Mix contest

  • Thread starter Thread starter caryindy
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in some of the mixes, I heard what appear to be a wavering time in the drum tracks in the first 30 seconds or so. I didn't hear that in the orginal. Did anyone else hear this?

Chess...your mix was fairly decent, but your *imaginative* ending really had some problems, imo. I liked the idea, but there was some induced noise by all the pitch change and stuff, that really ruined the ending then for me. It sounded 'lo-fi', but with decent fidelity, for a lack of better words. I also liked the addition of the keys. I thought the song suffers from musical dynamics, and that helped. I think more of that *idea* could have been used, and would really help with the production, rather than what I would say helping the mix. But the playing was kinda "drone" and wasn't as musically interesting as I thought it could be.

Some of the other mixes also had some really bad points to them...like really dry vocals, really poor drum sounds, low levels, or just screwy panning and such. I can see the attempt at trying to "create" something better, but these single items were enough reason for me to say they weren't as good as the original.

However, I think this is probably one of the most constructive uses of these forums, and everyone gets 5 stars without a doubt for their efforts.

I should probably go out for dinner and do the 2 hour download and spend an evening with this myself, so you can all slam my crappy mix too. I can understand it is all too easy to sit on the sidelines and be critical, without trying to mix it too. maybe.....!!lol!
Apologies in advance if I sound like a harsh f*ck-wad...but the original WAS pretty good, and other than boosted volumes in some of the tracks, I feel it is still pretty much out in front of the pack.
 
mixmkr said:
Chess...your mix was fairly decent, but your *imaginative* ending really had some problems, imo. I liked the idea, but there was some induced noise by all the pitch change and stuff, that really ruined the ending then for me. It sounded 'lo-fi', but with decent fidelity, for a lack of better words.

I see. So the man didn't like the bonus track. That was just something thrown in for fun -- just Chess futzin' around. It's not even on there anymore. I suppose it could have been developed more, but it's not like we're dealing with a Yes album or anything here. :D

I cant' wait to hear the mixmkr version. That puppy is gonna' leave some 'a these mixes seriously in the dust.
 
does anyone wanna give me some feeback on my mix?

in some of the mixes, I heard what appear to be a wavering time in the drum tracks in the first 30 seconds or so. I didn't hear that in the orginal. Did anyone else hear this
I'm hearing this in some of the mixes too.
 
fenix said:

I'm hearing this in some of the mixes too.

phew...that's kinda a relief!!

...and Chess... I don't think so... my stuff is pretty dusty too!

it's only been downloading now for a loooooong time. ...and a friggin zip file. I better have space on my hardrive for this sucker. My lil ole C drive is full with apps, and my D only has about 2.5gigs left, unless I dump the sucker, and then it is only a measly 6 gig drive anyway.

oh well....70% and counting...it's getting there...



(I need a new computer!)
 
fenix said:
does anyone wanna give me some feeback on my mix?


I'm hearing this in some of the mixes too.
Your mix was nice man - much better than the original.

0:24 echo trail on lead vocal. It tends to muddy the word.
0:34 drum fill out of time. (the last two hits on the kick)
0:58 nice addition of the vocal echo's
1:50 the electric guitar sounds nice.
2:01 2:07 the fret noise on the guitar seems to come across like clicks at these spots.
2:56 lo-fi vocal is cool, but doesn't work for me in this case.
3:00 This section of the lead vocal is way louder than the rest of the take. You have to do something to level this out, like some automated fader moves.

The rest of the mix was nice man. Great job on the drum playing too!
 
mixmkr said:
Some of the other mixes also had some really bad points to them...like really dry vocals, really poor drum sounds, low levels, or just screwy panning and such.

Hey, I resemble that remark! Stop it, man, you're killin' me!!! ;)

Is that any way to treat a guy who let you play on his demo? :D

Gary
 
mixmkr said:
in some of the mixes, I heard what appear to be a wavering time in the drum tracks in the first 30 seconds or so. I didn't hear that in the orginal. Did anyone else hear this?...

(snip)
...Apologies in advance if I sound like a harsh f*ck-wad...but the original WAS pretty good, and other than boosted volumes in some of the tracks, I feel it is still pretty much out in front of the pack.


I don't even know how you're comparing these mixes to the original because the original isn't even available. The nowhere account that had the original is no longer there.

But getting back to your critique...

You really felt that this (the original)


was better than this?


The original is louder, but better? I think it has real issues in the lower mids where all the instruments and vocal are competing for space. The original mix sounds muddy to me. (No offense meant Fenix)
 
I listened to the original first and then recall listening to a couple of mixes. Then at a later date, I listened to some more mixes, (without comparing the original) but some were immediately obvious that they weren't up to par as the original. One had a really warbly vocal effect that was pretty sad, and another the snare really had a MIDI sound to it and was extremely dry...plus the timing errors on the drums were showing up on some mixes then too. That in itself was knocking it "out of the race", just because that problem shouldn't get past the mixing stage for sure(and actually seemed like a newly created problem). At this point, unfortunately I cannot put names with specific mixes, as I was just listening to one after another without making those notes. I was expecting to hit on a "winner" and I would have made note of that. Admittedly, I may have missed a mix or two, as there seems to be about 10 of them now.

on a sad note... I downloaded the file (supposedly 360mg zip file), and my winzip says the file is corupt and I need to download again. I only got about 310mg and that took me 2 1/2 hours approx. I got it from Christiian's link.

any suggestions? I'd really hate to try the same download again.

and....the links to the two files above.... for some reason they only played for about 10+ seconds...then quit. I could only listen to the intro.
 
yeah...that worked...I just hardly ever do that, and just stream instead. thanks!!

I think the 2nd mix was quite a bit "boomier"...even with the buzz in the intro and all!!

It sounded like someone pulled up in a car next to me in the intersection, and the sub was blasting away in the next car over. Not a *bad* mix..but I think the bottom still had no definition and the mids were scooped out quite a bit too.

or...I'd equate it to hitting a loudness button on a stereo system and engaging the 10 band EQ circuit with the ole smiley.

Sorry...but that is what I am hearing... over URIE, JBL's, Auratones and Sony 7506's. Granted old speakers but goodies, imo.

plus...ya gotta <edit> that fade out(note) better and especially that buzz at the beginning.

Listening to the original (you supplied above) again...yes, the bottom has some problems, but in your mix, I think they were just amplified, rather than cured. ...and I guess I take that as a worse than the original. The orginal, the bass is "kinda" there...in yours it is too boomy and dominant.
 
Mixmkr -

Thank you man! I feel ashamed for posting that first mix with all that noise in there. I can't believe I didn't hear that???

I tried fixing the bass too... I'm not sure how that turned out. Bass is usually my biggest problem area.

How's this:

 
Finally I have my mix to post. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts on the mix.

Fishmed Mix

Now I can listen to the others and see how everyone else did their mixes.
 
After listening to several of the other mixes, I see that I have kept the electric guitars down perhaps a bit too much. I do think they give a bit more dynamics to the song. For what I was going for, I don't mind my mix, but I think I will play more with those guitars to see how much it may improve the overall feel.

I was not crazy about the method used to mic the overheads; therefore, I am not entirely happy with the way crashes seem extremed Left-Right in my mix. I think if I lower the levels of the OH, that should make that effect less noticable. Are my rim shots too low when the hard snare stops?


Some of the mixes I though were quite good listening from my earbuds at work were:

CARYINDY - CHESSROCK - CHRISTIAAN - FENIX - LooneyTunez

The other mixes had one or two things about them previously mentioned in this thread that need more work; mainly weak drums and dry vocals. Of course I am not in my studio as I write this post and listen to the mixes so my thoughts may change at a later date.

Kramer: Nice job on the bass sound.
 
Lets all play at the same speed

Thanks to Fusion 2 for compiling a list of the tunes. I was getting a big headach trying to locate them .

I tried to burn a CD of the tunes so I could listen to the songs on a couple of different stereo's.

It appears that SAE,MAE and Christian have posted songs at 48K so they will not easily convert to 44.1 CD burning. I also noticed that the levels of the songs vary greatly when compared in the project window of Feurio.

This is fun.

Thanks for the tracks Josh Hill
 
Re: Lets all play at the same speed

philsaudio said:
Thanks to Fusion 2 for compiling a list of the tunes. I was getting a big headach trying to locate them .


misguided thanks bud ;) fenix's the man, not me...

i think there's an ulterior motive involved though...lol

he's good, no doubt....
 
well, it's good to see everyone here has a life ;) ahem, dead (no post) on friday, very little on sat, and hangover sunday, typical well rounded bunch :)

cmon, there's gotta be someone wanting mix info, naw, not me, i'm no opportunist :D

peace, mix on...
 
Mastering Fest

Here is an IDEA!

Some say a Mastering Engineer puts a shine and adds coherence to disparate tracks.

How about someone take all of these disparate mixes and master them into one album. The true master ME will be able to get them all to sound the same. No!

Phil
 
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