Hey Juan, it's been a long time since I've stopped in to see how you were doing, sorry about that...
Right now I'm recovering from a really bad bout of tonsillitis
and I'm not 100% sure my ears are hearing things correctly yet, but I couldn't resist popping in for a listen on your mix of a tune that I've found very challenging as well.
So based on what my clogged-up ears are hearing, in between bouts of feeling like I just swallowed broken glass...yes, it's really that bad... lol, take this critique with a grain of salt, what I'm hearing sounds like there are a lot of technical problems you haven't adequately addressed and you've perhaps created a few more to contend with, HOWEVER, there's a certain undeniable magic to this mix. Through the verses the vocal is actually rather clear, and despite the fact that the rhythm section and synths are sort of blending into a blurry mess behind the vocal... I kinda like it. The main issue I think in that department is that there's ENORMOUS reverb that's completely soaking everything.
Now should you unsoak it? I don't think so, to be honest... but there needs to be SOMETHING happening to clarify a few of the instruments, such as the hi-hats, which should have more definition I think, but that big nasty toad (bwok bwok bwoooook) that's croaking in the background is disgusting in the best way when drenched in his own filth as he is right now.. that's truly awesome. I think a highpass filter on the reverb send might clear up the bass a little bit, and given the business of the mix, it seems wise to automate the length of the reverb tail... you can get away with shortening quite a bit when it gets busy on you because everyone's gonna be so distracted by the rest of the industrial toxicity going on elsewhere. I think you're gonna need a lot of automation to help the audience maintain their attention on the best bits.
Now the choruses are a bit more of a mess... the vocal is getting lost, though the ambiant nature of the guitar sounds is perfectly in keeping with your vision elsewhere. This is where automation is really going to pay off... and you're going to have to get moment to moment on it, probably automating almost all of the main instruments. I feel like you might be able to maintain your reverb slurry if you keep it almost entirely to the sides during the choruses. You'll get size and more focus on the main instruments that way.
And my last comment, I can't tell if you're using any compression on the master buss at all, but knowing you and knowing the genre, you probably are, since music like this probably should be a little squished.... definitely highpass the sidechain on that beast. The wibblywobbly bass part is going to make your compressor do all sorts of goofy things that'll make it hard to get enough gain reduction on the whole without it ducking the whole mix every time that synth swells.
Sounds like pretty good work, dude, from what I'm able to tell in my incapacitated state, but your processing is making it a little hard for you to keep the things clear that need to be clear. Everything that doesn't need to be clear? I think it sounds pretty damn cool when it's a blurry glob, considering the whole song reminds me of college (you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about lol)... so use that druggy, dopey mess as a tunnel, and make the most important instruments at any given time the only thing you can see at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe I should back off on the antihistamines?
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!
