Okay, so for some of this, it is clear there are creative differences. Listening to the version you did (as found on bandcamp) I was definitely going in a different direction. So we'll leave those matters aside.
I attempted to adjust the tone on the snare and kick and also do something about that bass guitar. Believe it or not, I'm actually compressing that bass guitar quite a bit already. I've found the particular structure of this bass line difficult to wrangle into place. The power seems to want to be in all the frequencies that make me want to turn it down and that makes it hard to get balanced and still be pleasant, even after 9 EQ bands.
As for the guitars, when I listened to these on the initial run through, I heard some mics that sounded more open than others and generally I favored those. However, the reason they sounded more open is that they had more room tone in them. So when I went to add reverb to those lines, it went quickly from "nice" to "overdone" because a certain natural reverb was already present.
For the vocals, most modern vocals sound over compressed to me so I tend to go too far in the other direction. I upped the gain reduction here a bit and that got things settled a little better. That allowed me to go through and adjust some automation to try to improve the blend and still take some of the reverb/delay off.
In the end, though, I'm not sure this version is any better than the last. I've reached a point where I think the only way for me to improve this mix would be to put it away for a month or two and totally re-calibrate my ears. I'm posting this mix just to get it in under the deadline. I don't expect any grand accolades from it though. In the end, I think the demands of this mix are just turning out to be above my skill level. Really wish I could find a mentor to work with... You can only get so far being more or less self-taught.
I attempted to adjust the tone on the snare and kick and also do something about that bass guitar. Believe it or not, I'm actually compressing that bass guitar quite a bit already. I've found the particular structure of this bass line difficult to wrangle into place. The power seems to want to be in all the frequencies that make me want to turn it down and that makes it hard to get balanced and still be pleasant, even after 9 EQ bands.
As for the guitars, when I listened to these on the initial run through, I heard some mics that sounded more open than others and generally I favored those. However, the reason they sounded more open is that they had more room tone in them. So when I went to add reverb to those lines, it went quickly from "nice" to "overdone" because a certain natural reverb was already present.
For the vocals, most modern vocals sound over compressed to me so I tend to go too far in the other direction. I upped the gain reduction here a bit and that got things settled a little better. That allowed me to go through and adjust some automation to try to improve the blend and still take some of the reverb/delay off.
In the end, though, I'm not sure this version is any better than the last. I've reached a point where I think the only way for me to improve this mix would be to put it away for a month or two and totally re-calibrate my ears. I'm posting this mix just to get it in under the deadline. I don't expect any grand accolades from it though. In the end, I think the demands of this mix are just turning out to be above my skill level. Really wish I could find a mentor to work with... You can only get so far being more or less self-taught.
Old West Audio