"Who I Am" Chris93 Mix

[Pedaling Prince]

The backing vocal is fairly loud to make the mix feel more "inclusive" and "friendly" rather than having a "rock star" lead vocal more important than everything else.

Exactly what I've been saying about it. As I said in my critique of your mix most people mixing this song here tend to bury that backing vocal. Because of the nature of the song I feel it should have a more "live" vibe to it, as if the singers are standing right there singing to you, and in that context the backing should be as loud as the lead.

The backing vocal is only actually 17% left but it probably seems further because the lead vocal is 8% right. I did this to get more panning separation between them while still leaving them fairly centered.

I usually do this whenever the backing vocalist and lead vocalist are different people to create that natural sound, as if the two of them were standing on a stage in front of you.

However, if I'm not mistaken the lead singer of Uncle Dad did his OWN backing here; in those cases I tend to center them both, unless the backing vocal is double tracked in which case I'll pan the two backing tracks hard left and hard right.

Of course, when there's a GROUP of backing vocalists, or multiple tracks of backing vocals by the same artist, I'll tend to spread them evenly across the stereo image.

Nothing at all on the snare apart from having the top mic about 5db louder than the bottom.

Interesting considering that, before I read this, I suggested in my critique that you lower the top mic by about 5 dB...

Any advice on what I should do to improve the "family sitting in a barn" feel but without making it feel too crowded?

Offhand, I'd say just keep your reverb effects subtle. In short, if you can hear them clearly when listening to your full mix you've probably got them up a wee bit too high.