Nice to hear everyone’s method.
For mine I used the Tom Petty track that a lot of us used.
Also some small guitar hits from the Let The Sunshine In track.
The Horn Sounds were stem-split from the Weather Report track (Umbrellas)
And the vocals were from the Sinead O’Connor track Foggy Dew, which I chopped and took the liberty of Autotuning just to get it in the same key as my backing.
Drums were one-hits and bass was from Vstation.
All made in Ableton.
Looking forward to the next one 
Congrats to @Sleepyhead on the win - beautiful track start to finish. And everyone…
Well I had pretty high expectations of myself on this one. I decided I was going to try a four seasons mini composition. Winter into Spring into Summer and then Fall.
For the Winter I used the tracks Looms and Schoolbabyboy posted as it captured that delicate snow fall but also the drama of a blizzard. I just through a favorite breakbeat.
The Spring was the In the rain track and wanted to keep it minimal. From that point forward I wanted to only use the same drum sounds for the rest of the seasons - to feel like it was one drummer one drum kit.
The Summer piece is from the Lou Rawls Summertime and then a little preformance using the lfos and triggers on my Digitakt
The Autumn was the catchiest riff for me and the drums were intentionally lazy/drunk with a blustery cacaphony of leaves blowing around.
Honestly, I am disappointed in how the final product sounded. I tried to do a bit too much and I never really locked in the sound that had me excited/dancing around. So I was too much in my head.
I produced the whole thing inside my digitakt and then just recorded it and sent the mp3 without touching any of the sound. I want to get better at mixing and mastering.
I am in awe and total respect for how many of you are able to get your sound frequencies and mixes to be balanced - every sound claiming its place and complimenting the other sounds. I feel like I arm wrestle and guess with my sounds or just “get lucky”. So I need a major pivot on how I do this. Maybe its better mixing, do some post recording mastering but I suspect it starts with picking sounds and samples that sounds good with each other.
How do you all do this?
thanks to Yabba for the battle and to you all for putting your personalities into your craft and sharing. Big up.
I don’t consider myself to be an expert in mixing, but a couple of things that really helped me.
If it’s not bass then get rid of the bass. A lot of samples from tracks will be the whole spectrum including the bass. Unless you want it to be a bass element then high pass filter all the bass off especially if it’s playing along side other things. You can be quite aggressive with this almost to the point it sounds tinny.
Keep your hi hats and other sharp transients lower than you think you need. They can be really low and still cut through and the peaks will often be the thing that dominates meaning the rest of your track sounds quiet.
Use a limiter. Everything gets elevated by pushing the levels and adding a bit of limiting. It’s well worth investing in something like pro L2, but D16 have a free limiter plugin.
Good tips 
I’d also suggest to take time to fine-tuning the decay on drums. It creates much more headroom and definition within the mix.
Thanks @monquixote and @Jord.Lim - really helpful! I am going to start implementing these approaches on my next project.
Any other suggestions? I’ve heard people talk about choosing samples that don’t compete on frequencies and aren’t too busy. Not sure how to approach this.
The goal is to combine samples in a way that eliminates the need for heavy mixing later on.
With the right choice of samples, a simple balance can be enough to get a great mix. It can take a lot of time to dig for samples that match perfectly, but afterwards, the mixing happens in the blink of an eye.
The best advice is : don’t force it. If it doesn’t click right away, it’s better to change the sample or the synth.
Regarding the cluttered side of things, it’s true that we tend to stack sounds without knowing when to stop.
My method is to stack elements without holding back during the creative phase. Then, I take a break and listen back while muting tracks to keep only the best. I often end up deleting half of the tracks in the end.
Gonna sound like a broken record here, but Reaper’s free limiter plugin works well and is pretty easy to use. Kenny Gioia has some good videos on it and other free limiter plugins if you look them up on YT.
I also struggle with not going too busy. But here are thing that I ask myself when I’m picking samples:
1: Do I already have a sample covering a certain octave(ish) range? If so, go outside that range for my next sample. It’s really tempting to pick a lot of things from the mid/low-mid range cause that’s where a lot of hooks and melodic pieces live, but we need stuff above and below for contrast
1a: What “layer” is the sample on? If I’m chopping a bunch of different instruments together into one hook like Jord.Lim did, it’s fine for them all to be in the same octave range since it’s all one layer, one piece
2: Does every layer get a turn in the spotlight? Frex, If I want the listener to hear a cool bass run, I have to make the sure the hook is laying out (holding a long note, dropping out entirely, etc)
3: Am I repeating too much? A part that repeats a lot is not the meat of the stew, it’s the broth
Agreed on this
If the samples are clashing you can’t fix it in the mix. (Although obvs I’m EQing the samples as they go in)
Usually if I’m tweaking things it’s slight thing I’ve noticed at the end. If it’s a big clash you can’t fix it.
Great mixing tips here! Completely agree with all of em, and I’d add that it always helps me to use a commercially released track I like the sound of as a reference track. While mixing its easy to completely mess up your point of reference because you’ve heard your own track too often.
Besides that: I actually really like the way your track sounds! Making four complemetary beats is a hard task and I was really impressed by the buildup and the way the different parts work together.
Great insights here! Also found this video
Can I humbly suggest we continue this exchange here?
I’m trash at mixing. My brain is still stuck in the late 90’s blown out four track mentality.
My track was #10. We’d just gotten a big snowfall here and I wanted to capture peaceful empty feeling of the snow and cold, and the way it can feel like you have some solitude even in the heart of the city.
My mixes tend to be overstuffed, so I tried to keep things simple this time, taking inspiration from the smooth white glow of the snow.
I started out by building the barest drum beat I could. I think it’s based on an old Beastie Boys 808 pattern but I can’t remember which now. Paul Revere maybe? I wanted it to feel sluggish, like trudging through snow, so I added those triplet hats to make the beat feel laggy.
The drums are all on the DT, running in Song Mode; the samples are all on the SP404, running in Pattern Chain mode, synced to the DT (this song took up about 1.5 pattern chains). The only other element on the DT are the little synth pings. I think they’re actually factory sounds.
I tried out a lot of samples and ended up on the Rainbirds one. I also tried to get it to sync up in a way that it felt really behind the beat.
The SP404 is a mix of 2-, 4-, and 8-measure patterns to cut off the sample or let it play out. I ran the SP through the DT’s input, so the samples have a combination of the SP’s (tape?) delay and the DT’s delay (and compressor too I guess?). I mostly kept the DT’s external mixer page open while recording to send/mute the SP.
The vocal noises are “Everyone Loves the Sunshine,” backmasked. It needed a higher element, so I also took the well-used string sample from that. And some of the Gil Scott Heron is in there, too.
All the music was recorded and performed live, with the spoken samples added after, also on the SP but using a combination of internal FX and guitar pedals. The vocals are once again from Borges’s “The Library of Babel.”
You, who read me, are you sure you understand my language? The methodical task of writing distracts me from the present state of men: The certitude that everything has already been written negates us, or turns us into phantoms.
Sorry taken me so long for my write up
Mine was the last track (14)
Was I think one of the first beats made start to finish with my new baseline setup with everything pretty much hooked together and ready to talk.
Setup is mainly OT2/DT1/small mixing console/a couple drum machines (mfb-522/korg ddd-1)/ some sound shaping things for resampling or cue/send and then (not used this time) keyboard synth and ROMpler
Sampled the Diablos guitar loop, Hurricane Starang ‘USH’ .some trumpet from the Comethazine track i posted, Frank Kole I think his name now, would need to double check. Also some Enya in there.
Drums from mfb-522 controlled by OT, used some of the individual outs to help EQ + amp sim pedal on the aux send from the board.
Hihats from DDD-1
I think maybe also a random one shot as a ghost snare/hat not sure
Since allowed one synth sound used EWI alto flute sound (SWAM) towards the end with a ton of reverb and delay, sounds kind of trumpet like tho
Tried to make some risers. I forget exactly the samples I used but resampled one with OT fader controlling pitch, and one adjusting EQ through the Ashdown Acoustic Radiator 2 (no speaker so modified into a desktop unit)
Had to eq out a bunch of mids after to make them fit so sounds more like swelling cymbals than I was going for but happy enough with it
Listened through the playlist again while writing this comment and everyone deserves praise.
Mixing wise I’ve found its useful to do basic leveling at super quiet volumes. I often end up bringing down the hihats and bringing up some other elements.
Not alot of mixing on this particular track, tracked everything live through RNC for some gentle compression (still learning stages in that world) then did a bit of a low end cut after recording because the mfb bass is too fucking powerful
How’s the ideation coming along @Sleepyhead & @sleepside?
Looking forward to a new challenge! 
I’m looking forward to it as well! I messaged @sleepside, we’ll have a new battle concept soon!
hello all, I finaly found some time to make music in my life. I’m excited to participate in next battle. It’s been month I didn’t finish a track. Hope a battle can help me to restart a healthy habit.