a bit.
Otherwise, I personally had some fun mixing what I felt were rather crudely recorded tracks (which might have been intentional, to give us more of a challange)...so in that regard I got to experience some different flavor from my usual projects.
soupiraille
New member
The more you have hate and disappointment words, the more you have love for gear.
Would you have reacted the same way if there was a teddy bear to win?
cakewalkKaKed
HOORAY FOR BOOBIES !!!
imo congrats are in order for the judges for sending the gear to the right place,musta been hard weeding out the pro`s and fakers 
- Status