April 27, 2023 The competing teams and their faculty advisors and judges.
The Nashville Section of the AES held its seventeenth annual "Spring Mixer" competition on April 25. Area schools with audio recording programs were invited to participate in the annual student mixing competition. Participating from area schools were students from Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, SAE Institute-Nashville, Nashville State Community College, and The Blackbird Academy.
Each team was given identical raw original studio tracks recorded in a Nashville professional studio, identical mixing environments, and eight hours to create a stereo mix and complete additional paperwork based on the delivery recommendations created by the AES Nashville Section and the Producer / Engineer Wing of NARAS. Entering the competition, the students were only informed of the judging criteria and what equipment they would be using. The mixing was performed on April 1st and 2nd in three identical Pro Tools HD post-production rooms at Paramount Global's Country Music Television facility in Nashville, TN. The students were informed as to what version of software to expect on the Pro Tools, room monitoring equipment, and what plug-ins would be available on those systems.
Rules prohibited any materials being brought in, re-recording of any new material outside of the Pro Tools systems, or any outside assistance.
The final mix created by each team, using tracks from a recording session of "Into The Future" by Karley Collins, was judged on eight elements, Fidelity/Sonics, Imaging Width, Image Depth, Mix Balance, Lead Presence, Mix Development, Dynamic Range/Preparation for Mastering and Documentation-completion of "Session Documentation Sheet — Mixing" developed as a joint effort by AES Nashville Section and the P&E Wing of NARAS.
Barry Cardinael, AES - Nashville Section served as Emcee. A panel of judges comprised of industry professionals graded the mixes and presented their critiques at the April 27 event. The event was held in the 4th Story Theater at the West End United Methodist Church in Nashville. The judges included — Randy Poole-Studio Owner/Engineer/Producer, Brett Vargason-Production Company Owner/Engineer/Producer/Musician, Alex McCullough-Studio Owner/Mastering Engineer, Kent Hooper-Producer/Engineer, and Adam Smith- Engineer.
The judges were not told what mix went with which school.
This is quite likely the only chance for the students to be critiqued in a completely subjective environment. The winner of this year's competition was the team from Belmont University, comprised of Patrick Dukes, Abbey Loftis, and Kaitlyn Walker. Second place went to Middle Tennessee State University, the team was comprised of Leah Zachary, Brady Armstrong, and Owen Tadych. Third place went to Nashville State Community College, the team was comprised of Latif Vaden, Austin Collier, and Bill Durkin. The winning school received a pair of Presonus Eris E8 studio monitors and each winning team member received a Shure SM58 microphone, Teegarden Audio Stereo Magic DI, D'Addario Thermal Bottle, along with Yosh Drum Warehouse 2, Avid Pro Tools, Fabfilter Pro, and Rich Redmond Drums software packages.
The AES Nashville Section furnished finely tailored upper torso custom garments (event T-Shirts). As the first-place winner, Belmont University took home the coveted "Top Mixer" perpetual trophy that will be proudly displayed at Ocean Way Nashville with appropriate bragging rights until next year.
