New song, but what about the mix?

[Thomas Van Beeck]

Hey all,
I've been working alot on this song, but for some reason I'm not satisfied with the mix of this.
I think those drums sound a bit weak but atm don't really have clues of how to get it much better.
So that's where your opinion might help me out.
Also certain levels on instruments and maybe too much reverb? Hard to tell for myself.

[Thomas Van Beeck]

Thanks Ray, I'll give it another big shot next week, gonna let it rest a few days for now.
I'll post a new version when done.

Ray Kemp said:

Thomas,

You're so close to having a really good sounding piece but rather than me telling you what you need to do to improve on it may I simply say, trust your own ears. solo each section and track. Close your eyes and ask yourself, does this instrument sound believable? Is it close enough or far enough away from me the listener compared to the other members of the ensemble?
Are the flute runs realistic or should there be some slur in there?
All I'm saying is, the degree to which you are willing to go in achieving your goal is down to you.
Listen to recordings made of the same genre until you can hear and place the instruments in your head. Then use that as your guide.

[Matt Walsh]

To my ear the section at roughly 0:50- 1:25 was slightly distorted but not even nearly TOO distorted...maybe ease off of the reverb in the chorus and the horns a tad in that section? I think its mostly the chorus line, but at the same time that needs to be prominent...its really awesome. The drums were not weak to my ear but actually well balanced, too often have I heard blaring drum lines (especially snare parts) that really take away from the piece. Other than the "big" section at 0:50 I wouldn't touch a thing (as far as the mix goes). As far as the actual composition, well it is far better than anything I could hope to achieve in probably 5 or 6 years of serious work at an absolute minimum (and thats probably me being VERY cocky haha). Well done, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Your level of work and talent shows in this piece without a doubt.

[Thomas Van Beeck]

Hey thanks alot Matt.
Yeah, it's possible that it is slightly distorted, that's the maximizer probably.
I made an updated version.
I mostly did some highpassing on some of the drums, played with the eq-ing and panned them a bit more to the center.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/970622/mix%20test.mp3

going to work a bit more on this one, I still don't like how that snare sounds.
actually I forgot to correct the choirs , in the chorus they are a tad too early with this new version.
I also used a different main reverb on everything and not too much of it this time.

It's far better than anything you could achieve in 5-6 years?
Well, I have alot of experience in writing music and I think it's what I do best compared to playing, mixing and stuff like that.
Some day I even like to write a book about it, but for now, have some faith in yourself, push your limits each time, which is often very frustrating but that's the way I do it.

[Thomas Van Beeck]

I made my final version:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/970622/a%20rabbits%20adventure.mp3

Still not 100% satisfied but I'll try to improve my mix with the next song.