An Nasc Nua - Olli H

[Pedaling Prince]

panning the bgvs wider could have helped to create a wider stereo image?
guitar seems a bit more upfront than the vox in parts.
the guitar and vox are reinforcing a single freq which gets a little peaky at times? during verses.

With this song I first made a version where backgrounds were muted altogther. In the end I chose current tactic where backgrounds can be heard, but they hopefully don't draw too much attention to them. Normally I make bgs more wide when there's also more instruments.

Well I think in this case it would be wise to make them wider. The way they are now they do sound good but in the wrong way IMHO. What i mean by that is keeping them narrow kind of creates a "chorused" effect, particularly prominent on the choruses (you'd think that'd be a good thing ). Chorus effects sound wonderful but they're more appropriate to pop and rock tracks. Whenever the choruses arrived I kept thinking of the Beach Boys, not the connotation you want to create with a nice acoustic sound like this. I panned them quite wide, as you heard in my mix, and it created a much more lifelike, natural sound (well, as lifelike and natural as it can get with the same man's voice providing all the harmonies... ).

I do remember that quite near the end of mixing process I made this song more trubadour-like, and diminished the role of all the other parts.

Which I believe was the biggest mistake here, IMHO. Those backing parts, particularly in the choruses, are a big part of the music's power. It's such a simple arrangement that the multiple vocals are really needed to create that emotional peak.

Actually, while I'm forced to agree with your assessment that my mix sounds better, this is not too bad really. The balance is quite good and the vocal sound, other than the narrow stereo image, is excellent. I do notice, however, that everything else sounds like it's coming from a ghetto blaster still in its box. There's a serious lack of air here, particularly noticeable in the guitars and, to a lesser extent, the violins. I recommend you play around with some EQ boost on them from 4-16 kHz, try to get some air back. As for the bass, I'd go the opposite way; it's balanced nicely but doesn't sound as full as it should be; it probably needs a little thickening up at the low end, from 80-250 Hz.