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Old 05-01-2023, 12:24 PM   #1
darjama
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Default reaMIXed: The Reaper Mixing Contest - May 2023 - Four Graham

REAPER CONTEST - May 2023
(ONLY REAPER / TUKAN PLUGINS ALLOWED)

Click here to donate




OFFICIAL WEBSITE: reaMIXed.com


MIXING: 1-16 May
VOTING: 20-26 May
RESULTS: 28 May
FEEDBACK: 29-31 May



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This month's track, Four Graham, was chosen by last month's winner Punchipum. It's by Nova-One Studios, and it's squarely in the pop-punk genre. Raw tracks available courtesy of Cambridge Music Technology.

Note: This month we'll be trying to incorporate Tukan plugins (all current versions from ReaPack as of the 1st of the month) into the base installation for the contest, so if you're using plugins from this version of tukan, you don't need to include them in your submission. These are now included in mixcheck.

Non Reaper / Tukan JSFX are still allowed, you just need to include them with your submission.

Please remember:

-NO GLUING OF FILES / RENDERING OF EFFECTS
-ONLY NATIVE REAPER FX -or- non-Native JSFX files that you include with your submission.

It's recommended that you take advantage of the normalization settings in the reaper rendering dialog to meet the LUFS and dBFS requirements by:

1. Normalizing to -14 LUFS.
2. If your mix peaks at or under -1 dBFS, you're done!
3. If your mix peaks over -1 dBFS, rerender it normalizing to -1 dBFS.

MixCheck (https://reamixed.com/mixcheck/) is still beta, it can help you by analyzing your .rpp files before you upload to:
- Make sure your they don't contain disqualifying audio files
- Make sure your they don't contain disqualifying VST/AU plugins
- See what non-native JSFX files you need to include in your zip file
- See what impulse files you need to include in your zip file

NOTE that Mix Check DOES NOT upload your mix, only checks your project file on your local machine.

Once Mix Check has been tested I may not require you to send in the mixed flacs, just the project files, jsfx and impulses. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that.

You can download the multitrack from the website or clicking on this link.

Happy mixing!
-Daryl

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Last edited by darjama; 05-01-2023 at 12:24 PM. Reason: days of the month
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Old 05-02-2023, 12:50 PM   #2
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Ehh... My mix is a mess, one huge improvisation... How to make a step forward?
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Old 05-02-2023, 12:51 PM   #3
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Hi, everyone. Here fighting with the drums, especially with the snare 🤦🏻

I have to finish the mix tomorrow because I'm changing my soundcard and I will be some days without any.

Good luck 🤞
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Old 05-02-2023, 12:53 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bitgo.space View Post
Ehh... My mix is a mess, one huge improvisation... How to make a step forward?
Do you mean the mix of this song or your mixes in general?
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Old 05-02-2023, 01:05 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchipum View Post
Hi, everyone. Here fighting with the drums, especially with the snare 🤦🏻

I have to finish the mix tomorrow because I'm changing my soundcard and I will be some days without any.

Good luck 🤞
For this snare my tip : JS Waveshaping distortion

Last edited by Wallaby; 05-02-2023 at 01:20 PM.
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Old 05-02-2023, 01:08 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wallaby View Post
My tip : JS Waveshaping distortion
I was trying with white noise buy I'll try that 👍
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Old 05-02-2023, 01:40 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchipum View Post
Do you mean the mix of this song or your mixes in general?
Are you ready for The Story?

This mix can be an example. I turned off all of the system-wide sound enhancements. I did this just to be sure that I'm hearing what I supposed to, not what I could to hear. (btw, do you do comparisons with and without them?)

And what I hear?

The drum kit sound very bad. Kick drum is a one big swamp. Sounds like some unrecognizable woofing and the cymbals break through (so is on the snare stem).

This woofing is ducking my mix. I'am struggling with separation / shaping of the kick drum sound. As a result, I'm starting to improvise with HPF on all other tracks, just to leave some room for the drums. Then parametric compressors, then parametric EQ's. After few hours of trials and errors (ending with many errors), I can start all over again.

Simmilar sceanario happened also during last competition. Few times.
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Old 05-02-2023, 02:33 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bitgo.space View Post
Are you ready for The Story?

This mix can be an example. I turned off all of the system-wide sound enhancements. I did this just to be sure that I'm hearing what I supposed to, not what I could to hear. (btw, do you do comparisons with and without them?)

And what I hear?

The drum kit sound very bad. Kick drum is a one big swamp. Sounds like some unrecognizable woofing and the cymbals break through (so is on the snare stem).

This woofing is ducking my mix. I'am struggling with separation / shaping of the kick drum sound. As a result, I'm starting to improvise with HPF on all other tracks, just to leave some room for the drums. Then parametric compressors, then parametric EQ's. After few hours of trials and errors (ending with many errors), I can start all over again.

Simmilar sceanario happened also during last competition. Few times.
Don't stress, the drums on this song are really problematic 😂
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Old 05-02-2023, 06:04 PM   #9
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Well it is a "Punk" song??

Thanks for the Readme!!!
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Old 05-03-2023, 12:43 AM   #10
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Wow. Time to learn how to edit drums, I guess.
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Old 05-03-2023, 01:01 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bitgo.space View Post
Ehh... My mix is a mess, one huge improvisation... How to make a step forward?
First step: keep it simple, no improvisation, only do what is needed.

1. volume: see how far you can go only using the faders
2. make space for individual instruments using panning and eq (HPF all the tracks to make room for the kick and the bass). I would not overdo eq-ing in this stage...if you need very large boosts or cuts....maybe the problem lies somewhere else...in automation or the need for some compression
3 compression and automation for more precise level balancing

now you should have a somewhat balanced mix and have a good base for the next steps....the more creative work and tonal shaping if needed.
I would advise you to a/b every now and then between the very basic mix you've made with step one and the processing in the next steps.....to make sure you are not overprocessing and undoïng the balance you've made in step 1...that is something that can actualy happen.

Jeroen

Last edited by JerZee; 05-03-2023 at 01:12 AM.
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Old 05-03-2023, 09:15 AM   #12
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I hear rather piercing resonances in the lead vocals at about 5.8k and 2k to 2.5k and some more especially when the singer is getting loud.

I tried saturation, volume automation, pre-amp and EQ cuts, but the overall tone is still resonant and harsh - and very tiring for the ears.

edit. I think automation is the key here - Well, obviously more automation, than when I wrote the lines above

Last edited by WaveTrans; 05-08-2023 at 03:40 AM.
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Old 05-03-2023, 11:03 AM   #13
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I think the worst thing about it is the drum sound, and since we can't use samples I think it's impossible to make the song sound really good..
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Old 05-03-2023, 03:06 PM   #14
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ok....I just listened to the drumsound.....forget everything I just wrote....a solution for that drum sound goes beyond any rational approach ;-)
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Old 05-03-2023, 08:54 PM   #15
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I have finished my mix. It will be interesting to listen to all the mixes 👍
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Old 05-04-2023, 01:36 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchipum View Post
I have finished my mix. It will be interesting to listen to all the mixes 👍
That is fast! Especialy with a mix like this. The interesting thing with tracks that are badly recorded is that it takes lots of work, time, creativity and luck to make it sound right. So I predict that no mix will sound even remotely the same this month :-)

Oh, I just uploaded my feedback on the mix-challenge forum including my feedback on your mix...I thought you would like to know ;-)
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Old 05-04-2023, 11:05 PM   #17
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Oh, I just uploaded my feedback on the mix-challenge forum including my feedback on your mix...I thought you would like to know ;-)
And you nailed it, regarding mine 👍
Very kind of you, huge effort giving feedback for every single mix.
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Old 05-06-2023, 06:30 AM   #18
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Wow, Punchipum, thank you for your great choice this month. Now that my mix is finaly taking form and I am tackeling the issues I realize what a powerfull kick ass song this is. Very cool. It is a very good band, too bad the recording is of such a low quality. But all the more satisfaction if it finaly starts to sound as it should.

Cheers,

Jeroen
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Old 05-07-2023, 10:44 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JerZee View Post
Wow, Punchipum, thank you for your great choice this month. Now that my mix is finaly taking form and I am tackeling the issues I realize what a powerfull kick ass song this is. Very cool. It is a very good band, too bad the recording is of such a low quality. But all the more satisfaction if it finaly starts to sound as it should.

Cheers,

Jeroen
Yep, a great band with a bad recording 🤦🏻
Lucky you if you think you can make this song sound good, I think I can't 😂
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Old 05-10-2023, 01:57 AM   #20
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So, how is going? 😂
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Old 05-10-2023, 06:54 AM   #21
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So, how is going? 😂
Almost ready with the mix!
Did you see my feedback on the mixes on mix-challenge, including yours?
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Old 05-10-2023, 07:29 AM   #22
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Almost ready with the mix!
Did you see my feedback on the mixes on mix-challenge, including yours?
Oh, yes! Thank you so much!! All feedback helps me to improve 👍
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Old 05-13-2023, 02:00 AM   #23
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I thought I'd jump in on this but just wanted to make sure I did things correctly as this is the first time doing ReaMix. I saw someone say no samples. Sometimes I like to mix a one-shot sample into drums, say like on a snare. I actually use stock Reaper plugins when I do. Is this allowed? I saw 3rd party IR's for Reaverb are allowed. Just want to be clear and abide by the rules of the contest.
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Old 05-13-2023, 02:20 AM   #24
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I thought I'd jump in on this but just wanted to make sure I did things correctly as this is the first time doing ReaMix. I saw someone say no samples. Sometimes I like to mix a one-shot sample into drums, say like on a snare. I actually use stock Reaper plugins when I do. Is this allowed? I saw 3rd party IR's for Reaverb are allowed. Just want to be clear and abide by the rules of the contest.
You can't render or change the original files. You can't make a new file. Only external IRs are accepted.
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Old 05-13-2023, 03:20 AM   #25
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I use ReaGate and Reasamplomatic5000. I use Reagate to send midi info and it triggers a sample on RS5k (the sampler). I usually blend the sample in with the original tracks.
Is that allowed if I don't glue the samples to the track, but just keep the sampler as an insert on the track; trigger the sample in real-time?
That is how I usually do it anyway. It's all stock Reaper plugins that would transfer to any session that has Reaper installed as long as I also supplied the sample as well.
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Old 05-13-2023, 04:20 AM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InvalidInk View Post
I use ReaGate and Reasamplomatic5000. I use Reagate to send midi info and it triggers a sample on RS5k (the sampler). I usually blend the sample in with the original tracks.
Is that allowed if I don't glue the samples to the track, but just keep the sampler as an insert on the track; trigger the sample in real-time?
That is how I usually do it anyway. It's all stock Reaper plugins that would transfer to any session that has Reaper installed as long as I also supplied the sample as well.
You can't use a sample because you can't use external files except for the IRs 🤷

Last edited by Punchipum; 05-13-2023 at 04:44 AM.
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Old 05-13-2023, 08:03 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InvalidInk View Post
I use ReaGate and Reasamplomatic5000. I use Reagate to send midi info and it triggers a sample on RS5k (the sampler). I usually blend the sample in with the original tracks.
Is that allowed if I don't glue the samples to the track, but just keep the sampler as an insert on the track; trigger the sample in real-time?
That is how I usually do it anyway. It's all stock Reaper plugins that would transfer to any session that has Reaper installed as long as I also supplied the sample as well.
Instead of the sampler use ReaSynth and create some sound you wish to add.
The ReaGate Midi output has a Note number you can set to where it fit.
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Old 05-13-2023, 08:27 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Punchipum View Post
You can't use a sample because you can't use external files except for the IRs 🤷
Ok gotcha! Thanks for the clarity.

What if I made a one shot from the drum kit from the recording? I swear I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass. Just want to see what is possible.
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Old 05-13-2023, 08:29 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wallaby View Post
Instead of the sampler use ReaSynth and create some sound you wish to add.
The ReaGate Midi output has a Note number you can set to where it fit.
hmm interesting idea. Not sure if you could get a decent snare sound, but you certainly could with the kick or maybe even toms with a sine wave. I really like JS Tone Gate for sub kick action. I use it all the time!
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Old 05-13-2023, 10:03 PM   #30
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Just submitted my mix! I got 4th place last month after doing my mix in under 24 hours (mixed one evening and then touched things up a bit the following afternoon), and I decided I would try my hand again this month with more time to work on my mix.

I was pretty worried when I heard the multitracks that I wasn't going to be able to get a good mix. However, now that I've finished my mix I'm pretty proud of how it came out. I learned how to edit drums (which is something I've never had to do before, because I've mainly worked with MIDI drums in the past), and it made a huge difference. I also did a little bit of editing to the vocals and the guitars to tighten things up. After doing my edits, the rest of the mix pretty much came together in an evening, and since then I've just been finetuning it a tiny amount with fresh ears each day. Today was the first day I didn't hear any obvious need for edits, so I've sent it in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by InvalidInk View Post
Ok gotcha! Thanks for the clarity.

What if I made a one shot from the drum kit from the recording? I swear I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass. Just want to see what is possible.
That's what I did. I felt that I needed to do that to make things sound reasonable.

One of the checkboxes you agree to says "No additional samples, gluing, or destructive editing was done in the mix."

IMHO it's not using "additional" samples if you're just sampling the original recording. Just make sure your project references the original audio file, so that others can open your project.
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Old 05-13-2023, 11:18 PM   #31
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Quote:
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Ok gotcha! Thanks for the clarity.

What if I made a one shot from the drum kit from the recording? I swear I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass. Just want to see what is possible.
If you can make a one shot without making a new file is ok.
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Old 05-14-2023, 02:57 AM   #32
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Awesome thanks for the clarity guys!

@Malandro

Yeah The recording isn't the worst but its not great either. The performances are sloppy imo. I should really edit the audio even though I really don't want to lol.

Hey I guess it wouldn't be a challenge if you just pull up the faders and it sound great right away right?
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Old 05-15-2023, 09:22 AM   #33
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Now submitted. I'm not so confident this time 🤷
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Old 05-15-2023, 11:38 AM   #34
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I've also entered. Good mixes and good luck for everybody.
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Old 05-15-2023, 08:54 PM   #35
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Got mine in! I made some big changes last minute so hopefully I don't regret it.
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Old 05-16-2023, 01:29 AM   #36
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I would like to thank Voter 13 for the encouraging words on my mix last month. I haven´t figured out yet who it is, but thanks all the same. Your input is most appreciated.
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Old 05-16-2023, 02:54 AM   #37
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Mix submitted !

With those guitar/bass players blasting 8th notes all the times, that was pretty satisfying to play with compression
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Old 05-16-2023, 09:10 PM   #38
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Got mine in! I made some big changes last minute so hopefully I don't regret it.
So I listened to my mix today with my last minute revisions and hate it. lol. Note to self, stick with your gut.
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Old 05-22-2023, 01:55 AM   #39
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Listening to the mixes. Mine isn't the best, but it's not the worst either 😂
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Old 05-22-2023, 11:39 AM   #40
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I thought I'd jump in on this but just wanted to make sure I did things correctly as this is the first time doing ReaMix. I saw someone say no samples. Sometimes I like to mix a one-shot sample into drums, say like on a snare. I actually use stock Reaper plugins when I do. Is this allowed? I saw 3rd party IR's for Reaverb are allowed. Just want to be clear and abide by the rules of the contest.
I don't know about SOMEBODY, But the RULES state quite clearly there are No Samples...so no you can't do that!
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