How is your progress so far on the contest?

Any tricks that you’re trying out on this song?

For the beginners, what are some of the challenges you’re facing so far as you mix this song?

Just checking in to see how it’s going! :beerbanger:

People keep complaining about guitar noise, but without the buzz the bass is seriously lacking. I’m trying more snare reverbs now that I’ve heard some constituents’ mixes.

I haven’t even started yet! All I’ve done is put all the tracks into a project and set up my basic workflow, listened to the as-is tracks, and am all set to start as soon as I can pry loose some time. Traveling tomorrow through late Monday night so it’ll be next weekend before I can realistically spend any time. I’ll be a late entrant…

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downloaded the project and installed in my daw and ready to have fun

I’m mixing it in Reaper instead of Sonar, so that’s interesting. I added some bass and guitar and different drums, that was allowed right? I’m also mixing the vocals way dryer than all the other mixes I’ve heard so far. I’m not sure I’ll actually enter it but I’m having fun working on it anyways.

I didn’t even notice the buzz, but that’s probably because I use p90s a lot and have tuned it out.

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I’m finally checking out the tracks right now. I had a couple thoughts on something I wanted to try :slight_smile:

I’ve never heard a mix of any of your stuff. I’m curious.

I’d also like to add–if anyone has any feedback about the quality of the tracks, I’d love to hear it! I’m always trying to improve my recordings.

What mic was used on a vocal? was there a hardware comp on the way in?

I wonder cause it distorts at few moments.

I finally had a chance to mess with this a bit today. The hardest thing I have with it is that it really doesn’t need a whole lot mix wise. It sounded pretty good just turning up the faders.

I did have a little bit of a hard time with the distorted guitar trying to get it to fit in with everything.

The mic was a Rode NT1-A. No hardware compressors. I’m surprised it was distorted! I don’t remember the peaks getting clipped anywhere. Sorry about that.

yeah i am in the setup stage. the fun thing is a i am recording a band with a very talented multi instrumentalist so i might be able to talk him into doing something for me just so that my mix can sound a little different.

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This is my exact impression too. I predict that a lot of the mixes entered will be very difficult to distinguish and judge…

Progress on Wasteland. Well first, I stated early that this would be my first mix project other than my own projects and very excited to hear what everyone thinks of my mix. Unfortunately I’m just a hobbyist wishing I could earn a living in the music industry.
I wanted to mix this before hearing the artist or anyone else’s mix.
So I mixed O’ I would say maybe 95-98% before listening to the original version and other submitted versions. Some common comments I’ve seen have been about the guitar noise and what has been described here as booming kick drum. I first wanted to change up the heavier guitar passage towards the end of the song, maybe add some bass and a little more keys.
I decided not to do that. I felt it would take to much away from the artist original vision. Besides this is a mixing contest.
Okay so my DAW is GarageBand, and I used IK classic plugins plus half a dozen higher end IK processors. My biggest problem was my workflow. GarageBand has it’s limitations, and there is a problem with getting IK presets to come up in GarageBand. There is a workaround but it’s kind of pain and doesn’t always work for me. The last thing I wanted to comment on is the amount of reverb used on the original version. I understand that Wasteland was inspired by something else that maybe had a lot of reverb however, the amount of reverb used was not to my taste. So I’ll just let everyone know my mix is not so wet in the reverberations. After listening to other mixes I was tempted to add more reverb but elected to stick to my guns and stay true to my original vision for this mix. My picture of a wasteland is dry and void of life. The artist versions to me sounds like it was recorded in a cave or maybe a church or maybe a wasteland in outer space. Please know I’m not trying to but down anything the artist did on this song, just not my vision or my take on where the song should go.

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You’re totally allowed to add those! :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Maybe you would use another DAW to enhance your workflow, GarageBand is not such a powerful production tool. More like a notepad I think.

I hope you’re doing your picture as well as you expect :+1:

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I actually love those kinds of contests, because it really helps us listen closely :slight_smile:

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Yes a different DAW would help. Right know I have no budget for new gear. I have been looking at other DAWs. Logic Pro is about $200.00. At this time I can’t justify more gear until I feel my skill level is more advanced and I have more projects to work on that really require a more advanced DAW. So with that being said, what is your DAW of choice? What do like about it and what don’t you like about it. And last do you have a DAW recommendation around the same price as Logic Pro or less.

Oh, it was the topic of another thread:

And here what I thought about Reaper that I used:

I hope it could help this nerdy thing!

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Give Reaper a try! The “demo” is a free download, but it is fully functioning and continues to function even after the trial time expires. If you end up loving the program, the license is only $60. Reaper is probably the most popular DAW used by the folks here on this site. Worth checking out anyway.

https://www.reaper.fm/

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