GearFest Mixing Contest

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MrNilz said:
Hey Guys,
I stumbled upon the contest a few days ago and thought I would give it a try. Since I just registered, I can't post the direct link to my mix yet but i would appreciate it if you would still check it out (soundcloud.com/mrnilz/gearfestpuremixcontest-by). In the meantime I try to collect some posts here :cool:



[ModNote: Hooked you up with a link]
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Nice full sounding drums on your mix - hmmm - not sure about the stop - cool idea though!

I think maybe the drums are a little too dominant & the guitar is a bit small by comparison - maybe just a little too thinned out in the low-mids. The drums could lose a little bit of "weight" in the subs - I would have preferred maybe to let the bass win the battle a bit more down there.

Nice work!
 
AndyGallas said:


Hello guys!

After listening today with fesh ears I did some changes... I tamed down the cymbal fizz, worked out the spaces and the guitar, I made the kick a liiiitle less fat so it doesn't steel too much attention especially in the beginning plus cleaned out the muddiness of the intro riff. I hope you like it.

Cheers!

P.S Mixed completely ITB in Logic 9, except for the vocals were I used an 1176 HW and a Filtek eq. No samples were used.
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Sounding very good - I feel maybe the drums are overpowering the mix just a bit during the choruses - a little automation on the drum buss would probably solve that - Cool!
 
fHumble fHingaz said:
Sounding very good - I feel maybe the drums are overpowering the mix just a bit during the choruses - a little automation on the drum buss would probably solve that - Cool!
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Thank you for kind words. Overpowering is never a good thing, I will check that out.
I'm at the studio right now and will check out your mix as well. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Andy
 
Hey fHumble fHingaz,

now that's an odd kick drum, reminds me a bit on a disco feeling... very cool!
I like the vocals, you've done some nice subtle effects there.
The guitar sounds a bit harsh to me but that's a matter of taste.

In the chorus there is a lot of cymbals/hihat noise, almost louder than the snare.
I would tame that hihat bleed a bit down.
I think the tomtoms are playing a very important role for the feel of energy at the last chorus, I would bring them up.

Regarding the overpowering drums in the chorus of my mix... I think that it is the snare which might be too loud here and there.

Cheers,
Andy
 
Hey there, folks. Newly registered member from the Gearfest Mix Contest. Still working on my mix but wanted to pop in before I post mine.

Some nice mixes going on. Looking forward to finishing mine up. This is my first time entering a mix contest. Should be fun.

One of the best things about entering was discovering fHumble fHingaz. Some great mixes in the Slate Digital Cup. cLockWork cLown is an epic mix, dude!

Best of luck to all...
 
AndyGallas said:
Thank you for kind words. Overpowering is never a good thing, I will check that out.
I'm at the studio right now and will check out your mix as well. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Andy
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Hey Andy. Nice mix. Really like the vocals. Gotta agree with ff. Drums are a bit overpowering, particularly the snare as you noted. Look forward to the remix.

Best of luck and take care...

P.S. Really dig System Breakdown on your Soundcloud site!
 
blinkerss said:
Hi there, just upload my mix today, any critics appreciated :D

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Hey blinkerss. Nice mix. Really dig the vox. Seems like you could use a bit more sense of space on the instruments. Kick seems a bit up front in the intro and breakdown sections. Maybe pan the guitar out a bit instead of everything centered.

Best of luck and take care...
 
AndyGallas said:
Hey fHumble fHingaz,

now that's an odd kick drum, reminds me a bit on a disco feeling... very cool!
I like the vocals, you've done some nice subtle effects there.
The guitar sounds a bit harsh to me but that's a matter of taste.

In the chorus there is a lot of cymbals/hihat noise, almost louder than the snare.
I would tame that hihat bleed a bit down.
I think the tomtoms are playing a very important role for the feel of energy at the last chorus, I would bring them up.

Regarding the overpowering drums in the chorus of my mix... I think that it is the snare which might be too loud here and there.

Cheers,
Andy
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Thanks Andy! Yeah, I was going for a really driving kick drum sound on this. I did actually drop the apparent level of the bleed from the hihat in the snare mic quite a bit via eq. I kinda felt that it was reasonably under control because it compared favorably to some ACDC tracks I referenced which have that really "sizzly" loose hihat sound... I probably should have gone a little further maybe? I guess it's too late to change now - it's my official entry, so I have to stick with it...

Thank you very much for listening, & for your thoughtful comments!
 
Was my mix really that bad/good? lol

I was trying to go with a wider mix as most of what I'm hearing people do is (understandably) pretty narrow.
 
Guitargodgt said:
Well here is my first go at it. I'm not 100% if this is going to be my submission though as I really pushed the limits in terms of where the boundaries of mixing can go. No triggers on the kick or snare. I did opt to trigger the toms though aiming for samples as transparent as possible. Also: got to turn it up, there is nothing on the 2 bus.



I passed everything through SIR 2 with a room impulse I made last year. I was pretty stoked to finally use it. haha


Was my mix really that bad/good? lol
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Sorry GG, I missed listening to yours, & now I regret it... because it's very cool!

I'm only listening on a "grotbox" system at work, but it sounds pretty good through there - it drums, guitars, vocals & bass all sound punchy & full on this system - but I'd like to have another listen on my studio speakers, because I can't hear what the low end is doing on these speakers.

I particularly like the "dueling left & right guitars" arrangement for the main guitar riff. The harmonies on the vocals are cool too - that's a trick I've used quite a few times on mixes that needed a little lift in the chorus. You just have to be a bit careful with the intervals - get the harmonies matching the underlying chords. I can hear a couple of the slides between notes that sound just a tad like there are some pitches "rubbing" there... Still, it sounds pretty damn good. My preference would be to lower those harmonies in level just a bit, so they're not too consciously noticeable - like, if the listener doesn't really catch them on the first listen, but after a while, it dawns on them "hang on - there're harmonies there! - cool!"

One way to get those "dueling left & right guitars" to sound more "realistic" is to stretch the last note of each phrase, so the sound like they are overlapping one another - a little delay on each helps too... then it sounds like 2 players trading licks - I can't tell on these speakers if the tone is markedly different between the 2 "sides", but sometimes differentiating the tones somehow is quite effective too.

This is a really inventive mix! I like the way you think - nice one!
 
fHumble fHingaz said:
One way to get those "dueling left & right guitars" to sound more "realistic" is to stretch the last note of each phrase, so the sound like they are overlapping one another
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This was initially what I tried, it sounded really weird when they were cross fading (and panning) ya know?
 
QuintaQuad said:
Hey there, folks. Newly registered member from the Gearfest Mix Contest. Still working on my mix but wanted to pop in before I post mine.

Some nice mixes going on. Looking forward to finishing mine up. This is my first time entering a mix contest. Should be fun.

One of the best things about entering was discovering fHumble fHingaz. Some great mixes in the Slate Digital Cup. cLockWork cLown is an epic mix, dude!

Best of luck to all...
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Thanks QuintaQuad - looking forward to hearing your mix...

...did you read the blog?
 
T-Guitar said:
Same here. There wasn't a whole lot of options for this song. I assume the judges will do a quick wash off some key points and then proceed. It will still take them a while!
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I think the fact that there's not a lot of options is what makes this a good choice for a mix contest. Embracing the limitations and being creative with the mix without losing sight of the song's essence is what will separate the winners from the crowd. Of course that means one needs to interpret what they think the artist's vision for the song is...
 
fHumble fHingaz said:
Thanks QuintaQuad - looking forward to hearing your mix...

...did you read the blog?
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Haven't had a chance to read the whole thing yet, but I will.

I really love your philosophical approach to mixing. There is purpose behind every decision you make in your mixes, which is definitely the way it should be. Whether or not one agrees with the decisions doesn't matter so much as the fact that there is creative intent involved. Mixing a song, as with any art, is so subjective. No one will agree with every decision,but the totality of the end result is what matters creatively and in my opinion you're spot on with your results. I look forward to following your mixing projects at the Home Recording Forum.

Take care...
 
Hi there, I really liked the song, had a lot of fun mixing it, I'm honing my skills, but I'm getting closer with every mix. This was a good experience for me.

i'm new on this board so i can't post a link, newtonbach/oh-baby-gearfestpuremixcontest on soundcloud



[ModNote: Added a link]
 
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