MiX iT! Intro – PLEASE READ FIRST

Chris Lambrechts · #1 July 27th, 2007, 10:25 PM

MiX iT! Global Mixing Event

Improve Your Mixing Chops with Online Workshops

Kagi Media and Auraleo Advanced Learning are proud to sponsor the MiX iT! Global Mixing Events. Every two months scores of mixers from around the world all mix the same song at the same time in our educational event. They post their mixes along with their projects or session files and complete mix notes. And there are mixes done on EVERY platform: Acid, Cubes/Nuendo, Digital Performer, Logic, Pro Tools, Reaper, Samplitude + Sonar, as well as analog console mixes with mix notes.

Then the real fun begins as everyone critiques each others mix, as well as discussing the techniques they each use to get their sounds. And there's no better way to hone your mixing chops than hearing how 100 other people all mixed the same song you did + then comparing notes. The best part is one mixer in each event will receive both Mix It Like A Record and Hustle Harder DVDs compliments of the cool guys @ Kagi Media. And all the mixes and discussion from previous MiX iT! Events are available for you to learn from right now.

For more info, updates on the current MiX iT!, + links to where you can learn from previous rounds... read on.

And welcome to the MiX iT! Global Mixing Event Forum.

Thanx!
Chris Lambrechts
Charles Dye

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Hi and welcome to the MiX iT! Global Mixing Event, hosted by the MiLaR forum and sponsored by Kagi Media and Auraleo Advanced Learning.

What is the MiX iT! Event?

The simple answer is an online Mixing Education Event.
The slightly more complicated answer looks something like this : There are 3 major phases to MiX iT!

Phase 1 : Submit It.

Registered members can :

- Submit a song which they would like to see mixed by other registered members.

and / or

- Enter the MiX iT! Event

A poll amongst the mixing event participants will decide which song becomes the subject of phase 2.

Phase 2 : Mix It.

The song selected in phase 1 becomes available in rendered contiguous multi-track mono audio files (48k or 44.1k / 24 bits). The participants in MiX iT! download the files and mix the song. Once mixed they will upload the mix as a high quality AAC (160 kbps) file.

Phase 3 : Discuss It.

This should be the most interesting phase of the event as this is the phase where the mixes can be auditioned / praised / criticized etc ... but above all they are dissected into as many pieces and details as possible. The mixers should be willing to provide detailed information about the process.

Where the fun starts is that everyone will post their actual Project or Session file. Not with any of the audio, just the data file itself. But since everyone else also has the same audio, anyone with the same DAW can then download the file, open it on their system + see exactly how other people did their mixes. And if you don't do your mix on a DAW, that's totally cool too. Please just post as much info as you can about how you did it. Pictures of settings on gear, etc ...

The listeners provide feedback on what they hear and can ask the mixers questions. And all this in an 'educationally entertaining commonly accepted good vibe'.

The cycle will be concluded by a public poll in which one Mix will be chosen to receive two educational DVDs from Kagi Media: Mix It Like A Record and Hustle Harder XXL.

Timeframe :

Phase 1 : 2 weeks

1 week (7 days) to submit a song followed by a 5 day poll (for event participants only) to determine which song will get 'mixed'. The 'winner' of the poll then has 48 hours to provide the song as rendered contiguous mono audio files that will be hosted by Auraleo Advanced Learning.

Phase 2 : 2 weeks

Participants have 2 weeks to provide their mixed version of the song. The audio files will only be available for download during the first week of this phase. Participants can post their high quality mp3 files at the end of the two weeks at any time during the last two days in the MiX iT! Final Mixes thread.

Phase 3 : 4 weeks.

3 weeks of intense discussion followed by a 1 week poll to pick the recipient of the two educational DVDs from Kagi Media.

So there you go.

MiX iT! will happen every two months. Keep your eyes out for the MiX iT! stickies announcing each phase, and visit our dedicated forum to join in on the fun.

Charles & Chris

STUDIORAT · #2 July 27th, 2007, 10:37 PM

how do ya sign up?

ryst · #3 July 27th, 2007, 10:54 PM

NICE!!!!!!!! This is gonna be great!

But don't you think 2 weeks to mix 1 song is a bit overkill? I think one week at most is more thna enough. I usually have to mix a song in less than 2 days....usually one day. 2 weeks seems kind of excessive to me.

CaptainHook · #4 July 27th, 2007, 10:56 PM

Interesting to see how this goes...

Chris Lambrechts · #5 July 27th, 2007, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STUDIORAT

how do ya sign up?

Things will become more clear over the next week leading towards Monday August 6th. That's the date you will be able to sign up / submit a mix etc etc.

Signing up will be simple ... you submit your name to a thread that will cover 'phase 1' :

Chris

elborgan · #6 July 27th, 2007, 11:17 PM

Great idea,

Mix and discuss... we should all learn lots.

Chris Lambrechts · #7 July 27th, 2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryst

But don't you think 2 weeks to mix 1 song is a bit overkill? I think one week at most is more thna enough. I usually have to mix a song in less than 2 days....usually one day. 2 weeks seems kind of excessive to me.

Well ... we wanna give everybody a change to participate.Indeed 2 weeks seems long but the song files will only be accessible during the first week. At the same time we believe that a 2 week span to get this Mix done should provide enough flexibility for anyone who wants to participate to calculate it into his or her's schedule.

Also ... remember that we expect this not to stop by just 'mixing' the song. We want participants to actually participate in the discussions that follow the mixing phase as well. Giving everyone enough breathing room yet keep it within a reasonable time limit is what we set out to do. Let's see how this one goes.

Chris

ryst · #8 July 27th, 2007, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Lambrechts

Well ... we wanna give everybody a change to participate.Indeed 2 weeks seems long but the song files will only be accessible during the first week. At the same time we believe that a 2 week span to get this Mix done should provide enough flexibility for anyone who wants to participate to calculate it into his or her's schedule.

Also ... remember that we expect this not to stop by just 'mixing' the song. We want participants to actually participate in the discussions that follow the mixing phase as well. Giving everyone enough breathing room yet keep it within a reasonable time limit is what we set out to do. Let's see how this one goes.

Chris

Fair enough. Looking forward to it!

Brendo · #9 July 28th, 2007, 02:07 AM

Glad to see this underway.

Charles Dye · #10 July 28th, 2007, 06:10 AM

This is gonna be a lot of fun!

Skwaidu · #11 July 28th, 2007, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryst

NICE!!!!!!!! This is gonna be great!

But don't you think 2 weeks to mix 1 song is a bit overkill? I think one week at most is more thna enough. I usually have to mix a song in less than 2 days....usually one day. 2 weeks seems kind of excessive to me.

On the contrary, 2 weeks is such a tight timeframe that I have no idea if I can reserve time to participate until closer to the actual date... So the 2 weeks frame feels like a minimum sensible time from my POV.

My "normal" mix time varies per project, from 2-3hrs to 3-4 days per song... Though one day would be the most common here too.

This is a cool thing though, I'm hoping that I'll have time to participate!

southboundloco · #12 July 28th, 2007, 02:31 PM

DAMN this is gonna be FUN!!!!

Brendo · #13 July 29th, 2007, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skwaidu

On the contrary, 2 weeks is such a tight timeframe that I have no idea if I can reserve time to participate until closer to the actual date.

Yeah - the mix will take half a day - the problem is finding that half a day in the two week window!!!

MacGregor · #14 July 29th, 2007, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Lambrechts

Hi and welcome to the Mix it Like a Record Event, hosted by the MiLaR forum and sponsored by Kagi Media and Auraleo Advanced Learning.[...]

One thought: why sign up beforehand?

Often people will sign up but get suddenly burried with work (hint: Monsieur Carlos Dye,
Team Magnetic, CAPE 5), and what's even worse will NOT sign up but suddenly find
some spare time to pull out a mix or two (hint: Aardus Varkus, Team Womb/Magnetic,
CAPE 5).

Let everyone download the tracks, if it results in a finished mix it gets posted.

That should increase the number of participants. The more the better.

Mac

Watershed · #15 July 29th, 2007, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacGregor

One thought: why sign up beforehand?

Often people will sign up but get suddenly burried with work (hint: Monsieur Carlos Dye,
Team Magnetic, CAPE 5), and what's even worse will NOT sign up but suddenly find
some spare time to pull out a mix or two (hint: Aardus Varkus, Team Womb/Magnetic,
CAPE 5).

Let everyone download the tracks, if it results in a finished mix it gets posted.

That should increase the number of participants. The more the better.

Mac

Skwaidu · #16 July 29th, 2007, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacGregor

One thought: why sign up beforehand?

Maybe a sign-up as planned, but also someone late to the game can submit a mix, they just didn't get to vote for the tune to be mixed?

However, it's Chris and Charles who decide this, of course.

Ashley Smith · #17 July 29th, 2007, 02:57 PM

Awesome! This is gonna be a blast, thanks

Watershed · #18 July 29th, 2007, 03:15 PM

I'll have a crack.
As a mixing novice, I'm certainly not in it for the win... (Already have MILAR anyways).
But the experience should be great.

Charles Dye · #19 July 29th, 2007, 03:32 PM

One purpose of the sign up, as my friend Skyy has pointed out, is so the participants can choose the song they would like to mix.

But as well it is so you will be able to download the multi-track files.

Charles Dye · #20 July 29th, 2007, 05:10 PM

Chris + I, based on your many excellent suggestions, have worked hard to think this thru, but of course we may have missed an element.

We're flexible to change, our main purpose with this 1st event is to get the ball rolling.

We fully intend this to evolve + get better with each round, and we want this event to be educational for all of you.

So, please continue with your suggestions. We're all ears. But for this 1st round, the above outline is pretty much the way we intend on doing this one.