Nice work Ziggy! Did you make the mono backing vocal stereo? It works really well. In my headphones there is a lot happening above 2kHz. To my ears it would benefit from taking the brightness down on one or two instruments to free up space for the vocal. It could be my headphones as I have thought this about the last few I listened to! 😂

yes, I did it )))) (this is about the backvox)))))

about 2 kHz... which instrument should have a 'pocket' for vocals? this is in an acoustic guitar (are the mandolins spaced from the vocals around the panorama, or can they also interfere?). and the cellos seem to be too low to compete at this frequency (although I'll check it out).

if you clarify the situation with the headphones, and it turns out that it's all about them - let me know 😀
Or maybe you can listen to another audio source

Hey! Very nice mix. I liked your guitar tone.

Nice mix! Very clear sound between 2-10k ( for headphones its maybe very bright as John said) but with my monitors its works very well. 😀

zig! Yor mix, for me, has a bit too much mid freq (around 1k). Did your ear your mix at 1:30? The vocal sing FIND . here there is a problem. In the final part there is too much compression and the kick has too muc volume.

you certainly deserve a detailed analysis of your track! Your work on listening to other tracks should not go unpunished!)))

1. The guitar lacks body and sounds too thin. To add a bottom, I mixed in the ID guitar.
2. The voice also sounds thin and a bit harsh, perhaps adding reverb would help? Maybe you removed too much bottom on your voice?
3. I'm starting to repeat myself, and in order not to write the same thing about each instrument, I'll say this: the mix lacks information below 500 Hz.
4. Well, you already know about the panorama))

Hi Ziggy, what jumps up immediately is the forwardness of the guitar and lead voc. I think the transients of the guitar are too strong. And the lead vocal has too much high mids. On the other hand I think the mandolins could use some more presence and less mid. The mid section needs a bit of cleaning up.

Hey Ziggy,

As said, there is a lot of energy in the high frequencies and it lacks some bottom. The high pass on the vocal did resolve some of the plosives in de vocal, but we've lost some body along the way. The cello solo sounds a bit distant. I like the position of the lead vocal up front. That changes when the kick drum sets in, I think you did quite some buscompressing on your master bus with the kick triggering most of the detector circuit at the chorusses? With a little less top end and some rebalancing in the lows you have a good mix going in my opinion!

Hi Ziggy, What I like most about this space is listening to the same song from different perspectives. Your mix is ​​different from the others, you have given a touch to the voice that I find interesting, but I agree with other colleagues that perhaps it has a point of aggressiveness in the upper midrange that is surprising and the volume should be adjusted very well so that it does not stand out so much . In the final part, when the bass drum hits harder, it's like the dynamics hit the ceiling (bus imiter?) and for my taste it sounds a bit forced. Good job

Hi Ziggy, quite boxy low-mids present here in your mix. Bass is very boxy. Levels of everything are good - can hear everything ok...

Jesai
yes, now listening to my mix after the break (and after multiple remarks ))))))), I hear its frequency flaws.
and I also agree with the excess of compression ... I don’t know how to resolve it yet ...

Vlad
1 about the guitar - it was a conscious decision. I deliberately removed the low-frequency component from it.
donated it to cellos and mandolins.
although it is possible that I overdid it a bit.

2 fully agree with the second point. the vocals are really subtle (the irony is that in my reviews of the work of my colleagues, I pointed out precisely the subtlety of the vocals)))))) many times). but I did not remove the bottom from it (although, apparently, I added it to the top, which led to the same effect).
that I should add a larger proportion of the reverb, I myself wrote almost immediately, when I started listening to other people's work, and I heard more reverb in them than in mine, and I heard that it was good)))

3 perhaps I overdid it in the fight against boxing (which Liam eventually heard anyway). and in connection with this,
going back to point 1... maybe it's not the guitar that lacks body, but the entire mix of content below 500Hz?

4 about the panorama - I don't understand

Aart
Perhaps I agree that the guitar has a lot of transients (I didn’t specifically amplify them, but, apparently, after the radical removal of the bottom of the guitar, only transients remained from it)))))
about the excessive LEADership of the LEAD vocal, it seems, is also true ... because. You're not the only one talking about it

Hans
with high - understandable. we will reduce
with low ones too, will add))))
but I HPassed the vocals (besides with a shelf) just below 180Hz ... if I'm not mistaken, this vocal has nothing at these frequencies ... or am I mistaken?
I stabilized the band around 300Hz with a multi-bandcoparessor. but did not press it down, but on the contrary, lifted it up. those. Even at the stage of mixing, I myself understood that the vocals are thin, and I tried to fix it somehow.
on the master, a glue compressor with a gain reduction of no more than -4dB (but, indeed, I did not use an HP filter in its detector), and a limiter with a maximum reduction of no more than 3dB
on the cello during the solo should reduce the reverb?

Enric
this opinion is inspiring!
with the fact that the sharpness and level of the vocals are too high, I already agreed earlier (as you could see)))
I will try to fix this.
on the master, a glue compressor with a -4dB gain reduction, and a limiter with a maximum reduction of up to 3dB

Liam
I'm confused... I'm confused like Vincent...
You and Vlad set me opposite tasks! I don't know how to satisfy both wishes at the same time
Or am I lost in the terminology... 😀

question to all: how do i solve the problem of excessive compression at the end of the track? automate compressor parameters?

I express my sincere gratitude to all together and to each personally, who took part in the discussion and expressed their point of view, and gave advice. This is important to me and I appreciate it. Thank you!

First rule in mixing: There are no rules. That said.... I never automate compressors... Never thought about it too, haha. Might be a thing, it's a very slippery slope I think. When setting the compressor on the master bus (if that's the compression you're talking about), I set it at the loudest part of the track (normally last chorus) and leave it at that. This means that a lot of the time the compressor is probably not doing anything. And leave the ratio at 4:1 max or something. Now I don't produce EDM, and I like some dynamics left in a mix.

it's surely too early for me to go slippery slope ! 😀

Ziggy, I would only put compressors on individual tracks were they can improve the transients and/or sustain, and to stabilize dynamics whenever necessary. On the master bus it should suffice to use a limiter to just touch the peaks. It's much like Hans says, and I think this genre doesn't benefit from choking the dynamics.
In stead of automating compression you might consider automating volume before the compressor.

I fully share your view on maintaining the dynamics and atmosphere of a live performance.
I am not at all an unconditional fan of compression (if it might seem so 😀))).
but yes, I used compression, but everywhere I tried to apply it in almost 'conditional' doses. little by little.
at the moment I think that the reason (as suggested to me by the reviews) is the lack of HP in the tire compressor detector circuit.

this track, for all its seeming simplicity, was not easy for me. a large range of both micro and macro dynamics require, for successful resolution, considerable experience with such material.
but with practice and your help, I am gradually gaining this experience.