a mix off?

[Hivemind]

I agree it takes a lot of the sting out if we are just judging technique instead of Songwriting.

[brandondrury]

perhaps there could be 3 levels :
beginners: 4-6 tracks ,pan, levels, add eq and reverb
intermediate: 6-12 tracks ,pan, levels, compression, eq and reverb
advanced:15+ tracks, pan, levels, compression, eq, reverb,timming and pitch correction, effects and basic mastering
anyway it just a thought.

I think it's a good thought, but I don't think that tying a hand or two behind a person's back is a good way to account for skill level. I think we can find a better way. I want each person to be able to give a mix 100%. If a person told me I couldn't use a compressor on a vocal, I'd tell them to shove it up their ass for example and I think this would apply in any situation where a compressor is needed regardless of the skill level of the user.

1. RAR compresses wav's much better than ZIP does.
- 1minute WAV at 44.1/16 = 10Mb
- RAR'ed = 7Mb

Awesome. I frequently use RAR with this server crap I've been doing lately, but I didn't know it handled wav files better.

2. Since all this stuff is so subjective, it might be cool rather than being a competition to just post your mix, details of what you did to get there, and let people post on their opinions.

That's always been a problem. From a marketing standpoint, contests are awesome. In robo subjectivity land, contests are more complex. It turns into a democracy with voting instead of a clear, cut, obvious winner. I've always struggled with this and I'm at a point where I think I just accept the democracy/popularity contest method regardless of it's possible internal flaws.

4. To restrict the space requirement a little, you could say that only one mix (MP3 or whatever) can be posted to each submission. Ie, once you submit your mix, you can't change it. This avoids any confusion when discussing it. Remember, its not about getting the mix perfect, its about identifying problems and documenting how to fix them.

This isn't really an issue anymore. The new server has tons of hard drive space.

5. If you wanted to make it into a competition, you could perhaps have a week of voting, then the winning mix gets posted to the original thread with mix settings. Then the thread gets closed, and a new one started for the next track.

I like this!

Great idea..I'm in if there is an "Idiot" category.

This brings up the issue of handling the defeatists, beginners, or whatever you want to call them. It would be nice to have a setup so that beginners don't take the "I'm just gonna lose" mentality right off the bat. Even if the point of the contest is to gain knowledge, improve mixes, etc it would be nice for these people to have some sort of incentive.

Brandon

Brandon

[rorry]

Its seems obvious that to compare mixes we all have to begin with the same source material

So we download the "mix pack"
eg. drums, bass, guitar, vocal,keys ect.
timecoded wavs would be nice in a zip or rar
The beauty of prerecorded material is we can focus on pure mixing. (not audio recording)

Then we do out best mix and submit it back to you as a single MP3
We can then be judged/critiqued on certain aspects of the mix and or have a poll.

I still like the categories idea because it also allows for people on low end systems and different skill levels.
And I suggest keeping all submitted mixes offline until a deadline so nobody can borrow from each other.

Ps even though im a relative noob at this, the idea of a mix off something id love to have a go at. After all I'm here to learn.
cheers

[drago]

I think this is a realy fun and I would absolutely participate. Quick question: would we be allowed to make edits or strictly mix the tracks? I think for the purposes of the competition it would make sense to not allow any edits.

[crispybishop]

Sign me up! I've been recording all of a few months, and I'd love to see how I match up against the more experienced ones! Let's do this ASAP!

[adorian]

That sounds like fun. Maybe we can get a rock band to provide us with their tracks. I also remember that I had an SOS CD with some tracks with free material to mix, I guess I can provide that.

[MetalDave]

Lets set a date when this will start so some of us can schedule for it. I work 50 hours a week And need a little time in advance to know when it will start so I can be ready when it does start.I think we should all vote though. The mass decides what albums sell. I think the mass should decide who wins. You get one vote for the best mix. If you don't vote, you can't win. You must be a member to vote and you can't vote for yourself.

[Money Shot]

Has this thread been going on since last Novemeber? Start this thing! I just want to hear the results. Somebody make some good ass compressed wav files or something. I'm actually really curious as to how each individual mix would turn out. As well as what was used as far as software and plugins etc...

Seriously this is a fun idea. Anyone have some wav files to submit?

[Money Shot]

hahaha funny. I just saw a blog on here about Lamb of God tracks being released to the public for mixing.

This would be perfect.

[Money Shot]

awww bummer. i checked into that. Apparently that was last year. pssh.

I dunno if those tracks are still obtainable or not. Anyways....