Bruthish "My only crit is I think the kick is a little too hot. It sounds good I just think it's dominating the song". I brought the kick down a bit - More?
ido1957 "The only thing that popped up was the spoken part seemed a tiny bit loud as compared to the rest of the song". I automated that down
bouldersoundguy "It's generally considered a good idea to leave .1 to .3dB of headroom to accommodate intersample peaking. I'd recommend getting the SSL X-ISM (intersample meter) and TT DR Meter (dynamic range) plugins. Put them on the main bus after any other plugins." I now have it at .3 - I use the Sonalksis Free G meter on the main buss, and the TTDR meter to check my results offline
andrushkiwt "the ooohs and ahhs sound fantastic. what's your vocal chain, if you care to share it."
I'll let you in on a little secret, but don't tell anyone else (on this open forum available to the world), I mix in, slightly, my Korg 05r/w module's "ahhs" in a bit with the live vocalist who have been "melodyned". I also use some soft saturation, and my favorite reverb plug-in, Revererate
Thanks, everyone for the kind words. It's so nice to talk about the balances of each instrument in my mixes now, as opposed to how I've over-compressed and slammed everything.