GearFest Mixing Contest
- Thread starter Chater-La
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ALEKNOSTAR
New member
Don't give advice if you don't know what you're talking about... 24 bits has more resolution than 16 bits... If you go from 24 bits to 16 bits don't forget to dither.
My friend 24 bits has definitely more information than 16 bits, but the soundcloud convertor(which creates the file featured on the soundcloud player) converts and downgrades your signal. It just downgrades with better transparency when you upload a 16 bit file, when compared to a 24 bit file.
Just like when converting to MP3, no seasoned professionals downgrade directly from 24 bit audio. They get it to 16 bit first and then downgrade to mp3.
Don't worry, in a couple of years you will be able to hear the differences easily.
Cheerz
Actually the soundcloud convertor keeps more of the sonic integrity of your track when it converts a 16 bit file. And obviously it will play a better sound as well.
But in the case of this competition, from what I have read, the hosts will "download" the files and listen to them, so you don't need to worry as they will download your original 24bit file. (I hope that soundcloud keeps the uploaded file intact)
Spiralwave
New member
hi, my final mix.
All ITB, only vintage analog summing.
Mac pro, rme ff400, cubase6, behringer ultragain pro-8, vintaje analog, alesis monitors m1 mk2, plugins oxford, waves.
Thanks.
All ITB, only vintage analog summing.
Mac pro, rme ff400, cubase6, behringer ultragain pro-8, vintaje analog, alesis monitors m1 mk2, plugins oxford, waves.
Thanks.
matkatmusic
New member
Howdy. Here's my entry:
Code:
https://soundcloud.com/mulletchuck/ohbabychuckmix_gearfestpuremixThanks for your reply...i'll do a test since there are different opinions on the same issue...
Cheers
Thanks mate, I will check that when I get home...
timkroeger
Custom Title User
There are two things I found particularly challenging for me and this has nothing to do with the content:
1. Not to overdo effects
2. Not tweaking it again and again, but instead get it done, upload it and be good with it.
I am still at the beginning of this rewarding venture into mixing and found it very useful for myself to check some parameters I had set by asking myself, why I would do it as I had done it. Sometimes I like to slap on a preset and just see what it does; to explore the range of modifications you can do. But if you ask yourself why you cut frequency X on channel 4 and you can explain it to yourself (not only because it sounds good), I found my mix gradually increasing in quality as I went through some plugins again and sometimes even removed them as I went ahead. I don't have a lot of experience so this approach is kind of backwards but overshooting in some areas with EQ and dynamics first, and then reverting again helped me understand a little better what I was doing / trying to achieve. Hope that made sense...
Anyway, here is what I did (see signature for mix attempt):
I did this completely in-the-box (Reaper) with UAD Cards and Plugs through an Apollo Quad interface and a pair of Yamaha HS80Ms. It is not mastered; no effects at all on 2-bus/master.
Plugins used: UAD stuff, Guitar Rig 4, Reaper EQ & Gate
Preparation:
- Cleaned up Bass, Guitar and Vocal Tracks, removed unwanted noise within breaks / silent parts
- Fixed timing issue on bass track @ about 1m10s
- Separated Tambourine from vocal track -> drum group
Almost all tracks have UAD Studer A800 and Neve 88RS channel strip on inserts to simulate an audio path like that. (Well, chances are, those were new plugins and I just had to use them.)
I made some room at the top and bottom end of all the tracks with ReaEQ's high pass and low pass filters. For some filters I used a higher Q-factor to emphasize the corresponding cutoff frequencies with a slight peak (e.g. snare, kick drum, guitar). I used a lot of volume automation on Vocals, Bass, Guitar and Drums. There is a UAD EMT 140 Reverb on Aux Bus for all channels (mostly Vocals, but also ambience for other channels). Second Aux is UAD Lexicon 224 Slapback delay for Vocals.
Drums:
I went for a natural, slightly processed but full sound. Gate and EQ on the Kick, compressed by UAD UA 1176LN -5dB@8:1. UAD Pultec Pro boosts 300, 1.5k, 10k Hz for attack and clarity and attenuates 30 and 500 Hz. Snare got the UAD UA 1176 Rev a blue stripe with about -3dB@4:1 with a slower attack (if you can call any attack onf an 1176 slow...) and fast release. UAD Pultec Pro pulls some frequencies around for instant gratification. To be able to process the toms a little different from the cymbals, I routed the Overheads pre-FX to another channel and slapped a gate, EQ and UAD Fairchild on it (-2dB@TC1 in stereo mode). Overheads were EQ'ed, too, 1176LN adds some flesh to the cymbals. Everything routed to the drum bus and a second channel for some heavy parallel compression which ends up almost inaudible in the mix but adds some kind of glue to the drums (at least to my ears).
Bass:
Except for some roundness from the amp signal, I used the DI signal almost exclusively and split it to two channels: one with slight overdrive (what you hear most of the time) and another one panned 45% left with heavier distortion and severely high passed to accompany the guitar signal from time to time.
Guitar:
UAD PultecPro for color and UA 1176 blue stripe with about -3dB@8:1 for compression. Added an EMT-250 delay for slight stereo/double effect. Signal routed pre-FX to a second channel with Guitar Rig 4 for reamping and slight chorus effect that helps with the cleaner parts. There is also a GR4 PsychDelay on the Guitar Bus in the solo part. Some volume and panning automation going on from beginning to end.
Vocals:
EQ boosting slightly 730, 2k and heavily 5.3k Hz for mids, presence and clarity/gleaming. Attennuated 370 and 500 Hz to prevent muffled and hollow sound, also attenuated 3.8k to remove some harshness. Added some sparkling at 12kHz. Dynamics were UA 1176 Rev A in all-button mode for slight distortion and colorization with oh so small input gain. Peaks are tamed with LA-2A silver edition at about -1.5dB. I doubled the "cat growl" with a distorted version of the vocal track (A800) for some extra power at 3m10s.
1. Not to overdo effects
2. Not tweaking it again and again, but instead get it done, upload it and be good with it.
I am still at the beginning of this rewarding venture into mixing and found it very useful for myself to check some parameters I had set by asking myself, why I would do it as I had done it. Sometimes I like to slap on a preset and just see what it does; to explore the range of modifications you can do. But if you ask yourself why you cut frequency X on channel 4 and you can explain it to yourself (not only because it sounds good), I found my mix gradually increasing in quality as I went through some plugins again and sometimes even removed them as I went ahead. I don't have a lot of experience so this approach is kind of backwards but overshooting in some areas with EQ and dynamics first, and then reverting again helped me understand a little better what I was doing / trying to achieve. Hope that made sense...
Anyway, here is what I did (see signature for mix attempt):
I did this completely in-the-box (Reaper) with UAD Cards and Plugs through an Apollo Quad interface and a pair of Yamaha HS80Ms. It is not mastered; no effects at all on 2-bus/master.
Plugins used: UAD stuff, Guitar Rig 4, Reaper EQ & Gate
Preparation:
- Cleaned up Bass, Guitar and Vocal Tracks, removed unwanted noise within breaks / silent parts
- Fixed timing issue on bass track @ about 1m10s
- Separated Tambourine from vocal track -> drum group
Almost all tracks have UAD Studer A800 and Neve 88RS channel strip on inserts to simulate an audio path like that. (Well, chances are, those were new plugins and I just had to use them.)
I made some room at the top and bottom end of all the tracks with ReaEQ's high pass and low pass filters. For some filters I used a higher Q-factor to emphasize the corresponding cutoff frequencies with a slight peak (e.g. snare, kick drum, guitar). I used a lot of volume automation on Vocals, Bass, Guitar and Drums. There is a UAD EMT 140 Reverb on Aux Bus for all channels (mostly Vocals, but also ambience for other channels). Second Aux is UAD Lexicon 224 Slapback delay for Vocals.
Drums:
I went for a natural, slightly processed but full sound. Gate and EQ on the Kick, compressed by UAD UA 1176LN -5dB@8:1. UAD Pultec Pro boosts 300, 1.5k, 10k Hz for attack and clarity and attenuates 30 and 500 Hz. Snare got the UAD UA 1176 Rev a blue stripe with about -3dB@4:1 with a slower attack (if you can call any attack onf an 1176 slow...) and fast release. UAD Pultec Pro pulls some frequencies around for instant gratification. To be able to process the toms a little different from the cymbals, I routed the Overheads pre-FX to another channel and slapped a gate, EQ and UAD Fairchild on it (-2dB@TC1 in stereo mode). Overheads were EQ'ed, too, 1176LN adds some flesh to the cymbals. Everything routed to the drum bus and a second channel for some heavy parallel compression which ends up almost inaudible in the mix but adds some kind of glue to the drums (at least to my ears).
Bass:
Except for some roundness from the amp signal, I used the DI signal almost exclusively and split it to two channels: one with slight overdrive (what you hear most of the time) and another one panned 45% left with heavier distortion and severely high passed to accompany the guitar signal from time to time.
Guitar:
UAD PultecPro for color and UA 1176 blue stripe with about -3dB@8:1 for compression. Added an EMT-250 delay for slight stereo/double effect. Signal routed pre-FX to a second channel with Guitar Rig 4 for reamping and slight chorus effect that helps with the cleaner parts. There is also a GR4 PsychDelay on the Guitar Bus in the solo part. Some volume and panning automation going on from beginning to end.
Vocals:
EQ boosting slightly 730, 2k and heavily 5.3k Hz for mids, presence and clarity/gleaming. Attennuated 370 and 500 Hz to prevent muffled and hollow sound, also attenuated 3.8k to remove some harshness. Added some sparkling at 12kHz. Dynamics were UA 1176 Rev A in all-button mode for slight distortion and colorization with oh so small input gain. Peaks are tamed with LA-2A silver edition at about -1.5dB. I doubled the "cat growl" with a distorted version of the vocal track (A800) for some extra power at 3m10s.
bobbybizzle
New member
Wow I can't believe how big this contest became! Amazing. I give the guys at puremix a lot of credit for having to listen through all the mixes. Must be a heck of an undertaking!
I also can't believe how far technology has come in the last few years as far as recording/mixing goes. I heard some good mixes that were done on iPads... blows my mind!
I also can't believe how far technology has come in the last few years as far as recording/mixing goes. I heard some good mixes that were done on iPads... blows my mind!
Contest entry (posted before the deadline)
Hi, i've uploaded my mix to Souncloud and shared on the GearFest group before the deadline but only now posting to thread.
On Soundcloud: riztocrat/gearfestpuremixcontest-oh-baby-mix-by-riztocrat
I went after a little grittier and dirtier sound. Good amount of compression, EQ to even out some frequencies, panning automation, volume automation and a bit of tape emulation and distortion plugins on all tracks.
Hardware: Steinberg CI1, KRK KNS-6400 Earphones
Software: Cubase 7 running on a Core i5 PC with Windows 7; Steinberg stock plug-ins, Slate Digital, Native Instruments, 112dB, Soundtoys).
Hi, i've uploaded my mix to Souncloud and shared on the GearFest group before the deadline but only now posting to thread.
On Soundcloud: riztocrat/gearfestpuremixcontest-oh-baby-mix-by-riztocrat
I went after a little grittier and dirtier sound. Good amount of compression, EQ to even out some frequencies, panning automation, volume automation and a bit of tape emulation and distortion plugins on all tracks.
Hardware: Steinberg CI1, KRK KNS-6400 Earphones
Software: Cubase 7 running on a Core i5 PC with Windows 7; Steinberg stock plug-ins, Slate Digital, Native Instruments, 112dB, Soundtoys).
I wish I had a few things worked out that I missed. I just didn't have the time to go back and do it.
Now that the time is up, I'm thinking about going back and trying it again from the beginning to see how close I come to the same outcome! I've been messing with some different plugins since I started this project, and I think I can come up with something even better, I just wish I would have had the time before the deadline!
SonicSculptor
New member
I downloaded my own track & got back exactly what I sent up - including original file name.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
The contest is apparently still up and still open...and based on the dealine, should be open until the end of this day....not sure if there is a strict time zone in effect.
I'll be posting mine sometime later this evening....
SonicSculptor
New member
A piece of art is never complete, simply abandoned... That said, I think the deadline is tonight...not sure 'bout time zone?
monztamack
New member
well i guess im like one of the few ppl that wanted to keep the energy & emotion so i did, many mixes i heard are mastered or pumped like a mofo, reading the rules helps thats why mine is so low so it can be normalized & mastered; hope you like it
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slavetothemusic
New member
Having troubling adding my mix to the group
I uploaded my mix, but can't seem to add it to the soundcloud group page, any help?
I uploaded my mix, but can't seem to add it to the soundcloud group page, any help?
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