Hey guys!

I just participated in a mixing contest organized by HOFA.
In this particular contest, we were provided with all the different tracks and should only mix the session. The actual interesting part of it was the orchestra which they recorded in Prague (Czechia) with a total amount of 40 tracks!!
It, honestly, isn't my taste of music but it was fun to work with the live recorded orchestra and to see how the track eventually melt together, very instructive.

Let me hear what you think about the song and arrangement. What would you do differently on the mixing? I'd also love to hear your constructive feedback on my mix!

Thanks for your time,

Josh

http://songcheck.hofa.de/song/1181/

 

Sounds good to me! Not my taste of music though.

The only thing i would change is to pull up the vocal a bit more, other than that, it's good.
I checked some other mixes out and yours stands out. By far the best one I've heard of them all.

I voted for yours.

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2017

Did they include any target objective as far as the end result they want, or simply leave it open for anyone to mix with their own intuition? If the goal was not categorized and you used your own intuition you shouldn't hear much criticism for your work. However, if using my own intuition just with the info you provided I would have set a different target. 1. I would have mixed the 40 orchestral tracks first to sound as big and characterful as possible. 2. Instead of mixing the drums to have much width with hats and cymbals noticeably panned left and right (that equals a small or close stage).. I would have made the drums mono and only allowed stereo to bleed from roughly 3k and over which helps listeners identify the depth of the mono signal. 3. Vocal would be narrow focus, tight center with some outward expansion.

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2017

awesome work. for my taste the highs are a bit overwhelming in the middle. vocal level is perfect in the mix imo. i would either tapesim/saturate/deess the vocal a bit more. drums sound amazing/punchy. great mix/master !

 

cool! did you do a lot on the tracks?

good luck on winning, but whats the criterium of that happening?

luck?

 

Thanks for your answers guys, lot of interesting input right there..
I love that every one of you has a totally different approach to mixing and therefore different advices on the mix. Still very helpful!

@dbmuzik idea of the mix is like the total opposite of mine, haha. Nevertheless, I would love to listen to your version, so if you have some spare time, give it a try
At first, the biggest obstacle to me was that I struggled to put the huge orchestra into a pop song like that. When you just solo the orchestra, it sounds like a whole song by itself!

What would be your approach on mixing a 40 track orchestra with that many tracks(eq every track at first? work with mainly the decca trees and room mics)? And then put it into a pop arrangement?
Would love to hear your thoughts on that!

PS: Would be great if you voted for my track (just two clicks). Though the 1000euro winner is selected by a jury, you get special prizes for your votes

 

I hear you on that note. That's why I mentioned targeting that first. The way I go about it is to literally imagine a stage, the size of it, and where everything is at. With the 40 track/instrument orchestra you'd choose your heavier weighted instruments such as uprights, tubas, etc. to define the positions closer to the center, and incrementally pan each instrument outward in proportion to frequency.. so instruments like cellos would come next, followed by chorused instruments like a violin section. You make a seating arrangement based on the basic staging principles.. volume = front/back, pan = left/right, frequency = up/down. I prefer to use my own imagination to set the stage because I can choose the specific editing tools I want to use. But there are also single editing tools that are "supposed to be" geared for the same task such as Parallax Audio's Virtual Sound Stage 2..

 

Anyone with the mood and condition to create a mixing contest for Audiosex?

 

cool plug! at first glance i thought it was VSL's plugin, they wouldn't allow a demo unless i bought a product from them 1st. which is backwards thinking to me...

 

Sounds good and you have my vote.Good luck.

 

the level of the vocal sounds ok for me... and it sits well.. but it comes across a little "dry" while the music sounds pretty lush...
but maybe you were going for that kind of contrast

 

Sounds awesome man. Voted for you as well.

 

Indeed very nice mix, congrats for that.

I kind of agree with dbmuzik. This song could be what we call 'epic' if the soundstage was much bigger and larger; you know what I am talking about. Also spot on Herr Dur that vocal is dry and upfront. Not wrong but it does need some reverb/delay treatment or at least both automated. Same goes for drums. For MY taste I would put them a little back into mix as drums and vocal both seem recorded in a different room than the other orchestral elements. I would also use some saturation on strings to have them wider and try not to use any compressor on final mix bus or master instead limiter. Song ends abruptly as well and would get some benefit from a little delay and automated reverb to give it a longer and 'impactful ending'. Finally it also needs some more low end to have some oomph.

May be we are now used to of Alan Meyerson mixes with musical low end and larger than life mixes that my critical listening may look nonsense for which just disregard it But again your's stands out so voted!

 

Love the feedback guys! I couldn't agree more on the drums, they are definetly a little too loud and agressive, at least for that track.
Also really nice and inspiring thoughts on the orchestra mixing, mate @dbmuzik !

Btw @ed-enam do you know any songs Alan Meyerson produced? I'm actually more into the rock producers/mixers so I'm not familiar with his productions!

@Windows97 and all of the others here:
I'm about to record the first EP with my band in february. All of my band members are actually producers themselves, so I guess the recordings are going to be pretty solid (Genre: Rock/Indie/..) with live drums, amps, ...
If we have enough interested people on this site I could definitely ask my band members to provide the raw recordings for a mixing contest! Note on that: We actually would need a sponsorship or something comparable to provide a prize for the winner. Any ideas?

 

@jomali96 that's fine. Basically I mentioned Alan because of his exceptional talent achieving a 'full' mix. I was actually referring to 'fuller' mix. You can find Alan's work in Hans Zimmer's soundtracks as mostly if not all Hans always hires him for his tracks. Above all rock mixers always go for fuller and heart pounding mixes because of the nature of this genre. What I said is up to the taste and your's is fantastic though. These were my mere ideas that I would probably go for if I were you so nothing to worry about bro

 

Mixwise, I think you did a lovely job of balancing the orchestral tracks and vocals. The lead vocal is (perhaps) a little "dry". How much wet reverb to add to it is a matter of personal taste - either yours or the singer's producer.

The mix falls down, as mentioned above, in the positioning of the instruments. I found the placement of the hi-hat to the left of centre while the snare is slightly to the right of the stereo image annoying. In a physical kit the hi-hat is rigged on the same side as the snare, the reason being that you open and close the hi-hat with the foot that's on the opposite side of your body as the hand that strikes the top cymbal (your other foot naturally falls on the kick drum pedal).

The 40 orchestral tracks are a booby trap for the electronic music mixing guy. If, as you say, you are not particularly interested in orchestral music, the seating arrangements for a modern orchestra might not be a strong point in your skillset. Here is a PDF document that might help you out with that:
http://www.jdsmusic.co.uk/Orchestral Seating - JDS 2009.pdf
You don't have to learn it by heart. It's merely reference. Nonetheless, from the document, you'll possibly ask yourself "Was it the first or second violins that played during the intro of the track?" I know that I did just that.

Does it really matter where you place the orchestral instruments in a project that had no end goals? Well.... possibly. For me it does matter because posting work out in the open in a public competition is my calling card. Knowing where to put stuff is a part of the job. So, try to be careful to leave a good impression of your mixing general knowledge. It's like loading the dice in your favour. If the competition were tied for first place, the best technical knowledge could be a deciding factor. Watch out for that.

 

Last edited: Jan 19, 2017

The track that comes of that web site is hitting the reds a bit hard. Slightly too hot around 16K and a touch over compressed. But otherwise good enough matey. Well done.

 

Lovely song! Orchestra blended well, nice job. I'd check similar songs for drums and vocals reference though. Yours are good, but those tend to be more vivid and in your face in this type of music. Good luck!

 

Imo the transient shaping on the drums, especially on the kick is a bit too piercing for the genre. I mean i like snappy but when its in the bare parts of the track, it is doing too much in the mix. It sounds better in the chorus though

 

Snare is too loud coming out of my iPhone 5c...