GearFest Mixing Contest

[Julia_B]

It appears that people are still uploading...since there are entires right now showing "2 hours ago"...etc.
It's kinda' odd that there has been no official closing announcement on the Soundcloud group page.

It's also odd that some mixes that were uploaded days ago....are popping up on Page 1....unless Soundcloud randomly rotates them???

Anyway...even it was still open for another week, I have no desire to do 5 more remixes like a lot of folks were doing.
If you start second guessing yourself, it's all over...and if you are just not sure of your mixes, then you might never be.
Go with your initial feeling...and let it lay as it falls.

Soundcloud does a random rotation. I totally agree with you about second guessing. BTW I did get to hear your mix and it's really good. Good luck.

I was thinking about mine and I could tweak this little thing, and that little thing, and no. Not going to start going down that road. I've heard the song way too many times right now. I might destroy the vibe I've got going. It's also interesting the reaction depends upon who is listening. Guys who have listened: take the bass down a bit. Women who have listened: nice bass to needs a little more bass. We are more sensitive to highs than men, and are less sensitive to lower frequencies.

 

[funkycam]

Have you noticed that 99% of the participants have first described their gear before their musical intentions?

The contest instructions requested the info in that order. To be honest neither are important, what matters is the mix.
I heard some mixes that really did not live up to their well articulated intentions & carefully logged, high-dollar gearlists. Not to mention I have a suspicion the gear lists are to help with marketing in follow up emails.

 

[soupiraille]

Hello mon ami!! Merci pour ton commentaire et ton honnete impression sur le mixe Actually I wanted the snare to stick out so that people can feel the excitement and the snap(like a stick hitting their ass lol), like the verses of "LimpBizkit-My way", cause in the chorus I can feel that the limiter kills all that snap, so I wanted my track to keep the snap even in the chorus, but yes you are not the first person who complains about the snare being annoying, my girlfriend did too(I think i'll trust her ears more next time lol). You are spot on about the third voice, it gets lost a bit in the chaos and the vocal doesn't sound as pretty as in the first 2 choruses, you know I wanted to keep the 3rs chorus vocal without much processing(removing the poking resonances) to maybe let her express her self more ... but I think it was a wrong decision

Anyways thanks again for your feedback!! Your critics are very constructive ... and very well observed!!

If I may ask, are there more annoying things that you found in the mix ? I am willing to improve and don't like mistakes lol ... so please tell me so next time I don't mess anything up

By the way have you got facebook ?

Since you asked me so kindly, I would say there was too much de-essing on the vocals. Not very very annoying, but annoying quand même on certain words You probably processed resonances dynamically & de-essed, and the balance between these two processes was not necessarily easy to find in order not to mess the vocal up. I personally de-essed a tiny tiny bit cause I didn't find it needed much (except the two "in my soul" in 2nd verse, I tamed the esses with volume automation) but I did a fair amount of multiband comp for the resonances.

No facebook man, I'm still not in that business... Maybe one day

 

[miroslav]

Soundcloud does a random rotation. I totally agree with you about second guessing. BTW I did get to hear your mix and it's really good. Good luck.

I was thinking about mine and I could tweak this little thing, and that little thing, and no. Not going to start going down that road. I've heard the song way too many times right now. I might destroy the vibe I've got going. It's also interesting the reaction depends upon who is listening. Guys who have listened: take the bass down a bit. Women who have listened: nice bass to needs a little more bass. We are more sensitive to highs than men, and are less sensitive to lower frequencies.

Thanks for the mix comment!
I've been busy all weekend tracking for one of my own projects, so I just didn't have time to listen to a lot of the other mixes, and I would like to when I get a chance and leave some positive comments for other folks, as there really are many solid mixes in that 2800+. Once you pick out the 2-3 hundred best ones....it's going to be very subjective and yeah, depend on who is listening to any given mix.
Oh...and I'm with you, unlike most guys, I have a real distaste for bright/treble stuff, so I tend to enjoy fat bass and deep drums, with more darker guitar tones. The friggin'' Hit Hat in the contest drum tracks absolutely took my head off! I spent the most time on the drums....trying to get the Snare to crack with some punch but also pulling back on the High Hat, which seemed to be in every track!
I really WAS tempted to use samples in place of the original drums....but even though Puremix said that much would be allowed, I felt that the challenge was to mix what was there. I mean, why stop at just drums if you are going to cherry pick the best sampled stuff to replace with. Not sure how many people did replace the drums out of desperation....'cuz the original ones were not pretty on any level...not the Kick, Snare, HH...etc.

I took a listen to your mix...and you did a nice job. Did you submit the one with the mastering plugs you applied or the other one?
I think it was allowed....mastering plugs, whatever. I did mine mostly OTB, and only tossed a Wave L2 on the final digital stereo mix, just to bring it up a pinch, but I was able to get most of my level with the OTB stuff I used, and still keep the dynamics there.
I saw a lot straight-line mixes that got submitted.....just maxed to the gills.



---------------
Gearfest Puremix - "Oh Baby" mix.

 

[soupiraille]

I was rereading the rules just for the hell of it and realized
"5. Mixing contest ends on June 1st 2013. The closing date for entries is June 1st 2013, 11:59pm Central European Time (CET)"

Cheesy onions! In the PDF instruction file this was not mentioned! There was just "June 1st"; so for people in the US lots are off deadline??

 

[miroslav]

Seeing how about 2850 made it in on time....I don't think there are more than a handfull that might have missed the deadline.......

 

[aarvin2]

I was thinking about mine and I could tweak this little thing, and that little thing, and no. Not going to start going down that road. I've heard the song way too many times right now. I might destroy the vibe I've got going. It's also interesting the reaction depends upon who is listening. Guys who have listened: take the bass down a bit. Women who have listened: nice bass to needs a little more bass. We are more sensitive to highs than men, and are less sensitive to lower frequencies.

It depends on who gives you the advise, most people(well the newbies tend to do this) base themselves on their personal opinions rather than talking from the perspective of HOW IT FEELS IN THE MIX AS AN ENSEMBLE. Doesn't depend on men nor women neither ... but I never came across a female top notch mixing engineer though, as well as a top notch female producer or top notch DJ for instance ... I mean they don't go super deep into things or have this very obsessive perfectionist nature which top notch people seem to have... maybe that's why you don't want to tweak the little things female nature lol

 

[aarvin2]

It was written that they should be sent BEFORE the June 1st :O

 

[aarvin2]

Since you asked me so kindly, I would say there was too much de-essing on the vocals. Not very very annoying, but annoying quand même on certain words You probably processed resonances dynamically & de-essed, and the balance between these two processes was not necessarily easy to find in order not to mess the vocal up. I personally de-essed a tiny tiny bit cause I didn't find it needed much (except the two "in my soul" in 2nd verse, I tamed the esses with volume automation) but I did a fair amount of multiband comp for the resonances.

No facebook man, I'm still not in that business... Maybe one day

Thank you so much mate!! I know exactly which "S" you are talking about, the one which says SOUL where the S completely disappeared lol ... I fixed it right now

I also fixed the snare(now it's fatter, less highs and it blends!), the last chorus and the other little niggles to make it perfect ... god how I wish the deadline wasn't over :'( I'm all heart broken lol

Well at least I can have it for a showcase XD

 

[miroslav]

... but I never came across a female top notch mixing engineer though, as well as a top notch female producer....

Well....that don't mean there are none!

There are certainly more men in the recording world, but there actually are a bunch of TOP notch female engineers, mastering engineers working in the biz.

Producers....those can be just about anyone with an opinon.

 

[Julia_B]

Thanks for the mix comment!
I've been busy all weekend tracking for one of my own projects, so I just didn't have time to listen to a lot of the other mixes, and I would like to when I get a chance and leave some positive comments for other folks, as there really are many solid mixes in that 2800+. Once you pick out the 2-3 hundred best ones....it's going to be very subjective and yeah, depend on who is listening to any given mix.
Oh...and I'm with you, unlike most guys, I have a real distaste for bright/treble stuff, so I tend to enjoy fat bass and deep drums, with more darker guitar tones. The friggin'' Hit Hat in the contest drum tracks absolutely took my head off! I spent the most time on the drums....trying to get the Snare to crack with some punch but also pulling back on the High Hat, which seemed to be in every track!
I really WAS tempted to use samples in place of the original drums....but even though Puremix said that much would be allowed, I felt that the challenge was to mix what was there. I mean, why stop at just drums if you are going to cherry pick the best sampled stuff to replace with. Not sure how many people did replace the drums out of desperation....'cuz the original ones were not pretty on any level...not the Kick, Snare, HH...etc.

I took a listen to your mix...and you did a nice job. Did you submit the one with the mastering plugs you applied or the other one?
I think it was allowed....mastering plugs, whatever. I did mine mostly OTB, and only tossed a Wave L2 on the final digital stereo mix, just to bring it up a pinch, but I was able to get most of my level with the OTB stuff I used, and still keep the dynamics there.
I saw a lot straight-line mixes that got submitted.....just maxed to the gills.



---------------
Gearfest Puremix - "Oh Baby" mix.

I knew they were going to normalize everything. I had a couple of hard peaks that I went in and took down with the pencil tool and dropped those two back about 4 dB.... since compressing took too many transients down, and the limiter was a little too obvious. The only "mastering" plugins I used on that other track was the "Analog Tape" preset + Limiter anyway. This is the one I submitted. It's my straight mix.





How many people here caught that the guitar player got excited just before his solo and started playing sharp? I mean way sharp. He started cranking on those frets. She tried to adjust but was about a dime flat compared to the guitar. It was driving me nuts. I Melodyned her to compensate because it was easier to alter her than a distorted guitar. Blame the guitarist.

 

[davidpend]

Wow..I hope they give a little leeway with that. Lots of folks would have waited till last minute.

 

[fHumble fHingaz]

... but I never came across a female top notch mixing engineer though, as well as a top notch female producer....

Oh, they're out there - Here are just a few:

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Veronica Ferraro

Marcella Araica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sylvia Massy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mandy Parnell: Mastering Björk's Biophilia

Anne Minicieli: https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CGIQtwIwCw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Di9xTeazW03o&ei=njqsUau-DM7FkwWW34GYAw&usg=AFQjCNGXghUF1r23RrSe66kdmIwYpVlc7w&sig2=HzrWzMmUFKxZ1BSyLCMIYA&bvm=bv.47244034,d.aGc

Leslie Anne Jones: http://http://www.pensadosplace.tv/2013/01/17/episode-99-leslie-ann-jones-dir-of-music-recording-and-scoring-at-skywalker-sound/

 

[Michael60302]

So I can't post a link to my mix until I've made at least 10 posts... Silly.

Or is there a way to insert my mix like everyone else is doing without first making 10 posts??

 

[soupiraille]

The deadline was 11:59pm wherever you live

Guys, no worries for the deadline, it was 11:59pm wherever you live on earth (had a confirmation of pureMix directly)

 

[Michael60302]

So when exactly will we know who won? Will it be a couple weeks yet?

 

[soupiraille]

on June 21st

 

[jcloth]

Has anyone noticed they have had their mix downloaded in France? This makes me think/hope that Fab has downloaded my mix! (I submitted in the evening of June 1st)

 

[mesavox]

Guys,

I wanted to share a thought with you.

Have you noticed that 99% of the participants have first described their gear before their musical intentions?

It shows that when they think about their mix, they think technical rather than musical first. Why? Ask yourself and you'll get the answer.
As for me I don't care about the gear; I'm not thinking what plugin I'll use on this or that track, I'm just trying to have a vision of what I want to hear, and then I try to pick something that can lead to that result. That's one of the toughest things about mixing: having a clear vision of the result based on what you've been given, BEFORE starting mixing.

Vision first, gear next.

That all depends. My description on the soundcloud page starts with my musical intensions, but my description I posted on this forum was technical. That was because it segued from my introduction as I was typing.

Also, be careful to not put too much into what people who are not professional writers write about their work. Plus, the topic of conversation can change the focus of the description. Again, segues, or a gear driven conversation. I select the gear based on the music. I'm more likely to reach for API eq on hard rock guitars than I am on RnB guitars. I didn't use an SSL Stereo Bus compressor on this contest because it makes me think rock or pop, and this track made me think more motown, so I went with (what I hoped was) a more vintage 2 bus compressor sound.

Sometimes even mentioning the gear choice tells the listener what the musical vision was. If someone tells me they used all helios eqs, I'm not immediately thinking that they're mixing a Metallica record. lol

I know it seems like the access to plugins and the onslaught of mixers and remixers who live on sequencers and synths that already have radio ready samples installed means that the whole craft is being degraded to the depths of despair... But, most people who are going to keep rising to the top, or even manage to become a professional who can work across the genre board are doing so because of their love of the music, and their musical vision. Just because we're gear nerds and love the gear we use doesn't mean the music isn't an understood you of what we love first and what we think of first when we select those tools.

I didn't respond with an attitude of "OH Yeah... well, you're stupid..." lol I'm responding with the intent of saying, try not to despair about the state of the craft where people getting into it for the wrong reasons is concerned. I think the instant information age distorts our perceptions and can make us feel worse about things than things really are.

 

[aarvin2]

Has anyone noticed they have had their mix downloaded in France? This makes me think/hope that Fab has downloaded my mix! (I submitted in the evening of June 1st)

That's maybe Soupiraille I think he downloads some mixes to listen to and he's from France.

By the way it's not Fab who's gonna listen to the 2800 tracks ... it's the puremix team ... who ever that might be :O