I setup a new project using the Normal Template.
Dragged all 34 tracks in.
Press play at default; that is, all tracks, master buss and audio output set at 0db.
Jeez, sounding overblown!!!!
 
Place Sonitus compressor 'Vintage Mix' on the master buss.
Sounds good.
Add the Sonitus Reverb to the to the snare, track 6 with 'Drum Room' preset.
Add to the lead VOX, track 86 the Sonitus Surround with 'Center Room' preset.
 
Less than half hour. But I think I can do more by disobeying Dan and pull out the full gambit of "Pro Channel" and all my other plugs...........  Need to solo listen to each tracks and setup sub busses etc.
 

John T

Dan Gonzalez [Cakewalk]
Glad you liked the challenge! It's crazy different when you put a time limit on yourself - especially with a track as expansive as this one.

I'll tell you what really blew the time for me: the switch back and forth between the drum machine drums and the real (or real-sounding) drums. A consistent kit all the way through is far less of a challenge, and you can kind of set and forget, at least for a rough mix. Making that switch work, mix-wise, demands some time and attention. Especially given that that change is key to what's cool about the track.


I got a not bad sound on the acoustic sounding kit, but I hadn't even really touched the electronic drums when the buzzer went off and I was escorted off the stage.
 

Here here, except I found myself the other way round - I didn't leave myself enough time with the acoustic kit.

Anyway, off to bed now as an early start to see Santa tomorrow/ later today.
 
I will have another play, when time permits..

Wow, the time part of this was the biggest hurdle... I did not include importing, assigning track folders/busses (i.e. housekeeping), or the initial listen to the 30 minutes; but then I started the clock.
 
Knowing the time constraint, I focused mostly on faders, EQ, compression, and reverb. Busses were assigned to Drums, Backing Vocals, and Guitars. Much more fader work than effects, EQ on Lead Vox, Kick, Snare, HH (rest on busses). Time ran out, so much of this is "right down the middle" as far as stereo spread, with only minimal spread to drums, and wide spread on the Backing Vox. I initially set the resonance of the kick way too high, so lost the pan time correcting that flub.
 
To maximize time efficiently, I worked on Lead Vox->Drums->Guitars for effect, and copied FX to get closer to the mark. When listening I looped several sections to balance out the mix (a lot of looping/soloing done in 30 minutes).
 
Anyway, 30 minutes as quick as I could work: http://www.ariphys.com/Documents/Challenge.mp3
 
Edit: Time was the biggest factor here by far, so the "heavy hitters" in the mix got the most focus (FX work), while other elements were worked at a buss-level, and some only with faders (such as the Rhodes and cowbell). I took time to tailor the kick, snare and HH (taming that rim shot, but oddly not taming the high end which came through more than I wanted on the export). Big things I learned here:

1. My screen was not set up properly (only one screen initially), and the console became a menace to navigate. Screensets would have also helped this, although I should have had the console on the second monitor before I started.
2. Even though I did housekeeping, I never colored the tracks/busses, so that made #1 even worse.
3. Unfamiliarity with Sonitis FX. Not used these in years, and found the controls being sensitive a hurdle at first. Also due to time, I compensated by only using the top level controls of each effect.
4. It became obvious early on that to make 30 minutes and achieve something that "polishing" was unlikely. Although I would have liked to do a lot more, I was forced to focus on the main elements first.
5. I should have panned at the time of EQ (which would have saved time), but missed this for the most part due to the kick drum flub.*
6. No automation was used, but that was a nicety I would like to have included.
7. The console view got more use in this exercise than I typically do! Finding FX quickly while using the track view for navigation helped a lot. However, I can see the hurdle of this with more than three FX in that bin, so support the feature request of that automatically expanding to size (I think the feature request was specifically for sends though).
8. My navigation could have been much faster if I was more familiar with keyboard shortcuts. I found incentive to learn them better with this exercise.
9. Vagrant thoughts of inserting sends got squashed early into this exercise as the time limit became apparent right away.

 
 *The system I mix with does not have a sub-woofer, but the 5.1 system connected to my RealTek HD does. I did not notice the kick was packing a wild punch until after the first export.

OK, I feel like a wuss now someone's posted one, so I'm going to export mine.

Be gentle.
 
https://soundcloud.com/john-tatlock/dgchallenge/s-thqWp
 
 

mettelus
To maximize time efficiently, I worked on Lead Vox->Drums->Guitars for effect, and copied FX to get closer to the mark. When listening I looped several sections to balance out the mix (a lot of looping/soloing done in 30 minutes).
 

This is interesting. There's a good discussion to be had about how everyone gets from looking up at the mountain to actually climbing the thing, as it were.
 
First thing I always do is set up a loop, once I've listened a few times and identified a good bit of the song to start working on.
 
This is almost never the intro; I usually like to find a fairly loud "up" bit. Not necessarily the chorus or the absolute peak, but very rarely a quiet bit.
 
The very second thing I always do is what I think of as "repair work". This is mostly EQ, but generally not, at this point, to refine relative tone or placement of anything. I just listen out for tracks that I think have problem frequency areas, and go and fix those.
 
This is mostly one of three things. 1/ Hi passing stuff with unnecessary rumble and low end. 2/ low passing stuff with too much high end. 3/ (and most importantly) notching out nasty resonances and fizz wherever I can find them.
 
Did a lot of 3/ on the guitars and vocals on this. Not knocking Dan's tracking; that's generally where that problem is.
 
The above, plus basic drum and bass mix, took about 20 of the 30 mins. Rest was spent, more or less, on what I think of as relative EQ (getting things out of each others' way), panning, and reverb. Oh, and there's a delay on the lead vocal.
 

Dan, is this you singing on your track? Whoever it is sounds like Paul Weller, I think. Great lead vocal.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_M8m4Yr7vc
 
 

Thinking more about how I start mixes.... I work in mono for quite a while, at the start of a mix. If I wasn't trying to hit the 30 min limit, I normally wouldn't pan anything for the first couple of hours working on a thing. I always try to get as good separation as I can in mono, without reverb. So basically just EQ, compression, and fader level. Occasionally, if I know something needs to be more distant than something else, I might use reverb early on, on a couple of tracks.

Where's Danny Danzi? I want to hear him do this.