Mixing challenge No7 result

poopot

Votes have been in for a while now and the result is as below...

1st place with 10pts @oaf ;
2nd place with 8pts @Branshen ;
3rd place with 6pts @Fretwired ;

well done chaps... will get another one going but it won’t be for a few months!!!!

Branshen

Well done @oaf! well deserved! 

oaf

Ha, thanks! Still plenty to improve but I'm enjoying these challenges. I bought myself a motorized control surface recently (after this challenge) and find it really helps and makes the mixing process much faster too.

Branshen

oaf said:

Ha, thanks! Still plenty to improve but I'm enjoying these challenges. I bought myself a motorized control surface recently (after this challenge) and find it really helps and makes the mixing process much faster too.

Sounds swanky. How many motorised faders are there on it? 

oaf

Branshen said:

oaf said:

Ha, thanks! Still plenty to improve but I'm enjoying these challenges. I bought myself a motorized control surface recently (after this challenge) and find it really helps and makes the mixing process much faster too.

Sounds swanky. How many motorised faders are there on it? 

9 (8 + master), it's this one:

https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro-g2/

I haven't used it very much at all as I've been so busy, but I like what I've seen so far. I haven't set it up with Ableton yet but have had good results with the Klinke plugin and Reaper. In Reaper you can easily adjust plugin parameters with it too and it comes with a Reaper template (so e.g. you have a save button on there and can jump around very easily without having to resort to mouse/keyboard much). Track names and values show up in the LCD and you can skip left or rightwards by 1 or 8 tracks at a time (and the faders jump to the appropriate place).

I paid £406 delivered for a new one and it appears to be solidly built. You can add smaller extender versions for more tracks too. Pretty nice.

@Branshen your Christmas track inspired me to do something festive but whether it'll be finished before Christmas... hmmm we'll see!

Branshen

oaf said:

Branshen said:

oaf said:

Ha, thanks! Still plenty to improve but I'm enjoying these challenges. I bought myself a motorized control surface recently (after this challenge) and find it really helps and makes the mixing process much faster too.

Sounds swanky. How many motorised faders are there on it? 

9 (8 + master), it's this one:

https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro-g2/

I haven't used it very much at all as I've been so busy, but I like what I've seen so far. I haven't set it up with Ableton yet but have had good results with the Klinke plugin and Reaper. In Reaper you can easily adjust plugin parameters with it too and it comes with a Reaper template (so e.g. you have a save button on there and can jump around very easily without having to resort to mouse/keyboard much). Track names and values show up in the LCD and you can skip left or rightwards by 1 or 8 tracks at a time (and the faders jump to the appropriate place).

I paid £406 delivered for a new one and it appears to be solidly built. You can add smaller extender versions for more tracks too. Pretty nice.

@Branshen your Christmas track inspired me to do something festive but whether it'll be finished before Christmas... hmmm we'll see!

I've never worked with hardware, having started producing around 2012, but it does look like it'd be nice to have something physical to interact with..

Go on then! Put that new gear to good use!

Fretwired

oaf said:

Branshen said:

oaf said:

Ha, thanks! Still plenty to improve but I'm enjoying these challenges. I bought myself a motorized control surface recently (after this challenge) and find it really helps and makes the mixing process much faster too.

Sounds swanky. How many motorised faders are there on it? 

9 (8 + master), it's this one:

https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro-g2/

I haven't used it very much at all as I've been so busy, but I like what I've seen so far. I haven't set it up with Ableton yet but have had good results with the Klinke plugin and Reaper. In Reaper you can easily adjust plugin parameters with it too and it comes with a Reaper template (so e.g. you have a save button on there and can jump around very easily without having to resort to mouse/keyboard much). Track names and values show up in the LCD and you can skip left or rightwards by 1 or 8 tracks at a time (and the faders jump to the appropriate place).

I paid £406 delivered for a new one and it appears to be solidly built. You can add smaller extender versions for more tracks too. Pretty nice.

@Branshen your Christmas track inspired me to do something festive but whether it'll be finished before Christmas... hmmm we'll see!

Seriously cool .. let us know how you get on. I'm tempted at that price.

oaf

Yes, I'll have more of a play with the controller and report back. First impressions are positive and I think it's very good for the money.

This is the Christmas idea I've been playing with:
https://soundclick.com/r/s8bbg4

it is in need of a lot of tidying but I thought I'd get it out while it was actually Christmas. I bought all of the Soundtoys plugins recently so there's loads of those on it and some Exponential Audio reverbs.

It was inspired by a thread I read where someone had written something like "I've got loads of recordings where I've written 4 or 8 bars and given up" so I thought I'd deliberately write something that was only a few bars long and then just repeat it and see where it went...

Branshen

oaf said:

Yes, I'll have more of a play with the controller and report back. First impressions are positive and I think it's very good for the money.

This is the Christmas idea I've been playing with:
https://soundclick.com/r/s8bbg4

it is in need of a lot of tidying but I thought I'd get it out while it was actually Christmas. I bought all of the Soundtoys plugins recently so there's loads of those on it and some Exponential Audio reverbs.

It was inspired by a thread I read where someone had written something like "I've got loads of recordings where I've written 4 or 8 bars and given up" so I thought I'd deliberately write something that was only a few bars long and then just repeat it and see where it went...

Nice! As you said, it could use some tidying up but the core idea sounds great!

What libraries do you use? Spitfire? Some of those sul tastos and dulcimer tones sound familiar!

If you recall rendering some timpani for me (it didn't make the final cut, but thanks anyway!), that project ended up having a really similar vibe to the track you just shared. Interesting

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5f2bcorpvcv5i2r/8. Ending (Growing up) theme (Remaster).wav?dl=0

oaf

Yes they do have a very similar feel, funny. That sparse, slightly scratchy/brittle vibe can be interesting and quite atmospheric I suppose.

There's some Spitfire strings in there, some of my own samples, a bit of Soundiron, Native Instruments and some Omnisphere too. It's rough and in need of an edit/mix polish but there's something there I guess (and I am unlikely to spend any more time on Christmasy music after Christmas, so...) It was as much an excuse to play with the new Soundtoys stuff as anything else.

Re the timpani I did wonder if they would be a bit heavy! Where was your piece used?

Branshen

oaf said:

Yes they do have a very similar feel, funny. That sparse, slightly scratchy/brittle vibe can be interesting and quite atmospheric I suppose.

There's some Spitfire strings in there, some of my own samples, a bit of Soundiron, Native Instruments and some Omnisphere too. It's rough and in need of an edit/mix polish but there's something there I guess (and I am unlikely to spend any more time on Christmasy music after Christmas, so...) It was as much an excuse to play with the new Soundtoys stuff as anything else.

Re the timpani I did wonder if they would be a bit heavy! Where was your piece used?

I must say that it was very orchestral so absolutely could not tell where the soundtoys plugins were used! They were very subtle..

The ones you rendered were not too heavy at all, but n the end, I forked out 30USD for a secondhand license for NI's symphony essentials percussion and got the exact timpani rolls that I had in my head.. The track above was used at the end of this little production I did some music for. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpa-joSk9Ug

oaf

That all worked very well together. Didn't realise that it was a Christmas thing that you'd done, that is quite funny! Fits though when you see it...

Branshen

Thanks for the kind words @oaf ;