Thank you for listening. I tried to stay true to the music of the era. There was not much kick drum in Elvis' songs. I purposely kept it buried due to the genre, but if others agree that it needs to come up more, I will reconsider.
I've gone back and forth on the vocals too. This guy has a muddy sounding voice. It seems the more I brighten it, the more unnatural it becomes. I'll try subtractive EQing next, but it's never going to open up like an opera singer.
I am discovering that things sound different in the studio monitors when it's not in mp3 format. For example, the backup vocals sound way louder over the computer vs. when on CD in the car. But alas, I'll have to mix it for the end user...mostly the Internet.