Pure Mix Zelab Mixing Challenge

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Not sure if anyone is doing this yet but its a cool song and well recorded. Due April 10th.

https://www.puremix.net/zelab-mixing-contest.html

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Here's what I have so far. The arrangement on the second chorus gets weird so I've mixed up to that point lol.

https://soundcloud.com/csweet08-1/thing

[Sean JohnsonParticipant]

Yes, I hoped to give it a shot too. Downloading tracks now. Thanks for the thread.

[Arthur LabusModerator]

Thanks Chris ! Good stuff. I think i'll try ...

[James GormanParticipant]

Chris, Sean Arthur, did you end up getting through this? I'm late to the party but have my first draft done (pls ignore the echo garbage at the beginning!).

Chris was loving that vocal tone.

https://soundcloud.com/gorepants/stephano-petrocca-foundation-wip

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by James Gorman.

[Chris SweetParticipant]

Hey James, thanks man. I haven’t gone back to finish yet. Will probably wrap it up this weekend.

[James GormanParticipant]

Just got mine in. More or less turned out how I intended. End was pretty dense so getting it to fit together took a few goes.

[Pedro Pitta GrozParticipant]

Good work guys. Was gong well Chris, did you finish it? I've put mine in yesterday. Would like to know what you think.
https://www.puremix.net/zelab-mixing-contest/zelab-session-27-stephano-petrocca.html?mixId=CQREHO5YAb8SsiqpTnaYtGb3%2BDhJvKqfrlEPhaHcjUQ%3D

I'll look for yours there and give it a like.

[Chris SweetParticipant]

[quote quote=42676]Good work guys. Was gong well Chris, did you finish it? I've put mine in yesterday. Would like to know what you think. https://www.puremix.net/zelab-mixing-contest/zelab-session-27-stephano-petrocca.html?mixId=CQREHO5YAb8SsiqpTnaYtGb3%2BDhJvKqfrlEPhaHcjUQ%3D
I'll look for yours there and give it a like.[/quote]

Hey Pedro, yes here was my submission https://www.puremix.net/zelab-mixing-contest/zelab-session-27-stephano-petrocca.html?mixId=fQt5u2CvrvzAOvcbB7fjw1NbIE7QIDoqXvWFGin5XVY%3D

Listening to yours now. Sounds good man. I might have pulled the lead vocal back just a tad, or maybe pull a little of bit of low/low mid out of it on the verses. It's a little "on top of" of the mix. Small stuff though. Drums and bass sound good. Balance is good overall. This one was tricky to mix for sure. Nice work!

[Pedro Pitta GrozParticipant]

Thanks for listening. I think you're right about the vocals. The low mids were difficult to control as I wanted to keep some chest, I like his character in that area. Also is a region that I always have trouble. It seems like my room smears the mid lows.
How did you went about the drums? The two tracks don't go well together. Any way I flip polarity either kick or snare would be cancelling. I picked one snare and one kick hit, triggered them, aligned both with the snare track that became more of an overhead, and ditched the kick track. the cymbals sound at times phasy even with just that track. I guess one of the cymbals was waving it's edge to much in front of the mic. Well, good luck to us!

[James GormanParticipant]

Thanks Pedro, nice work. My thoughts were similar to Chris'. Balance and tone are good, good use of effects, but the vocals are a bit detached, especially when there are no doubles in the verses. By the end when the track is full they are pretty close to spot on. Did you automate the vocals levels? Might need to move the volume more so it rises up through the song with the instuments. Could also maybe add some really quiet slap delay or chorus (like Warren's vocal thickening). Maybe a bit of 500-800 buildup in the guitar/keys. It's wide so it doesn't get in the way of the vocals, but there's a lot going on so it might be muddying things up a bit.

Good work Chris. Tone's still good. Only spot that sticks out for me is the when the drums cut out for the bridge it feels super abrupt without the cymbals covering it. Only a problem because it conflicts with the smooth tone of the vocals in the bridge. The bridge itself sounds good, so I think it's just that transition.

I didn't even realise there was the share link! Was trying to work it out and turns out there's a great big button with share on it. https://www.puremix.net/zelab-mixing-contest/zelab-session-27-stephano-petrocca.html?mixId=bz%2FWDzL5BoDGsvRnq%2FVN509LPH%2BzEGxQndp5jMRa6kc%3D

[James GormanParticipant]

Pedro - weird you were getting phasing on the drums. The mic setup is definately sub-optimal for cymbals, snare is under the main crash so there's a lot of washy cymbal noise - maybe that's part of what you're hearing? Off the side would be much better, but with only two mics...

I didn't replace anything (except some edits and swaps for timing and tone). It's all reaper too - would you like my final session to compare to? My chain was:

Kick
- Slate VTM: low bias for distortion
- bx_console E: 10K low pass; 100hz shelf boost; 1.5K bump; light compression
- EQP1A: light low bump at 20hz
- route: drum buss, drum verb, drum crush
- automation: 6db boost on tom fills (to get the fat bottom cut out of the snare mic)
Snare
- Slate VTM
- bx_console E: 110hz high pass; 450hz low shelf cut; 1.5k bump; 6.5K shelf boost; light compression
- ozone vintage limiter: light trim only worst peaks
- route: drum buss, drum verb, drum crush
- automation: 1.5db up for bridge; 1db up last chorus; 2db up outro
Drum Verb:
- Verbsuite Classics: 714ms room
- bx_digital: 400-5.5k band pass
- route: drum buss
Drum Crush:
- CLA-2A: all buttons mode, >20dB gain reduction
- bx_digital : 100hz high pass
- reacomp: duck original kick and snare hits by 1-3dB
- E2Deesser: ~2dB max at 6K
- route: drum buss
- automation: 8db down outro (that cymbal!)
Drum Buss:
- Lindell TE-100: 170hz shelf boost; 40hz high pass; 300hz boost; 1.2-4.8k boost; 6.5K shelf boost + 10K shelf cut
- Waves API-2500: med knee; med thrust; feed forward; 1:3; 3ms attack, 50ms release; 1-3db reduction
- Maaq EQ4: 40hz bump; 160hz bump; 650hz cut; 2.5k shelf cut; 20k shelf boost
- E2Deesser: ~1db at 6K
- route: master
- automation: TE-100 high self from 5.5db to 0.5db in outro (that cymbal again!)
Master (worth noting only because there are bunch of analogue emulations that are effecting transients and highs):
- Slate Virtual Mixbuss: Brit N
- SPL Passeq: wide 13k boost, slighter higher on the sides; 140hz cut; 26hz boost, centre only
- Slate VBC FG-Red: 55% drive; 1:2; med fast attack, auto release; 100hz sidechain hpf; <2db reduction
- Slate VTM: 15ips, -6bd bass alignement; peak ~2VU
- Abbey Road Vinyl: desk on; lacquer; AR turntable; mm cartridge; noise, crackle, clicks, phase distortion off; low-med drive

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