Trying to opt out of loudness-war

[JEL]

I just re-listened to it and yes you are correct
I don't know why I couldn't hear that yesterday, but now it's glaringly obvious.

I think perhaps I spent too much time on it and lost sight of the woods for all the trees (like getting snow-blind). You know when, after a while, effects like these just sounds natural because you have replayed the song (while working on it) so many times you basically forget how it's supposed to sound. When all the little changes you do to the mix slowly builds up iteratively, play-through by play-through, into a nonsense-mix, but you don't notice it because it happens in such small steps.

I seem to end in that pitfall too easy when doing these mix-tests.
It always sounds cool when I upload it, and then the next day... what the heck did I upload there lol!?

Thanks a lot for the comment.
I will start over and try doing this mix from scratch again.

I guess I need some good tips on how NOT to get 'snow-blind' during the work-process. Some way to keep the neutral ears you have during the first few plays.