Another Mixbus mix - NOW WITH PUBLIC LINKS

Probably not a winner in the contest (of which I care not about). After you listed to these, see post 11 for the video of the song and its mix.
 
"Distance" - Raw Tracks snippet 
 
"Distance" by Regret The Hour - Mixbus 32C by bapu (Mixbus Plugins ONLY)
 
"Distance" by Regret The Hour - SOANR by bapu (UAD, Waves, EZMix, S-Gear, BOZ, Pod Farm 2, TH3, LXP480, Voxengo, Ozone7)
 
Did the entire Mixbus 32C mix in less than 8 hours (in three separate sessions, one 20 minute remix).
 
Did the SONAR mix in just about the same amount of time.
 
This was fun to hone the mixing skills on something I was completely unfamiliar with.
 
 

Sorry Ed, no speekee facebook. Ignorant heathen that I am. I'm so far past it, that I'm almost at the front of the que again.

Bummer. I thought to listen it was public. I'll post it elsewhere then.

Soundwise
It has some sonic subtitles of the great hit songs of the past. But unfortunately those magic plugins and an overall excellent DAW won't make a #1 hit. I think Cakewalk's ProChannel does roughly the same thing in a more songwriter-friendly environment.

Maybe it's just the way I use them.

I liked the bass and guitar on the track but the snare was really in need of some TLC. I find that there's no body to it. I noticed in the 32C advert I received there's a list of features. In that list they mention something about the design of the audio engine that I think is the key to the Mixbus sound. I'm wondering if anyone else spotted it.
 
Stick with it Bapu. I'm staying with Mixbus but passing on 32C.

Here's the VIDEO of the song (which I assume is the tracks we were given).
 
I only just now listened to it. I did not want to be influenced by what was.

The two mixes are way too different to be able to tell. eg Sonar mix has very different snare sound and level.
What would be good is try to pull two identical mixes, one in Sonar and the other in Mixbus and then compare.
 
I would do the Sonar mix say first then reference that inside the Mixbus mix and match everything as closely as you can. EQ's, panning and levels etc..
 
Then we can switch back and forth and try to listen to what is making Mixbus sound the way it does compared to Sonar.
 
And to those who are non believers, Sonar's Pro Channel is definitely not like Mixbus.
 
 

Soundwise
Do you use reference tracks when mixing?

Nope. The goal was NOT to make a comparison of the DAWs but more of how I would use them without regard to each other, if that makes sense.

Zo
Interessting bapu ...i have exactly the same fun mixing in mixbuss ... Basically the plugin layout is so bad that i stick wirh defautl comp and eq most of the time exept for reverb and buss comp ...

I used their delay and vocal character plugs on the voice. I used bass character on the bass. I used drum character on the kick and snare. I only used the 32C EQ's on the guitars. I bused 4 separate instances of their Reverb. And of course I used compression on either tracks or buses.
 
No mastering was done in Mixbus.

bapu
Hey Jeff,
This time I was not going for "compare" just seeing where the DAW workflow took me.
 
In the case of Mixbus I set out to use only the Harrison plugs and I accomplished that.
 
In SOMAR I set out to use what are mostly my go to plugs.
 
So to reiterate, this was not about what DAW is best/better sounding but how their respective workflows affected me.

 
Yes Bapu  I get it from a different point of view.  In fact it is interesting.  Same raw materials, two different DAW's and work flows and two quite different mixes result.  Maybe workflow effects the end result more than we realise.
 
Theoretically though you should be able to pull an identical mix from two different DAW"s.  What would separate them would be more like console emulation, certain eq sounds, tape saturation and the dynamics that Harrison gives you built in and everywhere.
 
I like the fact in Mixbus there are three EQ's.  One for tracks, another for buses and that final eq on the masterbuss is setup for clearing mud away and adding a little clarity here and there.  The eq's are all a little different.  You can sort out 80% or more of your eq requirements with just the built in eq. I have got all the mastering plugs, they are great and their reverb too, it is nice to use for sure.  The EQ in the 32C would be nice. To have that amount of eq control plus a slightly different sound added again. I can see the advantage.
 
I have worked with a real Harrison 32C and the fact is you can get involved with that nice channel eq.  It is very adjustable.  That Harrison had a huge bottom end at the back of the control room.  It was floor shaking. They sold it for a song and put a Control 24 in the same space and it sounded much worse.  A not so nice middle register with no bottom end! It had just disappeared.
 
 
 

Just had a listen on the cans. I'm with Jeff that the mixes are too different to compare ... sonic character is so radically different that I cannot focus on subtleties. I'm torn between the mixes liking one element better here, another in the other mix...
 
Actually I tried something similar in the past few days while trying to get a grip on Mixbus 3.3. I did use only 5 tracks (1x lead vox, 1x piano, 3x back vox), which leaves a lot of space in between to listen deep. And I did limit myself to using the same reverbs in either DAW, then iteratively working either mix. Sonar first, Mixbus next. Bounce. A/B compare next day. Make notes. Work both mixes again ... currently about to start the 3rd iteration; about to do some more listening/making notes tonight ...
 
While I can't put these mixes out (as they originate from a rough demo tracking session of material that is not to be released for another half year), this is great learning experience.
 
Round #1 (due to inexperience with Mixbus) definitely ended 1:0 for Sonar (the first Mixbus mix couldn't keep up)
 
Round#2 had Mixbus to tie with Sonar. Mixes got closer together sonically, and I did start to like the Mixbus version ... and I had far fewer plugs in the Mixbus project ...
 
I did realize quite quickly that both DAWs will make you go different ways. So the workflow has an impact. Even if you have a vision that you work towards. Since raw tracks were just quick scratch tracks from a demo session, mic/preamp settings did not properly suit the voice.  Somehow Mixbus did a better job in smoothing out some of the harshness of the lead vocals, but in neither DAW I could polish the turd far enough ...
 
I'll definitely do a round #3 because I want to dig deeper in Mixbus ... and I'm not sure where it ends.  While Mixbus definitely has some nicely tuned EQ bands at hand, it may fall behind when automation gets into the picture (first automation attempts in Mixbus were neither stable nor really working that well) ...

Zo,
 
UAD has a 32C plug. I've been using it for years.

Hey Bapu! Checked your "drop box" raw/mixbus/sonar tracks and at first I thought I liked the Mixbus version better...it seemed to be more cohesive? But then I read through your and everyone's comments and went back and listened to them again and I like the Sonar mix...The order that I listened to them kinda affected my reaction...The Mixbus mix is a fuller (slightly) bassier (is that a word?) feel with unique production et al...While the Sonar mix seems to have more sparkle, brighter drums too...Both stand well on their own...I would as said above like to hear "equal" versions (of any music) played on both systems to be able to get a basic comparison...and yes, performance was excellent! Thank-you 

Man am I kind of tired of that song now.
 
There are over 600 submissions and growing each day. Although it was not my goal to listen to them all I listened to just enough of them to be bored with the song and even my mix now.
 
I have maybe listened to 30 mixes and I cannot even imagine how the judges (ostensibly only 2) can narrow it down to even the top 50 to start being critically listening for their "winners".
 
I suspect they would have to deploy a team of listeners to rule out the pure crap versions (I'll assume there must be at least 30% of the submissions that would be in that category, mine included). Even then that's over 500 mixes to listen to (assuming about 750 is the total submissions).