Do you want to come up with the song and run the contest? We can do this contest in November.
Iād be very interested in this. Graham and Joe (Recording Revolution and Home Studio Corner) talk about this a lot. They say itās thee piece that can take our mixes to the next level. I am SO guilty of mixing, remixing, remixing, tweaking, remixing, starting over, remixing, etc., etc.
Would love to learn to be faster.
Iāve already started working on the Haggis thing. Iām so stinkinā SLOW. Iāve already spent prolly a couple of hours, and all Iāve accomplished is laying out the tracks and sorting though my gainstaging. I spent a lot of time editing the vocals track cuz heās all over the place. Kissing the mic, walking away from it, yelling into it, turning around and looking away from the mic. I think Iāve got it where I want it, and have the tracks reasonably well-balanced, but thatās as far as Iāve gotten.
I have a template set up that Iāve loaded it into, but Iām thinking my template is too complex: too many channel plugins already loaded. Not sure it thatās the best way, cuz next I need to start unloading and re-tweaking those plugins. Maybe itās not too much, maybe it is. So mostly in my template I only have compressors and EQs on the tracks, and then I have some default FX sends set up (1/4 delay, 1/2 delay, slapback delay, a vocal reverb, a plate and a room) but no sends yet.
Iād love to hear how you veterans set up your workflow and what your templates look like.
Bottom line, Iād LOVE to be able to do this faster. I admire the way Alan has been kicking out his cambridge mixes for bashing. So fast, and heās getting better and better at it. I wanna learn how to do that.
So, any ideas? What do I need to do to get faster? What do you guys do? Any feedback? Thoughts?
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Just not over thinking things .Load all the tracks and hit play,get your balance more or less there, then work through processing as needed .If you dont think it needs eq or comp just leave it alone .We often do far more than needed .I never use templates that way i can just use the tools that i think will do the job .I hardly ever use group buses and use inserts for fx.Most of my mixes take around 2 hours .Lots and lots of practice helps too
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Wow. Iām a long, long way from that. To quote Rudyard Kipling, āyouāre a better man than I, Gunga Din.ā
Thanks, Alan.
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Ha! Well, I guess I donāt need to start another thread then. I was ready to dive into your template and figure out your bussing , etc. But I guess Iāll just practice more instead. 
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So do we have a deadline in place for this contest thing?
Downloaded the tracks today. Man am I out of shape. Two and a half hours of fiddling and knob turning (because I made ALL kinds of rookie mistakes trying to where the hell my plugins were at), and I eventually limped my way to a rough mix. I canāt believe how long its been since Iāve mixed music that was made by a band! lol. When I in my prime I could have hacked this thing out in an hour!!!
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Al has posted it: October 12th (see updated Rules).
I have a question about song/mix modifications ā¦ we usually put some stipulations in there but I donāt see any other than it looks like we canāt post our mix on other sites without permission. But Iām talking about things like adding instrumental parts (probably not on this one though), adding drum samples/triggers, changing the song arrangement radically, adding song sections, etc. Basically, what things can you NOT do to this song/mix and still participate in the contest. I think the āliveā aspect of the track limits things a little bit, but we have some imaginative people here so you never know. 
Also, for @BigAlRocks, I still think the Rules could be cleaned up a bit in that things like āTrust Level 1ā shows up in two different and separate paragraphs (plus associated text and pointers), and in the second instance it says ā10 postsā to qualify as a Level 1 member while 2 sentences after that it says ā15 postsā. I just think it would help avoid some confusion if new people come in, and could cut down on the amount of text a little bit.
[Ref: The Rules paragraphs 6-7 and then 13]
I shouldnāt comment on this too muchā¦but hereās some thoughts:
These are two different thingsā¦one is standard practice in every day mixing, the other is clearly the function of a producer or arranger. Drum samples, trigger augmentation, and trigger replacement should be fair game. I would probably recommend that adding loops are not.
I duplicated the vocal track, threw an autotune on it and added harmonies then decided against it, because in real life, thatās not the job of the mix engineer. Autotuning a vocal should be fair game (because that is part of the job), but adding background vocals probably shouldnāt.
@BigAlRocks - your call
Iād say that we should work with the files that were provided and manipulate them how you see fit.
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Right, I just thought it would be good to clarify it in the rules. For a mixing contest, you can put on the producer/arranger āhatā if you want to, if it hasnāt been ruled out in the rules. Itās just something thatās been in the guidelines in the past IMO.
I agree again, and especially on this track. The āliveā setting doesnāt lend itself especially well to further interpretation. Out of curiosity, how did you fare with autotuning that vocal? Did you have to gate it heavily to get rid of the background sound (bleed) so the tuner could grab onto the vocal pitch? Because of that I probably wouldnāt have even tried it.
I guess the voting scores can take care of anomalies. Thatās one way to deal with it.
I need clarification on a few things:
First, my understanding is that before submitting their official entry it is perfectly acceptable, maybe even encouraged, to submit first to the BTR thread for critique, yes? I ask cuz nobodyās doing that. So itās okay that my official submission has been unofficially bashed prior to submission, right?
Last, when we vote, 1 means a weak mix and 10 is a strong mix? Or other way around?
Yes you can
Itās early in the contest, though this one is kind of informal and no prizes listed yet, so the BTR route may not be as active as it usually is.
I believe thatās correct. Itās usually helpful to have that in the instructions, and some parameters around how points can be used. Probably 9-10 would be a top-level pro mix, 7-8 a pretty good mix with no major issues, 5-6 needs some work, etc.
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Iām gonna eventually. I donāt have mine to the place where its ready for a critique yet.
Yes, posting to BTR first is recommended, but not required. And your voting assumption is correct. (I shouldnāt have rushed myself in getting the contest started, lesson learned.)
OK, I think I have the rules cleared up. All thatās left is to come up with a prize.
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No, please donāt go there! We all know that your pulling this together was in response to several of us whoāve been chomping at the bit to get something like this off the ground. It really isnāt a big deal at all, and youāve been very responsive to questions.
Thank you for your leadership, for the time youāve already put into this, and for making this happen. Much, much appreciated! 
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All Iām really saying is that next time, Iāll slow down and proofread before I do the initial launch. 
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