I am trying to learn how to mix and master, following the many guides in this forum, and a few books and additional resources.  I've just mixed and mastered 3 songs, and would like honest critiques.  Not on the songs themselves, lyrics, compositions, etc.  But strictly on how did I do as a mix engineer?  Are all parts balanced?  Did I achieve enough separation, etc.
 
If you have a couple minutes, and are able to provide feedback and critique, I thank you for your help.  I know a lot of you are pretty good at this, and many are pros.  I'm still learning...  
 
I have uploaded the songs to Dropbox.  Below are the names, followed by the long URL, followed by the short URL.  They are in the order on which I would like critique.  If you can get to all three, great, but if only one, then please critique "Forgotten Land".
 
Thank you very much!
 
Forgotten Land
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14864402/Forgotten%20Land%2C%20mastered%2C%2044-16-P3%2C%208-29-14%2C%20(c)%202014%20Todd%20Silva.wav
https://db.tt/TfH49Y1U
 
Red Skye
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14864402/Red%20Skye%2C%20mastered%2C%2044-16-P3%2C%208-29-14%2C%20(c)%202014%20Todd%20Silva.wav
https://db.tt/SFH7C9vf
 
Prairie
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14864402/Prairie%2C%20mastered%2C%2044-16-P3%2C%208-29-14%2C%20(c)%202014%20Todd%20Silva.wav
https://db.tt/ppeJKBWV
 

The answer to most of your question is yes.  Your mixes are wide and open, and they BREATHE!!!  You're definitely on the right track for this type of music.  I enjoyed each of your songs, especially the instrumentals.  They're all well arranged and have a nice balance of textures and flows.  My only small crit is that the maracas in the vocal song didn't feel right to me.  It's OK that they're mixed low because they cut through well enough, but the rhythm didn't quite gel with the rest of the parts, imho.  Some of the vocal phrasing could also use a little polish, but otherwise, you have a very good voice that fills the middle very well.  All in all, very well done!

Thank you Lynn, very helpful, and I appreciate your taking the time to listen! I'll go back and have a listen to the rattle in Forgotten Land.

 I though the beauty of the song itself was captured very well and I had no trouble feeling what I thought was the intended message of the performance. There were times in the song that the balance was perfect and I was transfixed.
One of the issues with digital recording and mixing is that everything is so crisp and clear that all parts tend to fight for the focus in a song. The only method I've found for combating this is with a clear vision of what the song is trying to convey and how you might achieve this through production decisions, use of plugins, and selective use of things like volume and panning automation.
I thought there were times where the backing parts of your song impinged on the vocal, which was what I wanted to hear, so I could listen to the message you were trying to convey. Especially around the 2.50min mark. The instruments were poking through and dragging my attention away.
Having said that, you are well on your way to a great mix. Good song!

Forgotten Land:
 
FWIW, I liked the rattles. Great tone on the vocal. I thought I heard an autotune artifact in there, at the transition between "journey" and "end" in the first verse. Maybe it was just an abrupt comp splice. A little thing, but when the vocal's up front like that you have to be really nit-picky.
 
I like the 12-string - good EQ on it - but I would have panned it a little more to leave the center open for the vocal. Ditto for the strings. That vocal's just too good to make it have to compete for the center.
 
Red Skye:
 
Great mix, great tone on the guitars, nicely panned away from the piano. I'd suggest rolling off a little more low end on the synth pad, which steps on the piano in a few places. Either that or roll off some bottom on the piano with automation when the synth comes in.
 
This is where a multi-channel analyzer like MMultiAnalyzer comes in handy, when you've got two broadband instruments competing for the same spectral turf.
 
Prairie:
 
Some competition going on in the lower mids. You might try broadly dipping that Rhodes-ish synth part somewhere in the 600-900 Hz range.
 
I know you specifically said you weren't looking for composition critiques or attaboys, just mix comments, but I have to say the songs are great. I admire simplicity because it's something I have a hard time disciplining myself to achieve. 
 
Can I suggest that it's usually not necessary to upload wave files for critiquing purposes? Yes, you want people to hear it as you hear it, but in reality a 320kb/s MP3 works just as well and doesn't require several minutes to download.
 

Sounds good here on my Sennheiser HD-600s.

I was only able to listen to "Forgotten Land", but I really liked it.  Overall I thought the mix sounded great: very open and clean.  To me, a great mix always starts with a good song and a good arrangement, and you've got both of those here.  I particularly liked the simplicity of the instrumentation and feel that it lets the vocal make the statement that it needs to.  Like rebel007, I thought that the strings got a little competitive with the vocals at time, but just a little work and you should be able to tame that (if in fact you want to).
 
Best of luck with your music.

Thanks rebel007, bitflipper, bapu, and jude77! I really appreciate all of you taking the time to listen and to provide helpful feedback.
 
I agree with the comments about the strings in Forgotten Land stepping on the vocals. I've struggled with that one. I'm going back in today and will pan the guitars and strings first give more room to the vox in the center.
 
Bitflipper, Prairie is the simplest of the 3 songs as far as no. of tracks, only 4. But it has been the hardest to mix because of the richness of the synths and bass synth. I may have to even "cut" some more on the EQs of the instruments.
 
I'm not sure what you meant by "Rhodes-ish synth". Zebra is being used for the high end glass sounding stuff starting about half way, and Kontakt for the chimes. I'm using an older synth from Antti, Taurus, for the bass. And then Massive for the lead, flute like sound. Massive is also doing the chords underneath the flute lead, is that what you mean?
 
And Bitflipper, good point on the WAV vs 320 MP3, I'll make a note of that for next time on Dropbox.