Sometime I'm So Confused - Colab

Love your input on this Indaba colab project.  Almost a year in the making!
 
https://soundcloud.com/bret575b/sometime-im-so-confused-bretb

Written and Produced by Michael Spinella
Piano and Keyboard by Michael Spinella
Guitar Parts - All by Jeff Maxwell
Base Guitar by Boris "Soldier Peach"
Drums, Percussion, and Mix by BretB

The opening piano part is too brittle.  Can you find a really nice piano sound for that part?  It would pull you in instead of keeping you back IMO.  At the 3rd movement with the solo guitar, the drums need to come up (snare is very soft for such a part).  You have some good arrangements going on.  I know mixing this is a bear.  Try to focus on a few great sounding instruments and embellish with the arrangement.  
 
Rimshot
 

dear Bret,
 
I listened and need to say first, this is not my kind of music. so maybe I am not the right person to comment here...but the mix sounded okay to me, listening on headphones. but the song itself is way too long, with not enough happening in here, to keep my attention - I had to quit listening after four minutes, sorry - but again. this is not my cup of tea, and maybe my attention span is just too short
 
just out of curiosity, what took this so long to be finished, one year is quite long?

Hi Bret, 
Yes, this song has many intricate sections that need to be considered individually as musical motifs & then blended as a part of the total picture where the sum of the parts contribute synergistically to the whole ....
I can feel and hear that you are on the way there sonically..... yet there is more to go.....
 a couple of things come to mind real fast ...
intro w the piano ...that needs to be / sound warmer ...
this is the songs opening statement and it is critical to establish a sound that will draw the listeners attention  in .......
once you have them interested they will be willing to suspend their critical disbelief just like they do when they watch a movie 
most people have no problem with movies that have all sorts of impossible things going on in the story .....
why should it be any different with music ?
 
this song has one of those Epic vibes ...no doubt , but it is sort of like M......'s  statue of David  where M.... had to  keep chiseling away at the stone until David  was  David .....
why should it be any different with music ?
 
when the guitar started to go into a solo somewheres around 5 mins a phrase started right and then the guitar came up the centre .....for the main solo .....it sounded like an obvious punch in to me....not theres anything wrong w that , it did disrupt the sound stage  
 
I think that when you shoot for a big sound ,
the easiest path to finding a big sound is to focus on all the smallest details .....
 
I believe in using the power of sound in a no limitations mind set .....
super loud guitars and instruments can be played soft , super soft instruments can be played loud ...
everything is all just part of the artists creative canvas and vision ...
 
I think the mix is OK ......and I'm looking to put you off here being saying this since as of late most of my music and mixes have been of tunes I'm just putting out as lessons of playing demo's for vids....
Yet , I do know a little something about mixing .
I think who ever mixed this was looking to fit in w the Genre ...
IMO the mix sounded predictable and generic .....
if your gonna spend a year working on a song ...why go there ? Go Big 
this type of song can have sections of the mix that are exaggerated , implied , suggested ...dramatic...dynamic ......
if this was a short 3 min Pop song I would have a different opinion  , 7 mins of various musical movement would justify experimenting more w the mix 
the use of a little imagination and experimentation can bring something like this song as a whole up a few notches to the next level ...
 
just so you know it was a good listen 
 
Kenny

So far up to 1:30
Drums and bass are fighting each other IMO
 
Guitar at 1:40ish sounds nice
 
Piano break is nice. Piano sounds to "digital" to me. 
 
Piano(?)  on the choir section is too brittle. Bass lacks definition here too. Piano rhythm here sounds nice.
 
Drums at 4:00ish are really weak.
 
Kick at 4:50 finally starts to have some uniqueness (away from the bass). That's good. Why not like this everywhere?
 
Piano lick at the outro is cool.
 
Overall crit:
 
Being a bass player, I was at time impressed with the boom of the bass bit it became tiring after a while. Since the piece has many parts I would have opted for (at least) EQ'ing the bass differently based on the section. Being that Boris is accomplished I'd like to believe that he has more than one bass and I would like to have heard he offered up multiple takes using different basses for the different sections.
 
 
OK, pay no attention to that man and his opinions. They are after all, just opinions.

Well, I am not a mixing artist so I can't tell you how to fix (if necessary) what I hear.  It started out too "bright" for me and actually continued throughout the song.  What is played is beautiful, great artists.  It just seems to cut a bit too much.  You might very well disagree and that is cool.  You are asking for help and even if one person who hears that and tells you might be helpful.  Even till the end I am hearing it.  How would you fix that?  I don't know there are many better people up here to help with that.  Remember, this is not a crit, but what I am hearing.  This is a great work by a bunch of great musicians.