Rip the Beating Heart out of this mix with your Too Bear Hands

[FytaKyte]

It feels pretty good. I'm not sure if the main guitar is relatively loud or the vocal is relatively quiet. Everything sounds good but all of the additional elements that come in eclipse the vocal a bit more each time. Not sure what you did but I'd consider some boost on the vocal at each section to keep pace with the increasing energy from new parts. The vocal really drives this song so it feels like is should be big throughout.

Thinking about mikej's post I do feel like the vocal is a bit staccato. I wonder if you edited the vocal around leakage, and if so it does sound natural, but the vocal feels short and could use some ambiance either with reverb or delay to give it some extra length and excitement. Spice is a good word. That bit of lingering on the palate after you eat. I'm not so concerned about the live feel but this is a song meant to move and push and the vocal shouldn't feel shy.

I know that's all pretentious.
It's a very good mix.

Thanks Roy - I always enjoy your critiques - well thought out and explained.

I did deliberately "tuck" the vocal down in the mix, as I felt a lot some of the other mixes I heard were somewhat unnaturally vocal-heavy, which made the band feel small. That doesn't gel with my live experience, where the vocals are usually just keeping up with the band.

The impression of the loud level of the instruments may be somewhat intensified because I side-chained the guitars and synth to duck out of the way of the vocal when the vocal is present, and then turn back up again when it isn't - that's my "lazy automation".

I'll work on improving this one some more using the suggestions here, as there is a mix competition using this song over at www.indierecordingdepot.com

Thanks for the help!