blech, i don't like the snare sound much either. and trust me, i know how to hit a snare.
it's just that the drum wasn't singing too well that day (it's a 60's ludwig wood snare and quite tempermental), and my other snares (metal ludwig and larger metal pearl) didn't fit the song at all. i'm not planning on retracking, but i may gog it if i can't make it pop a little better with some compressors and eq. i'm glad someone else hated it too b/c it's been buggin me.
i tend to mix drums a pretty dry, but i'll definitely throw some more reverb on them--you're right, they could use it.
the vocals......he's not exactly got the concept of mic technique down yet.....and can't ever seem to remember to pull his head back when he gets louder--he's still a bit of a newbie with respect to that. i rode the gain on the mic pre while tracking, b/c putting a compressor in the chain (even conservatively set) squashed too much during the loud parts (namely the "die" as you noted).
admittedly, i didn't ride the vocal fader at all during the mix (or draw any automation) as i was in a hurry.
i worked on that some last night and it's better, but i'm not quite done with it--i'll post a remix tomorrow. i was about 85% happy with this initial mix and figured i'd go ahead and post it, warts and all.
for the record, i played the drums, bass, the right-hand rhythm guitar, and the crunchy rhythm guitars. the lead guitar, left-hand rhythm and vocals were done by my co-conspirator (our lead guitarist). clean lead tones were done through my Champ and his Blues Jr, and the dirty lead at the end was also the BJr which i distorted a little more at the mix. bass was direct.
i appreciate the comments--keep em coming! glad to hear that the mix is pretty solid overall, as this was "mix #1".....so i think i'm finally starting to learn these ASP8's.
cheers,
wade