51m0n

No the drums are what they are. Think Shania Twain and go with it, they sound like that because of the type of heavy handed compression used when tracking, and that means that was the stylistic intention at the time. I think the thing that has stumped most people actually has been the lead vocal. Very few of these mixes have left the lead vocal undamaged, either by heavy handed inappropriate reverb, or heavy handed eq-ing. The thing is it's a great lead vocal, he has a superb voice and the only issue is that the sibilance can get a bit splatty in places. Nothing that either riding levels, appropriate de-essing and careful eq can't solve. On top of that, this track is chock full of melodic hooks. The best mixing makes them more obvious, some of these mixes bury the hooks behind the acoustic guitars, which wont help at all. Most if the entrants have really struggled to get the layers of 'twang' to work together rather than fight each other. I think a lot of these instruments were recorded with similar SDCs and so they have all got a similar eq stamp on them which if nor dealt with well adds up to a very harsh sizzly toppy mix. Last point the very best mixes here even work on a mobile phone speaker, which is my new crappy speaker ultimate mix test. My mix sounds great on my mobile, the balance is still as right as you could hope for, and that lead vocal sounds exceptional.

Well that would be awfully good of the two of you. I really like the anonymous aspect to our version of the mix competition, it levels the playing field a lot I think. But it is a PIA to do if I'm honest, and summer is mad/mental/hectic at work since that is when most of the design, sizing and documentation for the next seasons dev comes in, and thats my job...

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1368795954' post='2081629'] Thanks again mate. I'm happy to volunteer for the uploading shenanigans next time, unless anyone else has a burning desire to do it? Looking forward to listening to these mixes over the weekend... [/quote] [quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1368798812' post='2081684'] I don't mind doing it one month? [/quote] Chaps that is definitely appreciated. You need to know that there is significant time involved in uploading these as wavs from an ADSL connection (however fast it says on the tin, that is the download speed only - the upload speed is typically a tiny fraction of the download speed). It may be that we have to move to 320kbps mp3s instead

Oh now, leading question matey, can't possibly answer that having gone to all the trouble of putting it together anonymously. But I will say this, currently mine is my favourite one. There are a couple that come close, but for me mine has the best treatment of oiurtfewnfoihvroijnvrnoirv piojoijepiofjiopjer pjpoj pio jpioj ipj piojpojpo j ojkljhde dojhnd..... ... sorry we are breaking up Any of you who have paid attention to all the mixes so far will almost certainly recognise which one mine is if you listen hard on a decent playback device, some thing about my approach on these comp mixes where I have very limited time tends to make my mixes have a certain iuohnfoerijfoeijf efwpofjerpojerf loih oih ouhouhfewpoijfewpiojfewiojceoinoi fe about them that I think is quite recognisable. Sorry, terrible line at the moment, something to do with solar activity maybe?

Cheers bluejay!

Right chaps, please go to:- [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/204769-aprilmay-mix-competition-poll-added/"]http://basschat.co.u...ion-poll-added/[/url] Stick on some cans and listen to the tracks and vote for your favourite mix. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/"]Sound on Sounds[/url]' own [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/30618-triviul/"]Mike Senior[/url] has joined Basschat having heard what we are up to (we are using a set of stems from his website this time) and is going to offer his own critique on the top mixes as voted for by all of you. Huge thanks to Mike for taking the time out and joining up for this, very generous of him! There has been a superb turn out this month, which means people are truly interested in the concept, but it also means more tracks to listen to. Having said that I found it pretty easy to whittle my way through them before deciding on my favourite. Not that I vote, since I know who entered what and its an anonymous competition. Thanks for your time, voting closes May 31.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1368794354' post='2081596'] I don't know why but Mix C won't play for me.....all the others do though...and this month it is surprisingly difficult to identify mine!! Edit: Got Mix c to play now..... [/quote] I know which one yours is

Thats all the mixes I've been sent as far as I know, we had some fun and games with a few of the last ones not being wavs, and a couple of my downloadcs went wonky too. And I was doing it from home with normalk broadband, whlst working from home over a VPN, so I had to throttle the uploads right down or I wouldnt get a usable dektop connection to work. Utter nightmare to be honest, took about 2 days to get it all done. This is heading into my really busy time of year (at work) now, so I am not sure I will be able to pout that much effort into the next one, so unless someone else volunteers to do the upload thing it may well have to not be anonymous. Sorry

Right am going to make the mixes available now - if I didnt get yours up there, sorry, I've done my best.... The is:- https://soundcloud.com/bc-mix-competitions/sets/mix-j/s-o2vko Which I will also put in the OP with the poll. Enjoy!

A flurry of late entries has delayed this till tomorrow afternoon at the earliest - busy day at work will be taking all my time, sorry....

Nearly all ready for the big reveal. Some interesting takes on this one I think chaps. Good stuff! Clearly still some confusion over the K Meter idea, most people have got their levels really close, but there is one really loud pumpy one, and one rather quiet one. Never mind though most of them are very close. Well done everyone who has had a go, really impressed with the effort and turnout this month (6 weeks)

Sorry this is taking soooo long, but Soundcloud is being an unadulterated pile of horse 5h1t and will not upload all the tracks properly. No idea why, there is nothing wrong with them at ll. Been trying all day and getting nowhere with the two that it has taken a dislike to. Doing my head in so it is (grrrr)....

Getting very close now.....

Woodford Reserve - very fine supping liquor that, booyyy....

Maxon AF9 if you after a really touch driven filter

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1368151660' post='2073883'] It's OK, Simon, you really have to worry when your wife disappears, the bank takes your house, and your crop fails. [/quote] At this rate thats only a matter of time!

Awww shucks, game changer, back to the drawing board etc etc Thanks for stopping by Mike, loving this one - which is why I chose it - the vocals are just sublime. Now where's that bottle of JD gone?

Really, Roscoe Century Standard 5. I knwo I'm just saying what I've got, but I got it for all the reasons you list. Light as a feather to hold, massive tight focused bottom end, punchy as hell, plenty of growl, goes from a super P sound on the neck across to burpy jazz on the bridge pup, there is something in between for you I'm sure. Only thing to watch is its a 35" scale and therefore will take you a while to get used to...

Double check your pickup heght before going for a compressor (did 51m0n really say that, must be the mushrooms!). Too high and the magnetic field will choke the string vibration, too low and it will not be hot enough. Typically the thinner strings have the pickups a smidge closer on a lot of basses, but not so close as to cause the choking effect (if the string doesnt sustain as long the pickup is too close) I think a compressor can really help but you may find it feels weird on the lower strings (ie its clamping down on them quite hard) if its working hard to bring the higher strings upto match gain. Make super sure the pickup height is as good as you can get it before going down the compressor route. The Cali76 is a truly awesome piece of kit (esp the tranny version) - mega bucks though. Search on here for mention of that pedal will take you to a thread with a huge collection of very very good compressors mentioned. As always ovnilabs is an invaluable source for all things compressor pedal...

Markbass cones (at least in their big 410s) move a huge amount, they are flapping in the breeze. My ae410 cones hardly move at all in comparison. Yes I've watched the two closely one after the other, its not an optical illusion. No I cant explain it either, but I would bet an sfx thumpinator would sort that out, and have wondered in the past whether there isnt a similar filter built into Jim's crossovers....

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1367921279' post='2070936'] Not wanting to hi -jack your thread mate, but does anyone have suggestions for a mic for mic-ing up your cab. I had been pointed towards an EV RE20 , but am open to any suggestions [/quote] Heil PR40 killer Mic for that, and kick drum, and lots of vocals actually...

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1367933776' post='2071161'] Thanks for all the suggestions. I hadn't considered Heil or Beyer so I'll look into those tonight. I'm increasingly thinking of going for a condenser though, the lighter diaphragm does automatically make it easier to make a decent mic and i love the airiness of the sound, even if it isn't for me. The Shure87 is looking interesting. any other condensers people have tried? [/quote] Forget caring about condenser vs dynamic, the Heil's go as high as a condenser usably can live and have a very light diaphragm, they don't sound like a dynamic!

Heil PR35

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1367599108' post='2067470'] Apologies I misunderstood and thought the idea was using more fingers to play faster I'll get my coat. [/quote] Yes, using 3 fingers allows you to play faster, because you use each finger less often, if you keep using the middle finger for every other pluck it is used as much as in a two finger technique, so the limitation is the same. Although using three fingers does make string crossing a little easier even then IMO. For me its not so much about raw speed though, I find I can cross strings far easier going up using three fingers than two, and I get more muting 'for free' from my right hand. I am a very strng believer that muting is a right and left hand thing, neither one nor the other takes precedent, for me, the left hand tends to mute the higher strings that arent played, and the right hand thumb (floating thumb technique on 5 strng is a must for me) tends to be in charge of stopping the fat strings resonating unwantedly. But the extra funger plucking away does also tend (for me a tleast) to mean I get a chance to do some other muting with the RH fingers too, that I just cant get to wok when only uising two fingers.

One of these days I may get around to adding some more to this, once I'm not tied up running the mix comp