You Know Better - gloukin mix

[Mike Senior]

Hi Glukin! Very sensible balance on the whole, with decent clarity and tasteful effects usage too. Some more specific points:

• The vocal balancing is fairly solid most of the time, but the inherent tonal variations in the raw recording do make the level a bit too variable at times, especially during the choruses, where certain syllables really leap forward, while others get lost.
  
• The overall mix tonality seems a little fierce in the 6-9kHz range, which makes both the hi-hat timbre and vocal sibilance a bit wearing on the ear. Even with that region pulled back a bit, though, I think you might still want a little de-essing as well.
  
• The additional snare ghost notes are quite a nice way of differentiating the second verse, but they feel a bit more laid back groove-wise than the kit itself, so they don't really 'glue in' with it properly for me. As a result, they make the groove drag a bit, and sound too much like an artificial addition. The way the ghost notes track overlaps the gap after the Mid-section seems to undermine the drama of that moment in the original arrangement too.
  
• The Hammond feels a bit understated, which means that you lose some of the section differentiation between the verse and chorus textures.
  
• While I like the general sense of blend and depth you've achieved with the effects, they do seem a bit static, which again reduces the sense of arrival when we hit the choruses and follow on into the Reintro and Outro sections.
  

Thanks for sharing your vision -- I reckon this might have made my top twenty had it not just fallen on the wrong side of the submission deadline, so well done on that!