Crossing The Mountains - need mix advice

Hi,

I've been working on a track for the last 5 weeks and I think my ears have heard it far too much now. I've done my best on mixing it but I can't tell if it's as good as I can get it or not!

I can't even tell if the problem is down to EQ or stereo positioning :-(

The track is called Crossing The Mountains and it's one of my 'experimental' tracks - i.e. it has a mix of real bass and electric guitars together with VSTs and orchestra.

https://soundcloud.com/purplerhapsody/crossing-the-mountains-wip

Thanks in advance,
Terry.

Great piece for sure. Now as for the mix. I can only give you my approach to what I do in mixing, so I will give you my formula and this has to be done first track by track, then also in the final mastering. 1. preparation and arrangement of each track, including panning into their own space, they can't share space with anything else, 2. noise reduction of each track and proper beginning volume levels, 3. enhancements that you may need for each track such as harmonic exciter, stereo imaging, eq, dynamics, reverb, post eq, maximization and dithering, 4. Now is when I apply my compression and fine tuning to each track, 5. here is where I check for all clipping problems and fix them on all tracks, 6. Now is the time for bringing  each track through a limiter and get the sound I'm looking for just right and, 7. Referencing your mixed tracks and making sure they are comparable to other recordings that are in similar genres to what you are producing. After you mix it all together to a wav. file, then you need to go through the list again and do all your final tweaking so everything sounds like it should. This is my method that I follow and it requires a  lot of time and concentration and it may not work for you, but it is worth the effort, for me. I haven't gone to school for this but just seems be the way things work out for me, so give it a try.

Anyway, you asked, so I shared, free of charge. Very dynamic and epic hike, just needs some tweaking in spots, but I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing.

Peace and blessings, John

Thanks to everyone for listening and huge thanks to those that have commented.

Lynn - wow! I'm chuffed that you enjoyed it, and thanks for the compliment!

John - thanks for the tips. I do want to clean up some areas of the mix so I'll give your method a go (problem for me is finding the time, but I'll make time)

Chris - bigger drums are very tempting but I'd worry that everything else would be swamped. I might turn up the compression on them a bit to enable me to bring them further forward in the mix. Thanks.

Thanks again,
Terry.

This is epic...quite dramatic... I wouldn't presume to advise... 
very enjoyable... 

Awesome just as it is to my ears. Mixing is all subjective. Great stuff you did here!

Hi Terry,

I know what it's like to listen to the same track over and over again - after a while you are ion danger of missing the overview and need fresh ears - Phil Spector was obsessive about getting the master and mix right and listened to the same track ad infinitum.

Here are my fresh observations:

Great track and the title fits the music - highly evocative:

16 s in 
Something needs to come to the fore. I would experiment with easing off reverb on the piano so that it cuts. This section is dynamic, exciting but one instrument should be taking control and take the limelight - otherwise it's a bit of a soup - mushy. 

1:09 Great rest and highly evocative

3:15 This works well

3:48 I feel the choice of guitar doesn't do justice to this section. The bass should be more defined

4:39 This is the first time an instrument - guitar - takes control and leads the track - I would use the same guitar throughout the rest of the track 

5:30 Again, dynamic - good returns, repetitions, and reminders

6:00 Overall great effort - like the piece - exciting and evocative - Well done!