Feared Mixing Competition 2013

I kinda liked it. :)

Congrats man! Your mix is very good and like I said, I didn't mean any disrespect. It was way better than most mixes. There were some mixes that felt better to my ears but that might be just me. :) Make sure that you get that Presonus interface!!!! ASAP!! :D
 
No offence taken at all. Normally I would spend a TON of time painstaking going every single detail, making sure everything is perfect. But this time, I decided to just sit down and give the tune what I thought it needed: balls and attitude. I wasn't completely satisfied from a technical standpoint, but I think I succeeded in the balls and attitude department. :p

And yes, in retrospect, I probably would have brought the vocals up a hair.
 
As promised, here are those pre-processed vocal and bass tracks I said I would get out to you guys when the competition closed.

Please bear in mind that these still require additional mixing - especially the bass.

Click here to download the files

Vocal: This was run through an outboard rack to give some sweeter flavor to the compression and bring out the guttural nuances of Mario's voice. I'd recommend high-passing this track, along with perhaps a shallow cut at 300Hz. There is room to do additional saturation, distortion and limiting if you so wish.

Bass: The DI on this was cleaned up through my outboard rack, as well as compressed a fair bit. It was then reamped through an MXR bass di and PSA-1.1. Those tracks were pre-blended by me into the one you hear there. It still needs pretty drastic EQ sculpting work in order to fit into a 'clean' mix, but I believe it's a good starting point. There is also room for additional compression and limiting.

This is how both tracks sit in my final mix, in case any reference points are needed. I pushed the track a bit too hard with a faux-master chain and it's a bit crackly, but you get the idea:

 
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As promised, here are those pre-processed vocal and bass tracks I said I would get out to you guys when the competition closed.

Please bear in mind that these still require additional mixing - especially the bass.

Click here to download the files

Vocal: This was run through an outboard rack to give some sweeter flavor to the compression and bring out the guttural nuances of Mario's voice. I'd recommend high-passing this track, along with perhaps a shallow cut at 300Hz. There is room to do additional saturation, distortion and limiting if you so wish.

Bass: The DI on this was cleaned up through my outboard rack, as well as compressed a fair bit. It was then reamped through an MXR bass di and PSA-1.1. Those tracks were pre-blended by me into the one you hear there. It still needs pretty drastic EQ sculpting work in order to fit into a 'clean' mix, but I believe it's a good starting point. There is also room for additional compression and limiting.

This is how both tracks sit in my final mix, in case any reference points are needed. I pushed the track a bit too hard with a faux-master chain and it's a bit crackly, but you get the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICa4_xd-CaI


how on earth did this mix not win 0_o?
 
They seriously chose the most unoriginal, bland mix to win.

Yeah I agree =/. I mean, its there Competition there recording, song, etc
So if they feel like that was closest to what they were looking for then thats cool for them I guess. But still, I feel like that there were soooo many better mixes out there.
 
haha, it seems that the jury didn't want to offend nobody who made good mix, choosing one of them! :)
 
My mix was done in like 30min but I still think my verse riff was a lot better than the original :D :D :D

 
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Compared to some more professional sounding mixes in the competition which also had "balls" the winning mix is guilty of the following:

It's pumping! WTF is up with that?!
The crashes are louder than the vocals & toms and louder than the snare in the solo.
Cymbals are inconsistent and distracting and don't gel with the mix.
Toms are too quiet compared to the snare during drum rolls.
Guitars and vocals are missing definition.
Solo sounds brittle and weak.
The snare hit at 1:44 is barely audible.
The mix lacks a depth that some other mixes had.

Too many mix issues to make this a believable winning entry.

The second place winner. I can't fault that entry. He showed a great level of creatively with a slightly contemporary version of the track.

The third place winner. Really? Are you telling me that out of the 1500 or so entries that this deserved a place. I listen to dub-step and this is even a bad dub-step track.

The judges will say people like us make holding these competitions a pain in the ass.
I'd say having judges like them make entering these competitions a waste of time.
 
I can probably guess why the winning mix won, given MY ASSUMPTIONS from what it seems they like to hear. The big low end and simple aggressiveness may have done the trick. But from a technical standpoint, I'm disappointed it won when there were much better mixes IMO that deserved to poll. But kudos regardless to Ben \m/ they obviously thought the mix was a winner for them!
 
Just got asked to provide the 'final mix' versions of those pre-processed vocal and bass tracks I uploaded so: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/285689/Forum/Possessed - Ermz Pre-Processed Tracks FINAL MIX.rar

Note: If the bass sounds a bit 'ringy', just attenuate ~115Hz by ~3dB. I used certain master bus EQ which worked when the whole mix was running, but leaves the track a little wonky by itself.

This is mainly for educational purposes. I'd recommend using the less processed versions of the tracks, and only referencing these as a guide for your own mix.
 
As promised, here are those pre-processed vocal and bass tracks I said I would get out to you guys when the competition closed.

Please bear in mind that these still require additional mixing - especially the bass.

Click here to download the files

Vocal: This was run through an outboard rack to give some sweeter flavor to the compression and bring out the guttural nuances of Mario's voice. I'd recommend high-passing this track, along with perhaps a shallow cut at 300Hz. There is room to do additional saturation, distortion and limiting if you so wish.

Bass: The DI on this was cleaned up through my outboard rack, as well as compressed a fair bit. It was then reamped through an MXR bass di and PSA-1.1. Those tracks were pre-blended by me into the one you hear there. It still needs pretty drastic EQ sculpting work in order to fit into a 'clean' mix, but I believe it's a good starting point. There is also room for additional compression and limiting.

This is how both tracks sit in my final mix, in case any reference points are needed. I pushed the track a bit too hard with a faux-master chain and it's a bit crackly, but you get the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICa4_xd-CaI



holy shit !!!
the tightness here is incredible!!!
great mix Ermz