MIX CHALLENGE - MC30 March 2017 - Winners announced

[Compyfox]

Hello and welcome to the KVR Mix Challenge 30 - March 2017


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (source files, submission information, sponsors), start of the evaluation process and the first post for re-submissions for Mix Round 2.



INFO: Due to personal and logistic reasons, the current Challenge starts sooner than normal. But the known deadlines still remain.

Spring is on the front door (at least on the northern hemisphere), so let's do something uplifting!

This month, we get access to work on a production by formfisch (aka user fese), which also marks our very first production with vocals/lyrics in German (there is a translation added in the download bundle so that you can understand the story being told). It's an uplifting German Pop track. The song is called "Nicki, kommst du mit" (Nicki, are you coming along?).



Please take note of the following

• IMPORTANT: We're desperately looking for new source material for future Mix Challenges. Please follow our official campaign. No new tracks mean no more challenges! Please reach out!
• we have an official webpage - it can be found via http://www.mix-challenge.com
• our Twitter Account can be found via the handle @MixChallenge - throw us a Tweet and we add you to the participant lists
• IMPORTANT: we're currently running a survey on the Mix Challenge homepage, to gather some input on upcoming changes for the Challenge. Please help us out and give us honest feedback (please with written text if it's neutral or negative) to a couple of questions. You can find the questionnaire here: http://survey.mix-challenge.com/index.php/584964 (deadline: 15th March 2017)

Also Important:

• we are are in the middle of preparing a move to a new place. This is planned for April or May

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information, Source Files, Sponsors
Mix Round 2: Global Feedback and Round 2 Participant Announcement
Results of the Mix Challenge 30: Winners announced

[Compyfox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Wednesday, 01st March 2017 to Tuesday, 21st March 2017 (21 days)

Challenge submission will end on 21-03-2017, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (Germany) - until further notice.
Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please visit the Mix Challenge webpage
We do post reminders via our Twitter account

Alternatively (especially for Mix Round 2), please use the following tool and and select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html



Song Provider: formfisch (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Nicki (Kommst Du mit), 5:01min
Song Information: 94 bpm / Signature: 4/4, Key of Em (E min), chorus maybe more Hm (H min/B min)
File Format: WAV, 44kHz, 24bit

GENRE: Pop


Preview of the Song:
http://mix-challenge.com/media/previews ... du_mit.mp3


A word from the song provider:

Hi mix masters,

This is a song I wrote for the third birthday of my nephew. I wrote one for the birth of his little sister two years before and then my sister decided that I also needed to create one for him, and one day he asked me shyly with his little voice if I would sing him a song, too. Who can resist that?

So I wrote him this song about all the nice things one can do during the four seasons of the year, encouraging him to go out and explore the world. One further explanation for all the unlucky people who
don't live in Northern Germany: In the second verse I invite him to go to "Plön", which is a small town near the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein. My parents (his grandparents) still live in Plön and he loves being there.

Now to the mix: I think mine is too piercing. It should be a nice pop mix, with impact but not too loud and polished.


Bonus Info on the original Guitar Sound Design:
EGuitarSingle: virtual amp, SGA1566 -> Ignite TPA1 -> Cabsim
EGuitarClean: virtual amp, S-Gear "The Duke" (Dumble)
EGuitarPicked_Amp: see EGuitarFinale, probably with a pedal FX
EGuitarFinale: either Palmer Eins or a Harley Benton GA5



formfisch aka Felix

A few words by the Mix Challenge staff:

Our first ever production with German lyrics.

For those that are confused as to what is being sung about, there is a translation bundled with this mix package. This is especially important, as the main focus should be on the "story being told", while the instrumentation is the emotional backbone. It's an uplifting story and "love letter" to a new born family member after all. So please mix the production in a similar fashion.


There has been a trend in recent years regarding German pop music, where there vocals are not only dense/compacted/"In your face", but also sitting nicely on top of a well balanced production and/or mix. I'd actually go the same route.

For your inspiration: it might be worth a listen to Phillip Poisel (2008 Album "Wo fängt der Himmel an") or "Silbermond" (albums "Verschwende deine Zeit", 2004 and "Laut Gedacht", 2006 - mainly the ballads on these albums), maybe even Revolverheld (mainly the 2013 album "Immer in Bewegung"), but also old cats in the "Balladeer" business like Reinhard Mey, or to a certain extend even Max Raabe.

International productions that stand out with similar focus and mixes (dense vocals, with interesting pop music backing) might be the bands "The Bird and the Bee", but also "Pomplamoose"

Be creative - basically everything goes.

Please also consult the TXT files that are bundled in the source files package below. There you can find more information about the individual files and changes to the time signature.

Special Add-On Rules:

• try to create a mix that complements this production (in your own style)
• Clean / Alternative versions can be used if you need more flexibility over a certain sound (if present in this production)
• No rearrangement of the song structure, with the exception of the following add-on rules
• try to not(!) pre-master the track (please no overuse of mix bus treatment)

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Source Files:

Main Mix Package - Mirror on the Mix Challenge Homepage (403,02 MB, LZMA compressed)


The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression.
File size extracted: 1723,51 MB, packed 403,02 MB (ZIP, LZMA)
In order to extract the files, we can recommend these programs:

Macintosh:
The Unarchiver - get it here

Windows:
7zip - Installation / Portable


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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Mix Challenge - Gossip and Discussion

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for mix participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



Acon Digital is kind enough give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.de



Ghostwave Audio (KVR User Karten) is kind enough to donate MixRight (a Reaktor Ensemble) to the winner (until further notice)
License won't turn into NFR, you need Native Instruments Reaktor 5.8+ for this
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com/



Metric Halo will give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info about Metric Halo: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/



Nyrv Systems offers AGENT incl. all currently available NyrvDevices and free update to at least v1.5 of winner's choice (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info about Nyrv Systems: http://www.nyrvsystems.com/



Sound and Graphic, KVR user and Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/



Tone2 is kind enough to donate either a bundle consisting of AkustiX Enhancer and WarmVerb, or a license of Ultraspace to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



Two Notes Audio Engineering is kind enough to donate one license of Torpedo Wall of Sound III to the winner, loaded with 57 cabinets (equivalent to "Torpedo WoS II") (donation until Summer 2017)
License will not turn into NFR
More info on Two Notes: http://www.two-notes.com/en/



THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on mix plugins, bundles and the likes), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.


Did you know that there are even more contests / competitions / challenges here on KVR Audio?

• One Synth Challenge (see stickies) - a demanding game where you have to use "one synth only", tweak it to your needs and write song with it (the OSC offered us a lot of songs in recent years!)
• Music Cafe (KVR, see stickies) - A thematic monthly competition. Use recording, real instruments, synths and samples.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/MixChallenge

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

[3ee]

might join this month!
Cool song and also really want to find a good excuse to get into practically testing Reaper... 10 days of studying it deeply and I love it so far!

[Compyfox]

Best excuse to test new equipment indeed

[photonic]

Hello Formfisch/Felix,

What a nice song for our MC! Thanks for sharing a song with german lyrics.
What I often do not likeabout german pop song is the fact, that the lyrics do not fit to the rhythm of the song. Some have too much or too less text to keep the melody in groove. But you have mastered this issue very well. And it is a realy nice text for your nephew!

I used the guitar tracks with the amp sound. But I did not try to copy your original guitar sound.
I kept the lead vocals quite try with only a small ambient, to keep the intelligibility and the feeling, that you are singing more direct to the listener.

BTW: realy good vocal performance!

MP3: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/717 ... otonic.mp3
WAV: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/717 ... otonic.wav

cheers / Servus,
Photonic

[fese]

Hi Photonic,

boy, you're fast! Thanks for taking part and mixing my song! Sounds so much better than my attempt. How do you do that? Don't tell me it takes lots of practice, I want the get-rich-now solution

What a nice song for our MC! Thanks for sharing a song with german lyrics.
What I often do not like with german pop song is the fact, that the lyrics do not fit to the rhythm of the song. Some have too much or too less text to keep the melody in groove. But you have mastered this issue very well. And it is a realy nice text for your nephew!

Thanks, the lyrics were really hard work and I kinda forced my parents to help me with it when they were visiting me as I was badly stuck in between (I don't write many lyrics...)

BTW: realy good vocal performance!

Thanks, good to hear. I usually have a love"reluctant acceptance"/hate relationship with my own vocals and my singing

Grüße,
Felix

[Compyfox]

Hah! And photonic is back to being the month's ice breaker.


I do hope we see a lot of entries this month.

[photonic]

... How do you do that? Don't tell me it takes lots of practice, I want the get-rich-now solution ...

Great you like it

In the last rounds we all did not note what we did like in the bgin of the MC.
I can do it here in words, or do you prefere some screenshots? I could put a package on my dropbox.

[Compyfox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 14 days left to mix

[Compyfox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to mix

Can we please break the 10-participant ceiling?




Also:
Less than 24 hours left to join our current survey - http://survey.mix-challenge.com/index.php/584964

[kevin gobin]

2-participant ceiling broken.

I enjoyed working on this song, nice vocals indeed Felix!

I hope you'll like my work, i love "our" chorusses.

Cheers!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tetgnm2dh0leftt/MC30.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyxapsq9picbqb2/MC30.wav?dl=0

[Compyfox]

Hah, I see what you did there, Kevin.

Still more than 5 days left. I hope we'll see more entries.

[fese]

2-participant ceiling broken.

I enjoyed working on this song, nice vocals indeed Felix!

I hope you'll like my work, i love "our" chorusses.

Thanks for joining, Kevin. My vocals sound really good in your mix, nice job!

[kevin gobin]

Thank you very much formfish!

I see 404 error when i try to hear Photonic's mix, am i alone?

[photonic]

... I see 404 error when i try to hear Photonic's mix, am i alone?

STRANGE

You are right. The link is broken now. No idea why, because it previously worked. Felix could listen to it.
I make a new try here:

MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5k3z8deqmter4 ... c.mp3?dl=0
WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x0in11yeya284 ... c.wav?dl=0

Ok, tested and it works again. I hope for longer!