Mix Contest Results!!

[@mrwev]

Please use the comments section on this KZbin video for any questions, thoughts or comments!!

[@adamwattsmusic]

This was fun. Appreciate the honorable mention, Eric : ).... and that's my 4 year old son River on the intro... couldn't have done it without him:)

[@mrwev]

@@adamwattsmusic Great job on the vocal!! and your son sounds adorable :)

[@jan_waligorski]

Coming as a person like Charis without much analog gear goodness, the step I struggle the most with is having 'mixing-ready' material so I suppose it is the equivalent to your 'digital to analog' track transformations (invidual tracks going through analog tape, EQ, etc). Could you make a video about how you approach this and maybe how you did it to the material on this track as an example? I think it would be very helpful to the community to have a sort of a guide on that process. Once we have thick saturated and rich tracks it becomes very easy to mix them - as we can just see in your session's plugin sparsity!

[@mrwev]

@@jan_waligorski Have you seen the full length video about the recording and mixing for the drums? I do talk about that process in that video. You can find it on my website here audionautinstitute.com/videos Scroll down to the "Drums" category and its the first video. Just a heads up. You do have to pay for the full length videos. It's only $2 though :)

[@adamwattsmusic]

@@mrwev Thank you!

[@charkara1]

Thank you so much Eric! I was smiling from ear to ear watching you going through my session 😁 Made me so happy!

[@singsangsungdrum]

great great job! congrats!

[@charkara1]

@@singsangsungdrum Thank you!

[@mrwev]

It was really fun to go through your session and the deeper I got into it the more sure I was that I made the right choice. You're ears and mixing skills are exceptional!

[@the_aesthetics_music]

Very good mix man!

[@felipedemariscalone]

Hey Eric! Thanks so much for the honorable mention! My mix is number 19. I didn’t record anything, but used the guitars and bass you provided (converted the notes into MIDI using Melodyne) to trigger synths and stuff. Since it's such a guitar-driven track, I thought it would be fun to skip them entirely! There were so many great mixes, congrats to the winners! Can’t wait for the next one!!

[@cjdickson]

Eric this competition shows 100% that: determination, focus and passion for the art is all it takes to make a great mix. I’m positive this competition/video has inspired mixers not to dwell on what they don’t have and focus what they can do with what they have. Thank You !

[@milanleon_]

Thanks for sharing my mix, you're the goat!!

[@tubaratata]

Dear Eric, thank you for a wonderful experience and for all the mixing tricks you revealed in your channel. In the future it would be interesting to see results where everyone has the same RAW file conditions and it would not be possible to see your mixing. Congratulations to the winners and a big hello to everyone!

[@breakburrito]

What joy to see your excitement for this Eric. I felt it. I loved the heavy "tough" verse! I'm amazed you can still hear 12k that Chariz used on that mix bus pultec eq. You have some resilient ears.

[@fytakytemusic]

Congrats Manuel! Apart from being an awesome mixer, you obviously got some beard-growing tips from Mr Scheps… Serious case of Beard-Envy here! 😂

[@trevorsanders6684]

That last mix is incredible! I'm so impressed with the surgical EQ moves and that those changes were based on what was being heard through those KRK's. Amazing!

[@Stormsurf001]

That was so epic to hear all the different mix approaches! I think I learned more about production and mixing from all the approaches in the honorable mention section of your video than hundreds of hours of actual mixing tutorials on KZbin. I especially liked hearing your choice of words to describe potions of the mixes. Matching your words to the actual sounds was super instructive (i.e. punchy drums). Thanks so much Eric!

[@adamwattsmusic]

This was fun. Appreciate the honorable mention, Eric : ).... and that's my 4 year old son River on the intro... couldn't have done it without him:) And just because... in case anyone cares... here are the lyrics: Everybody Knows Music by Eric Valentine, Lyrics and Melodies by Adam Watts (Mix Contest Song - Oct. 25th, 2024) You curse my ocean When your desert is to blame Refusing water while you bleed I could be wrong… I say it’s you… you say it’s me Yeah… (Chorus) Nothing and everything at once Everybody knows All that there is and never was Everybody knows And when the sun goes down On reptiles and on waves Whether drenched in water Or in sand, it’s all the same Everybody knows Everybody knows

[@singsangsungdrum]

AWESOME vocals man!

[@adamwattsmusic]

@@singsangsungdrum Thank you!

[@6WireBender]

Great job Adam, congrats!

[@dilly9891]

Hell yea! Genuinely stoked my transition choice to the chorus got me a mention 😁 Learnt so much from you in the past few years on my journey into mixing and production. Thanks for everything you do and share EV. Looking forward to the next contest!! Onwards and upwards

[@kimklbk3721]

Your unrelenting curiosity and unselfish attitude towards art is a true inspiration. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, always.

[@poikaprkl]

Thanks for the mention, that was a fun video! For some reason, hearing the drum files made me think of Led Zeppelin, so I chopped some of the tracks up and sampled the sounds into my Akai MPC and just had fun. I had never really studied the Levee Breaks drum beat that closely before, so it turned out to be a great learning experience as well trying to recreate that from something totally (and tonally) different. And yes - I was well aware of your Zeppelin obsession :D Thanks for curating stuff like this - it’s interesting and inspiring and fun. Br, Poika

[@poikaprkl]

Just to add to that, all the sounds are from the Barefoot drum contest session, no additional samples. Because the drums and cymbals were on separate takes, it was pretty easy to chop up a few different hihats and layer up a couple of kicks and snares. And i edited the crash a little to make it longer, then reversed it for the transitions. I programmed the beat on the MPC and tried matching the dynamics and nuances of the Levee beat with different velocities. I did have to do some edits to the drums in the DAW afterwards just to make it flow a little better, but the bulk of the programming happened on the MPC. And then finally i added some delay/room reverb for the staircase effect. I’ve been sampling vinyl for years, so flipping samples is what I like to do and this was super fun. The bass and guitar were kind of an afterthought, didnt really focus on those other than just to throw some variations of the theme in there. Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@tinterlande]

Always cool to see how everyone approaches it differently. I had fun doing it and I learned some new tricks along the way. Looking forward to the next one!

[@sgfdancecompany]

Eric thanks so much for you kindness and humble attitude. Looking forward for the next challenge and continue sharing

[@apanalbert]

So bummed I missed this!! I’ll definetely send in a mix next time! Great seeing you go through the mixes!

[@JordiGuillem]

Love the nice ”Waves Renaissance Axx” shirt you’re rocking on this video!! 😉

[@singsangsungdrum]

Adam Watts! such great vocals.. wow. congrats to all the honorable mentions and winners! thanks for the honorable mention Eric! really just thanks for listening and including the people who were "late" like i was. i know it was a big undertaking you didn't have to do that :).

[@adamwattsmusic]

Appreciate it, man!

[@molecola68]

thanks for everything eric, it's been a real pleasure! can't wait for the next one, keep up the good job.

[@Elixirmusiques]

Felicitationes Manuel. Cuidate Thanks for that, Eric! so much fun and your enthousiasm is contagious.

[@mackifacki89]

This was so much fun!!! Thank you. Also, I like the jacket!

[@SeekAudionet]

Thank you Eric! Very inspiring to watch

[@SethMacEng]

Amazing, congrats to the winners! Had a great time doing this. Every chance we get to mix something is a step in to becoming better and better each time and learning something in the process. Looking forward to the next one.

[@greenhouseaudiosystems]

There's an incredible amount of skill in all of these mixes... it's great (and revealing) hearing how people treated their mixes so differently. Next time around I'll have to up my game and be a little more creative!

[@762Audio]

MAN!! Talk about bragging rights!! Nice job everyone and as always EV is a total class act!

[@GingerDrums]

In one interesting test conducted by MIT, an extremely high level exam was opened up to the public to sit the test. Of 2000 applicants the highest scoring MIT student was not even in the top 500. Success and status are the driving motors of human social perception, and competence only vaguely reflects that. This was an insanely cool and confident thing to do. You have nothing to prove, you created records that we all cherish, and here you are learning about plugins and new workflows from the internet and promoting young talent. Hats off to you Eric, and congrats to the contestants for stepping up!

[@the_adam_gallant]

MANNY!! Whoa! Met him at La Fabrique when Greg Wells and Andrew Scheps did a weeklong seminar! My guy!!

[@GregsGuitarLessons]

Holy cats. That second vocalist RIPS!

[@adamwattsmusic]

Thanks man.: )

[@poxleno]

The winning mix, done on a lab top and two speakers in a little room, that's talent and inspiring!

[@robertwagner8317]

These mixes all sound awesome, guys! ❤️

[@robertwagner8317]

Plus Eric is good at curating this

[@noahmirotta]

SO CLOSE! oh well good thing I own a vari cap cable and the unfairchild plug-in already :) Thanks so much Eric had a blast with this and learned a lot in the process as always! You are the best!!

[@mrwev]

It really was VERY close! I loved your mix! The drums in the verse are SOOO COOL!!

[@michaelphrey5076]

Eric, I think your next mix contest should break it up into two categories. Professionals working on pro gear getting paid and aspiring nonprofessionals working with whatever they can piece together, hoping to get paid! I think this could challenge the professional and nonprofessional to try harder to be better at this black magic we've all embraced. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, insight and prospective.

[@drummerguyron]

Very cool episode. Makes me wish I would have attempted. Love your humble and positive attitude Eric. Sorry I have to say it.. I still love T-Ride!! lol.

[@nikht0]

My mix was the one with SNL host Stephen Hawking introducing Eric as the musical guest. I loved this challenge and especially some of the “aha” moments I had listening to the multitracks, including comparing the raw files to the processed analog ones. I’ve always had a crappy listening environment so I use a few tools to make sure I’m in the ballpark. As Eric noted, I do go for an aggressive sound as that is the kind of music I create, and the reference track I used was Alice In Chains’ “A Looking in View”, which is about as heavy as it gets without going into ridiculously down-tuned territory. Many thanks Eric, this was really fun and is validation of the process.

[@mattperreault3518]

Sooooo cool!! This is really inspiring!

[@samsepiol7191]

Really fun doing this and hearing all these mixes! Can you make them available as downloads? I'd like to compare mine to some of these and hear the differences!

[@mrwev]

I suppose I could. There are not really mine to share but they are out in the world now via this video so I guess it would be ok.

[@samsepiol7191]

@mrwev Thanks for the reply, Eric. No problem at all if you're not comfortable with it or if you don't think it's right to do that. I can always download some of the KZbin audio and use that (although the bitrate isn't great, but it's okay). In any case, thanks for the videos and this awesome mix contest as always! (Actually, it just occurred to me that I can message your friend Jesse Ray over on his channel for a wav of his mix. Wouldn't hurt to ask!)

[@chrismorrison5497]

UAD has some amazing stuff. I didn't use Stutter on my mix (which I didn't have time to submit this go round) but I used their Ampex tape plug on my master bus for a similar effect that he used. Congrats to the winners! It sounds great.

[@ThePointshuttle]

My fav is the the one with the very clever QOTSA lyrics

[@singsangsungdrum]

thanks!

[@espenandersen3138]

wow - thats a good mix, great channel :)

[@jaycastrosound2234]

Is there going to be a Black Friday Sale for the Unfairchild Plug In?

[@camshash]

Milan Leon's mix sounded pretty killer to my ears

[@arock]

Hi everyone - my mix was number 20. With respect to maximizing the snare rattle - it was not a direct intent but I thought it sounded cool. I had a mix already setup (full analog mix on a console, no digital effects or plugins of any kind) and just laid out your tracks into what I had going on. I had a parallel compression bus for the snare set up, and we were trying to emphasize the "ping" of a high tuned snare with that. So the parallel compressor is an 1176 rev D in all buttons in mode. Adds a ton of length to what is already there, and with your snare it was the bottom mic(s) that got accentuated. Anyway - thanks Eric for the chance to mix the track and for your comments!

[@mrwev]

That's awesomme... Brian Eno style!! I apologize for not mentioning your name! I just forgot as I was moving through everything. Thakn you again for submitting!! It was a cool take on the mix!

[@arock]

@@mrwev You did mention my name so no problem there! Thanks for the reply.

How on earth did you managed to listen to all those versions while maintaining a fresh perspective / fresh ears ? For example, just watching this video I get used to one mix and then the one just after sounds off regarding the frequency balance.

[@vincentvanhaperen6761]

Great question! I'd love to know that too.

[@snapascrew]

He’s been doing this forever 👍

[@mrwev]

Good question!! One thing that helps is that I do not have to listen to the whole mix. Some mixes I would only have to listen 10 or 20 seconds and I would know if it was a contender or not. That was one part of this that was very interesting to me. At a certain point, it became clear that the is a fundamental quality in mixes that is either there or not. It is this sensation that everything is pushed forward. Charis's mix is a great example of it. it is bright but not harsh, it has satisfying low end but is not boomy. Everything sounds up front. It was very clear that some mixes have that quality and many did not. I Narrowed things down to semi-finals and that is when it got hard because they were very close. The honorable mentions we fun and easy. Those are less analytical. I'm not listening as much for sonics but just a feeling or reaction I have to it. Anything that made me smile or laugh or bang my head or say "What the f***" was included :) I'm excited to do more of these!

[@RobertBell-n8k]

“Jaco”mix deserves another listen.

[@manolonger]

Thank you Eric! And congrats to Charis!

[@charkara1]

Thank you!

[@DrStranglelove]

Very nice

[@danielmauric8491]

Mixing aside, you played guitar, bass and drums on this ? It sounds like an A side QOTSA tune. Maybe you should make songs.

[@samsepiol7191]

He's said in some previous videos that he's finally going to get around to recording his own music in the new studio build! I agree with you: If it sounds anything like the mix contest song, it's be awesome.

[@markholley]

Chorus Guitars are so loud, drums disappear on my listening environment for the "Beat My Mix" version.

[@fytakytemusic]

Congratulations @charkara1 Charis! Awesome job!

[@morbidmanmusic]

my take away is that the engineering made it easy!

[@cianthreetimes]

Damn I missed this. I could have really been somebody.

[@dirkchurlish4074]

educational. heartbreaking loss

[@idrum.iproduce]

❤

[@gregedenfield1080]

man, I was working and missed this.....maybe next time.

[@mrwev]

We will do more for sure!!

[@D.Uwins-music]

Here's a mix I did recently. Done ITB with 2254's on drums and TG1 on mix bus. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKimY6WYh8apjKs

[@masterbluesrockguitar4966]

Hi Eric, thank you very much for the opportunity! However, as excited as I was when you annonced this, I was soon very frustrated by the amount of files for such a short song. I'm not a pro tools user and I haven't subsbribed to your website so I couldn't understand what was going on. Tons of drum tracks, guitars, bass of the same take. I know that experimenting is one of the key factors we all do this and multiple mics. amps they all add to the fun. But at some moment you have to make a choice and when you put out everything that like it becomes overwhelming and confusing to someone who wasn't there when all this experimentation was going on. At least to me it was to the point that I didn't mix the song. If you read this, with much respect and appreciation please next time put out something not so chaotic :-) Thank you very much!!!

[@mrwev]

Thank you for the feedback! I totally get it. I was trying to achieve too many things with this download of the files/session. I wanted people to be able to have access to everything but you're totally right. It became confusing and overwhelming if you were only trying to mix. On the next one, I will only include the tracks that are needed for mixing and everyone will only get the raw files. Hopefully, you'll be able to join the next one!! Thanks!

[@masterbluesrockguitar4966]

@@mrwev Thank you very much for your answer! Best wishes!