Back in early 2002 (on another forum), one of our founding "Mix Posse" members proposed a "Mixing Contest" to that forum's members. What took place, was to take a song that he recorded/tracked, and distribute those tracks to the "Mixing Contest" participants. Those participants would then import the tracks to their DAW/mixing rig, mix the song, then submit the final 2 track mix to the contest. The final mixes were distributed to all the participants for judging/critiquing, and a winner and 2 runner ups were announced (based on participants votes).

What was interesting about this, was how differently everyone approached the song. Every mix had it's strong and weak points, and showed many different perspectives. This opened things up for discussion and learning, because where one person may have gotten a great sound on one thing, another struggled...or someone may have taken a completely different approach to the song that changed it's mood entirely...so, the exchange of ideas ensued!

After doing two of these "Mixing Contests", a small group of us (that were dedicated, serious professionals looking to improve ourselves) decided to create a vehicle where our main focus was to exchange songs/mixes with each other. We created our own forum, set up FTP access and began the "Mix Posse". We've covered a lot of ground since our inception, learned a lot from each other, expanded on ideas, and have made this effort a success.