Beautiful Scars (the final mix)

This is a song, written by a lady in South Africa and sung and recorded (vocals)by a lady in Bali.  I was asked about the mix on the original song which was lacking clarity and was rather dark and muddy. This is a mix completely redone here in my studio. Many of the original tracks were retained. Some are new and some were simply muted/deleted from this project to simplify it.
 
 http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13134432
 
EDIT:  after much feedback from a few forums and also from the singer on this, we decided to do some additional changes to the mix...... nothing major, but hopefully in the right direction. There's a whole new bass track which gives this song a totally different groove and feel.  This is very likely the final version.  Much  appreciation to those who listen and commented.  Good ears in this place.
 
This will be going on a CD project.

nice tune......
and a nice flowing groove....
 
if anything, i'd bring up the level of the drums across the board.
give the kick a bit more thump.....
 

Nice mix, clear and well-separated. Sounds a bit scooped on my monitors, though. 

Bit....they were down about a db... from flat. the singer's EQ has a slight rise.... going flat on the mains warmed it a bit. Nice call
 
Philz.... yeah, some really nice writing and melody work..... kinda wish I could claim some writing credits on this but I can't. I did help to write and record Fools Errand by the same writer. That's gonna be the title track I think for this CD.... this song is the last song on the disk... being released soon from South Africa and all proceeds are going to the Rhino conservation group.

Grizzlylip
I was really looking for something I could give feedback on so I wouldn't feel left out, but I agree with Phil; definitely "spot on."  If you let me know when its available for purchase I will buy a copy.   

I certainly will announce it here. I do know that all the proceeds from the album/CD will be going to a Rhino conservation group in South Africa where JC lives.

Tom, thanks for listening.
 
I have posted a new, hopefully the final version on Soundclick with the lyrics and notes.
 
In the final version I have leveled the EQ on the master with a slight bump in the mids to warm it up a bit. I have also cut the lows on the piano to lighten it up, as I thought it was a bit heavy sounding. I also pulled the strumming guitars out of the intro and lowered the finger picked guitar and the piano in the intro by a db or so.
 
JC likes this version and hopefully you will too.   None of the tweeks were major things... very subtle changes.

I'm getting an error message from the Soundclick site, which is too bad because I wanted to hear this mix warmed up a bit.  Otherwise, this is a terrific song with a compelling message.  Congrats to all involved.

You are really coming out with songs that not only sound great but have some very poignant lyrics.  The mix also sounds "spot on"  to me.

Hey Herb,
this is a great song, nicely done.  great vox
 
there are a couple of places her vocals are slightly out of time.
 
you've got some digital distortion going on, tho.
0:43, 1:01, 2:02, 2:10, 2:32, those are just some of them.  always every time she sings "scars", but throughout other places as well.
 
it's on the vocals. 
 
cheers

Thanks for the listen and the great ears.
 
Regarding the vocals. I did not record the vocals. The tracks were recorded in a studio in Bali and unfortunately, they are what they are. There was to be no second take on them.  I cringed a bit when I first heard them on my speakers.  There's a harshness to them that I tried to tame but could not get rid of. I used Ozone on EQ and had them lower in the mix. There's very little tuning on the main vox and none on the BGV.   I was mixing this under the direction of the author of the song and the lead vocal as well as the BGV are considerably louder than my original and preferred mix. Some of the issues mentioned are from the fact that the lead and BGV are up so loud and the harshness of those tracks combined are creating the distortion artifacts sound that I believe you are both referring to.
 
Beagle mentioned the "out of time" aspect. She tends to sing behind the beat as I hear it. There were a few places where I was tempted to edit the vox a bit but JC ( not the singer BTW) was liking the character of the flaws so the timing was left alone and I had to go to bat for myself to get the several tuning fixes approved.  Au-natural was the preferred method.
 
I think we're done and this one will be going on the CD project. 
 
I love the folks in this forum.... you all have really good ears for details and know how to express in words the things you hear. This is not the case in all the music recording forums out there..... thanks.