Greetings DAK and welcome to the most creative corner of the web.
Now that you have started down the path of music production [welcome to the dark side, my son
] you'll find you'll never listen to music the same way again
And you have put together a good first ever attempt!!
There's a few things I can draw attention to - not criticisms - to hopefully help you on your way.
My main suggestion would be that the vocals could do with coming up against the rest of the band. At the moment the bass, kick and snare are the loudest elements in the mix (Ok for modern R&B but this is a rock song)
In fact, on relistening, if you drop the levels of kick (a little bit), bass (lots) and snare (a bit more than 'a little bit') you'll have a fairly well balanced mix.
Watch the vocal levels in this song though - they are all over the place. You'll probably need to ride the volume with automation to keep it at a constant relative level above the instruments. A little bit of compression on the vocals can also help even out the singer's performance - aim for about 2-3dB gain on the louder parts reduction with appropriate makeup gain to raise the quieter sections.
The problem with the bass might also be that it has a lot of energy in the boom range which is playing havoc with the mix, so when you lower the volume it might disappear in parts. (I can hear it dipping in and out depending on which note is being played) Sweeping an EQ in the lower end of things to find where the bass really starts sounding boomy then cutting away a little of that frequency could help tighten up the sound. Adding a compressor with about 10-20ms attack, long release (90ms+) aiming for 4-6dB of reduction with sufficient makeup gain will also control the bass nicely.
That's about all I can think of right now (I'm at work so I need to get busy)
Have a listen to other peoples' mixes and if you like something about their tracks try to find ways to get a similar sound. If you have any queries about how they got a certain sound or overcame a problem with the multitrack recordings I have found that contributors are generally really helpful in this regard.
Congratulations on taking the plunge and putting up a mix on the forums. Hopefully we can help you learn more about the wonderful (and addictive) world of music production.
Dags
