PureMix / Sonnox Mixing Contest!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chater-La
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Since I just realized we're supposed to say something about our mix, here goes:

After bouncing down all the mono backgrounds into one stereo track, pans, some filtering, and basic levels, I felt the sound of the raw files could use some life. I patched in my trusty Massive Passive and did a very broad hi shelf till the track sounded better. After that I began doing a lot of fader rides. I then used Distressors on the main vocals and a stereo pair of DBX 160's on the drum bus. After that I added reverbs and delay and I was done. I think this was a very simple track to mix. I got extra level with a Pendulum Es-8 after the Massive Passive on the master bus and a little clipping.

Here's my mix for reference:

 
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Where exactly does it say we need to post here? Oh, well.

I mixed this in Studio One using mostly stock plugins and then some izotope plugins. I treated the different vox groups to help them change a bit. Feel free to comment:

//soundcloud.com/squ4tch/howlinamber-skyesqu4tch-mix (please add the https: at the beginning of the link.)

So we have to post here, but can't post links until we have 10 posts?
 
You dont need to post your mix. But you need to write about your mix if we are gonna follow the rules :-)
 
I don't remember reading that in the pureMix rules. That is why I am confused...sorry. Unfortunately, that site has changed now that the submissions are done.
 
That's beacuse it didn't.
The rules included an official discussion thread where you could talk about the mix, but there was no requirement to actually do so in order to enter the contest.
 
Someone stated it earlier in this thread. I didn't want to take any chances.
 
Hey guys !

I couldn´t resist to change the drum parts I wasn´t convinced of ;-)
This will surely make me noncompetitive, but anyway I played E-Drums, A-Drums and Percussion.
Here´s the track:



Credits:

E-Drums (TD12 / 5 Drumsets): D. Abadie¹
Percussion (Congas, Cajon, Shaker): D. Abadie²
A-Drums: D. Abadie³
Mixing, Mastering: D. Abadie⁴

LoFi-Dithering with Saracon

HybridCajonSet: (MIKING / 6 mics : 2 matched Pair of OKTAVAs, AVANTONE Ribbon, SM57)

DUENDE Cajon 10th Anniversary
MEINL Marathon Conga + Tumbadora
MEINL Wood Craft Bongos
12” TOCA Timbalito
12” SONOR Designer Snare
06" TOCA Mini Acryl Timbale
HP Foot Pedal Lam-Block, LP Fusheki Foot Maracas (Left Foot)
MEINL Foot Turbo Crasher, 12" YAMAHA Club Custom BassDrum, LP Foot Pedal Cowbell (Right Foot)
LP Mounted Cowbell + Woodblock + Rhythm Tech Tambourin + Blast Blocks
PEARL Horacio Hernandez Cowbell
MEINL Guiro
SCHLAGWERK Double Shaker
TOCA Cabasa
MD China Boy
18” MEINL Generation X Club Ride
12“ MEINL Generation X Safari HiHat
10” SABIAN AAX O-Zone Splash
08” ZILDJIAN ZXT Trashformer

Enjoy !

MD
 
Helo! I want to know,can i change the mix now?
I did it at the last moment and there are a couple of nuances that I would like to correct
 
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Ha ha ha! :) Thanks so much. /D

TADAAA!
And if you had clicked on "go advanced", you would have seen the
 
What are the requirements? Thank you) I want et this mix more spase and get vocal realy sing)
 
This contest is very worthy for me.
I learned a lot of things (recording, arranging, voicing and tone) by mixing this song.
Thanks PureMix, HomeRecording.com and Amber Skye's team.

I used UAD-2 plugins and Flux plugins mainly.

UAD-2 Neve 1073 (for brightness) : Vocals, Drums, Keyboards and reverb
UAD-2 1176 (for punch) : Drums, Keyboards, Bass, a ukulele
UAD-2 LA-2A (for warmth): Vocals, Guitars, Effects
UAD-2 EMT 140 as musical reverb

And for arranging, organization and surgical purpose,
I used lots of Flux Pure series. These were very successful.
I was able to spend a good time.
 
I don't remember reading that in the pureMix rules. That is why I am confused...sorry. Unfortunately, that site has changed now that the submissions are done.
That's beacuse it didn't.
The rules included an official discussion thread where you could talk about the mix, but there was no requirement to actually do so in order to enter the contest.
The rules that are still listed in the first post of this thread are almost word-for-word identical to what was on the PureMix site. The requirement to "share your thoughts, techniques and impressions" on the official thread was indeed listed.

Brief Rules:
1. Create a pureMix account and download the stems. By entering this contest and downloading those tracks, you hereby agree to join Sonnox' newsletter who is sponsoring this event.
2. You can use any DAW, any plugins, anything you like. The point is to mix the existing production, not to fix what you don't like about it, just like if you were hired to do it by the producer. Special exception for old school Acoustic Polka remixes.
3. Upload your mix of the stems on the pureMix Cloud on or before June 1st 2014.
4. Share your thoughts, techniques and impressions on this thread right here.
5. The pureMix team will pick the 3 mixes they like best. The 3 winners will win a Sonnox Essential Bundle.
6. As the Zen masters always say: the joy is in the journey not in the destination. Don't enter to win, enter to have a go at mixing a great NYC style production. Three of you will get the extra joy of winning Sonnox plug-ins for their effort.
 
The original official rules (as opposed to the "brief rules" at the top of this thread) are still in the HTML code of the PureMix page. They're commented out, but if you view the page source you can see them. (I can't paste the code here 'cause the forum thinks it's URLs and I don't have enough posts to paste URLs.)

I do hope they enforce the rule requiring the written submission, as it was plainly stated. Otherwise it would be unfair to those of us who did read the rules and took the time to write out a thoughtful entry. I figured the requirement for the written part of the contest was intended sort of as a promotion for these forums, so I complied.

If you were hired to mix and did not read or follow the list of instructions from your client, that would not be very good, would it?
 
Did any of you run low on processing power with this mix? I did. I had a total of 158 tracks at the end (audio plus aux tracks) and I was up to 94% of my cpu power. I have a 3.7GHz i7 with 32 gigs of RAM, and it still bogged.
 
Did any of you run low on processing power with this mix? I did. I had a total of 158 tracks at the end (audio plus aux tracks) and I was up to 94% of my cpu power. I have a 3.7GHz i7 with 32 gigs of RAM, and it still bogged.

Well I have a i7 3.4 with 16GBs of ram and just wanted you and all the rest of the people with home recording studios, that the best performance tweak that I did for my computer was when I got a “SSD” drive as my main “OS” and program drive! Of course, I also put all my plug-ins on this drive too.
Now, I use to use 3 internal 7500 rpm HHD drives. 1 for “OS” and programs, #2 for all session files, and #3 for all raw audio tracks, of course, I’m not using a lap top, but I never seem to have any problems with this set-up. No error messages or anything. I did notice some slow down when working with many tracks and or plug-ins, but everything worked just fine.
Now after installing the “SSD” drive as my main drive, it work so much better that I install a #2 “SSD” drive too, which I use just for session files and raw audio tracks on. I cannot believe the improvement this made to my recording and mix sessions!!!! My last project that I just completed had 89 raw audio stems, then of course I add all the busses, plug-ins, etc. So it was one of my biggest projects since I install the 2 “SSD” drive and I could not believe how well it handled the session! I did notice a little slow up but very little compared to what it use to do!! Now, with the “SSD” drive dropping in price (I saw several adds the past few day for very good drives at about $70.00) now would be the time to conceder this option. Of course, you lap top guys will still need an external drive, but installing a “SSD” drive for your internal drive is very well worth it. Also installing a “SSD” drive in a external case, firewire or USB 3.0, if your computer has one, would work the best, but USB 2.0 with “SSD” still work better that any other drive you put in that external case and save sessions file to this external drive.
Just some food for thought, works so well for me, I just had to let you guys know.
 
I have an SSD for my OS and Pro Tools, and a 10,000 RPM HD for audio files. My problem was not enough cpu power to crunch all of the plug-in math in real time. I had 158 tracks with at least two plug-ins on each. I can get a full count if you like. The audio started skipping during playback, and I was forced to remove about five plug-ins before it would playback smoothly. I am running Pro Tools 10 and I think PT 11 is much more efficient with plug-ins so it might be time to upgrade...
 
The rules that are still listed in the first post of this thread are almost word-for-word identical to what was on the PureMix site. The requirement to "share your thoughts, techniques and impressions" on the official thread was indeed listed.

The words 'share your thoughts, techniques and impressions on this thread' have a completely different meaning to 'you are required to describe your techniques and mix notes in this thread to be considered eligible'.
An invitation to share does not make it mandatory.
 
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