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

Bret and collabers, this is a very interesting piece of music and very well executed. It has some great textures going on throughout and is quite epic in proportion. I enjoyed listening to this, it is very dynamic in instrumentation and speaks volumes as to its performances and executions. Very nicely done indeed!!
 
Peace and Blessings, John

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

Really needing some mixing thoughts before we move on to a new project.  I also noticed way more post views than track listens.  What's up with that?

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
 

Rimshot, Thanks very much.  This is the kind of input I need.  I have worked on this project for almost a year and maybe to close to the project to back up and hear it with proper perspective.

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?

Speedtom, You may have missed the best parts, it continually builds toward the end.  There are 40 tracks of stuff and too many instruments to mention.  It still shouldn't have taken that long.  We all had life happen between tracks.

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

Kenny, Great input and insight!  I have never thought of a work like this in terms of a movie but I understand what you mean.  Now pulling all of that off might be another thing.  I didn't have a great piano sound to work with but might can mellow it some.  Again, thanks for taking the time.  This is the most "epic" project I have ever been a part of on both the drums and with my engineering hat on.