GearFest Mixing Contest

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kiwibu said:
This post is for Puremix - how/where do we go about including the description of the gear used, etc.? That is not clear in the instructions. Is there a facility to do so when uploading to SoundCloud?
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I'd guess in the file description on Soundcloud, but if they want it a different way it would be nice to know.
 
It was amazing actually mixing tracks recorded by Fab himself with really cool Lauten mics and all his cool gear. Mixing Lisa's voice was pruely a magical experience. All the musicians were great. I mixed this song on my iPad only with the new revolutionary Auria app ONLY !!. I used Fabfilters and PsP Audioware's plugins within Auria and nothing else. I know what I'm up against but I think my mix is strong and focuses on the performance and clarity. I hope I achieved that. I found seperating the hihat from the snare a bit tricky. I don't have the most expensive speakers or studio space so I hope the bass is fine. To win with a mix from an iPad would be amazing. All the mixes are good so what a difficult job this will be with likely thousands of entries. The Auria forum guys and gals are stoked about my entry and Im excited just to be on the list. Cheers and good luck everyone.
 
Really poor levels

isaacmurillo20 said:
All the tracks were recorded great which made it very easy to work with in terms of headroom and style.
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I couldn't disagree more. I think the recording is poor at best. Very low levels, lots of unnecessary bled through. I was really surprised at the quality (lack of).
 
ShofB said:
I couldn't disagree more. I think the recording is poor at best. Very low levels, lots of unnecessary bled through. I was really surprised at the quality (lack of).
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Easy! it was a live recording session in an auditorium with live audience, I was not veyr happy with the recordings but I wouldn't call it poor. Low level audio is not a problem with 24bit recording. I wish they'd at least added a snare bottom mic and a mono room mic for natural ambience. I record live and it's a battle zone out there, lots of unknown factors can affect the result of the recording.
 
islandman said:
Easy! it was a live recording session in an auditorium with live audience, I was not veyr happy with the recordings but I wouldn't call it poor. Low level audio is not a problem with 24bit recording. I wish they'd at least added a snare bottom mic and a mono room mic for natural ambience. I record live and it's a battle zone out there, lots of unknown factors can affect the result of the recording.
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we know that these guys knows what they are doing as I think they are from big boys studio. well that's what this contest calls for. they are giving out great prizes so it should be a great challenge for you.
 
Fab could have mic'd this to the 9's but I know he left some room for the mixing engineer. If everything was recorded great than that would not really reflect real world recordings or be much of a mixing challenge. . Often things don't come your way in a track but it's up to the mix engineer to make it right with the tools she/he has. I liked the challenge and I learned a lot from my plugins and what they can handle and what they can't. This was a very exciting experience for me. cheers.
 
As far as I can see, I have already benefited from this contest.

I did my mix. At first, I loved it. Then after several serious listens, hated it. The intensity required pointed out several shortcomings in my present set-up. So, after some very serious considerations, I decide it was time to get off the fence and do what was right by me, my clients and the studio.

I have now sold my Tascam DM3200 and purchased a new Midas Venice 32 input analog/digital hybrid. Even though I may not finish the studio refurb in time, I am very glad to have participated in this contest till now.

It is primarily because of this contest that I will now be able to continue doing what I love with the best tools I can afford.

A big thanks to all who have contributed to this endeavor up till now and in the future!
Maybe this year or maybe next. All in all it's been a win, win situation for me.

Regards and luck to all

Tom Chianti
 
Didn't show on this recording

dbths1987 said:
we know that these guys knows what they are doing as I think they are from big boys studio. .
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I don't know who any of these guys are and quiot honestly I could care less what studio they are from. I only can judge by these tracks and sorry I'm not impressed at all. I realize I've probably shot myself in the foot as far as this contest goes since these are probably who will be judging it but but the truth is the truth.
 
Hey everyone! I've been reading over some of the comments here, and I've got to say that I think the whole purpose of this contest/exercise was to show all of us what kind of "real-world" tracks one could possibly receive from a client, and then be put into the position of making it (the song) sound GREAT!

I believe the individual tracks were recorded the way they were, for a specific reason. For all us to understand what the real task-at-hand is: to make it sound as good (or as great) as we possibly can (prior to being mastered). In the real world, these are more than likely the types of situations every mixing engineer encounters from project to project. And so some of these tracks don't sound the best that I know they could've been (I'm almost certain that was by design):D. There's no way on earth that any one of the musicians, let alone the producer, would've been satisfied with those tracks as we received them. NO WAY!

So...here we are. What are WE gonna' do about those tracks? They already know! Hence, the whole purpose for the contest. I've heard some really good stuff out there from you guys (actually too many for me to listen to individually), but I don't know...this sounds like a situation where we all might wanna' "throw caution to the wind" and just "KEEP IT SIMPLE". Just my opinion. Believe me, my final mix probably isn't gonna' sound any better or any worse than anybody elses. Based on what I heard from about a dozen or so individual mixes, we all seem to have just about the same ideas. They say: "GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE";). Don't know if that's a good thing or not as it may apply here. But...it is what it is. Gonna' be interesting. I'll carry on.

PS -- One last thought...out of all the tracks, I thought the most difficult one to deal with was the overhead track. Ya' got toms, cymbals, and hi-hats going to the same track. Very difficult to establish any kind of clear & meaningful separation between the 3. That track alone consumed the greatest amount of time 4 me (and I still probably didn't get it right!:D).

I'll post when I think I'm about as satisfied as I can be with it.:listeningmusic:
 
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upload the mix

Hi,
can we upload our mix in 24 bits 44.1Khz or should we use 16 bits 44.1Khz ?
Thank you for the response
 
You upload an MP3 to your SoundCloud account. Then you share it with the GearFest group. It is clearly written in the instructions.
 
o-de-o4U said:
PS -- One last thought...out of all the tracks, I thought the most difficult one to deal with was the overhead track. Ya' got toms, cymbals, and hi-hats going to the same track. Very difficult to establish any kind of clear & meaningful separation between the 3. That track alone consumed the greatest amount of time 4 me (and I still probably didn't get it right!:D).
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Toms, cymbals, and hi hats, oh my! All that in the overheads? Seriously? :facepalm:

Um, that's what overheads are for. The overhead(s) only purpose in it's miserable life is to capture the entire kit. They're not "cymbal mics". Whole kit.
 
I'm trying to watch the video of the recording but the supplied code keeps saying that it is not a valid code and that there is nothing in my shopping cart. Does anyone know how I can watch or download this video. Cheers.
 
I greatly disagree with the playback normalization that will be used to judge the submissions. RMS is a horrible way to calibrate loudness. Why should we be penalized for working hard to get a big sound, especially if we artistically think it sounds good with a steady average level? Highlighting the vocal which of course leans towards steady state level will bring up the RMS. This was a vocal centric performance. I also didn't read about the normalization till after submission. That should be in BOLD LETTERING at sign up.

 
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I am sure loudness is not the main or even an important criteria.

As to normalization, I wish they would inform what method will be used to calibrate the level of the mixes. There are plugins (or standalone software) that can be used to "normalize" loudness - but I call it calibrating level to the desired RMS.

Once levels are calibrated, the loudness factor disappears - the mixes with the most punch and definition will stand out and the mixes that were squashed and hyper limited to be loud will wither and collapse.

japancakes said:
I greatly disagree with the playback normalization that will be used to judge the submissions. RMS is a horrible way to judge loudness. Why should we be penalized for working hard to get a big sound, especially if we artistically think it sounds good with a steady average level? Highlighting the vocal which of course leans towards steady state level will bring up the RMS. This was a vocal centric performance. I also didn't read about the normalization till after submission. That should be in BOLD LETTERING at sign up.

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