GearFest Mixing Contest

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Damn all my replys to peoples posts are going here instead of on thier posts!~!
 
Clean, clear and individual in the approach. I can hear everything without it being harsh. Personal taste... the snare is a bit boxy for my preference
 
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mesavox said:
I dunno... I mentioned the lack of critical comments on my mix and was accused of only mixing for the approval of others so I kinda gave up.
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Yeah, well I guess people can interpret it any way they like. There's no denying, it's great to get positive feedback, & there's nothing wrong with that. Let's face it, if we're not mixing for the approval of others, what are we mixing for? If you make a mix, of what use is it unless other people hear it? If they don't like how it sounds, they're probably not going to listen again. Following that logic, all mix engineers must, by definition, mix for the approval of others.

Don't give up. If you want to get some feedback on your mix, I'd suggest starting by making some comments on other's mixes - people tend to be reciprocal by nature, so they are more likely to check out your mix that way. If you do a critique & make some suggestions, they are more likely to be curious about the veracity of your advice. A good way to determine that is to listen to something you've done - & Soundcloud is all set up for that sort of thing - they just have to click on your avatar to be directed to your page & mixes.
 
fHumble fHingaz said:
Yeah, well I guess people can interpret it any way they like. There's no denying, it's great to get positive feedback, & there's nothing wrong with that. Let's face it, if we're not mixing for the approval of others, what are we mixing for? If you make a mix, of what use is it unless other people hear it? If they don't like how it sounds, they're probably not going to listen again. Following that logic, all mix engineers must, by definition, mix for the approval of others.

Don't give up. If you want to get some feedback on your mix, I'd suggest starting by making some comments on other's mixes - people tend to be reciprocal by nature, so they are more likely to check out your mix that way. If you do a critique & make some suggestions, they are more likely to be curious about the veracity of your advice. A good way to determine that is to listen to something you've done - & Soundcloud is all set up for that sort of thing - they just have to click on your avatar to be directed to your page & mixes.
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Yeah.. I'm hoping to get to doing some listening and commenting tomorrow afternoon or Thursday when I'm not on my laptop. I can't really say too much constructive with ipod headphones or macbook pro speakers. LOL
 
bobbybizzle said:
I know all of you have probably heard 200 mixes at this point, but if you have a second, please check out mine and leave feedback. I'm looking for constructive criticism so I can get better. I really enjoy this contest and wish you all the best of luck!
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The balance of your mix is really good! Beside the verses there is quite some noticeable pumping from the buss compression. I'd back that of a bit or if you want it pumping I'd try to match the release time better to the rhythm.

Cheers,
Andy
 
mesavox said:
I wanted a mix of everything I heard in the track, which was like a rockin almost 80s rock (not hair metal lol) track, but with that Motown vibe too. I also wanted a slight hint of the overall eq on something like a Pink record. I found that goal to be the hardest to achieve because you can't force it if the singer's voice doesn't fit that want. It will be good to see the feedback and see if I got anywhere close to my goals.


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The balance between the instruments is fine but the eqing sounds a bit odd to me.
Lots of energy between 2 and 3 K especially noticeable on the vocals, was that on purpose?

Cheers,
Andy
 
davidpend said:
Oh well I tried! Here is my mix. I went for an old school live mix as I am an old school engineer from the 70's!
https://soundcloud.com/pendragonx/david-pendragon
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This is a really solid mix to me! The one thing I find is that the guitar and the vocals have a slight "nose" at around 2K or so, which makes especially the vocals appears at times a bit thin sounding, though I think this is more of a taste thing.

Cheers,
Andy
 
fHumble fHingaz said:
Well, this is what it's all about, really, isn't it? Sure, you can sit around waiting to win & hope that people post "teenage girl" comments on you mix ("I love your hair" "No, but I love your hair") but if you really want to actually improve, you've gotta spend time listening critically & commenting intelligently... I'm not talking about trash-talking everybody - Picking out the good points & making comments on what needs improvement with suggestions - according to their perspective & intentions, hopefully.
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Absolutely!! :) Very wise words ;)
 
davidpend said:
Damn all my replys to peoples posts are going here instead of on thier posts!~!
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That's ok... We are all just cherry picking the positive comments you've posted and assuming you've written those to us and the negative comments about someone else's mix :D


 
AndyGallas said:
The balance between the instruments is fine but the eqing sounds a bit odd to me.
Lots of energy between 2 and 3 K especially noticeable on the vocals, was that on purpose?

Cheers,
Andy
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Hmm.. I wouldn't say it was a conscious decision. My guess is that it is a result of my attempts to tame the cymbals and then get the highs back into the snare. The cymbals were just crazy overboard in my first mix attempt, and there was so much bleed on the snare track that it really seemed to take a little bit of cutting here, parallel eq there, compress this, sidechain that... LOL The cymbals are the aspect of the mix that I was very very unsure about. On one hand, I wanted a lot of them because I wanted it to have an old Grand Funk Railroad vibe to it, but I didn't want them to cover everything.
 
AndyGallas said:
This is a really solid mix to me! The one thing I find is that the guitar and the vocals have a slight "nose" at around 2K or so, which makes especially the vocals appears at times a bit thin sounding, though I think this is more of a taste thing.

Cheers,
Andy
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The following is about Andy's mix which is well worth a listen folks! I just hav'nt worked out how yo put his link to the track here yet Doh!

Great vocal tone in this mix Andy, overall balance and frequency shaping is very nice and warm sounding. From the rather 'hard' sounding original files you have done a great job of rounding the sound out! Respect mate!
 
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I think I finally worked out how to get the link to Soundcloud...I'm gettin' better at this! Thanks for the reviews, I will now go and try to get mine onto the pages I intended!

Just a bit about myself... I am an old school 61 years old sound engineer from Australia. My ears still work and I'm not really sure why! I lived through the years of very very loud bands and I'm still here. As an offering to young folk starting out, if your serious...protect your ears!
I started work in 1978 working with 2" tape and an SSL console. Everything was outboard and we had some of the most incredible boxes ever made. Many of them I now use 'out of the box' and having actually worked with the real SSL channel..the Waves software version is pretty damn awesome.Its not the same...but it is awesome.
The transition to digital was a lot harder than you might expect. It is a very different approach to capturing and then retaining the integrity of your sounds over the lengthy record/mix process. A brand new reel of tape does NOT sound the same after 2000 passes! :listeningmusic: What is digital recording's main attraction to me...it never degrades, I'm not having to deal with tape noise and I can do edits and drop ins that are seamless and a very cool tool. There are some very good mixes from some of you fellows. I'm glad I found my way here!
 
Hi, I´d like you to check my mix and if you like it (or not) give me some feedback.
Thanks.
Ed.

 
mesavox said:
Hmm.. I wouldn't say it was a conscious decision. My guess is that it is a result of my attempts to tame the cymbals and then get the highs back into the snare. The cymbals were just crazy overboard in my first mix attempt, and there was so much bleed on the snare track that it really seemed to take a little bit of cutting here, parallel eq there, compress this, sidechain that... LOL The cymbals are the aspect of the mix that I was very very unsure about. On one hand, I wanted a lot of them because I wanted it to have an old Grand Funk Railroad vibe to it, but I didn't want them to cover everything.
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For better or worse, right out of the gate, I chose to use multi-band downward expansion on the snare track to reduce most bleed somewhat, (no gating) & only left the most prominate HH chicks to remain prominate. Then used multiband upward compression on OH track to bring up the brass. Gives a nice subtle left-center bounce to the hat(maybe most obvious during 3rd verse). Also, rolled of HF drastically on OH track. Though, I've sidechained a kick to bass gtr in the past to open a quick spot for kick to pop through, I wasn't smart enough to consider using snare track to sidechain a drop on OH track snare bleed. Lack of imagination I guess.. Somehow your post triggered that thought. I will definitely add that to my toobag for the future. THX

 
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