I just can't balance this mix

[ccarnucci]

I have been trying to mix this pic for months now, and I just can't seem to figure it out. To me it just sounds harsh. Can anyone help me pinpoint what is going wrong here?

 

[FoulPhil]

I liked the song. It's original sounding. I'm not qualified to tell you exactly what it needs, but I'd cut some low end off most of the instruments and brighten it up a bit. It's a little lacking in the sparkle department. Cool song though.

 

[keith.rogers]

The strings, esp. the bit lower ones on the left (though I hear better on that side) can be too busy during the vocals, plus they probably need some EQ where they overlap the vocals. And, even the higher strings have some swells between lines of a verse (or it seems) instead of waiting until the end, i.e., if the words have any import in this song, you're doing a lot with the instruments to distract from that.

Maybe there's room to move things around (in the stereo field) so there's a bit more of a hole in the middle for that vocal.

I'm a serial ducking abuser, but I'd put most of those instruments (minus bass) on a bus and let that get pushed back with a wetter reverb and/or difference in pre-delay. Then just slight ducking against the vocal (after maybe addressing some of the attention conflict between it and instruments).

 

[Mr Clean]

I really like the song, that part is nailed and sounds great.

Personally, all the strings are too loud though for me. I'd keep the mix of them as they sound good as blend. Send them all to a Bus and reduce the volume of them collectively and work from there. Some may need a little tweak but as it stands, the vocals, piano and drums are drowned out way too much.

There's definitely a good track under it all.

 

[ccarnucci]

Thanks for the help. Ya all. Ill try it out.

 

[R D Smith]

Good song, I really enjoyed it. The vocals were a bit over powered by instruments. I have been playing with a plugin called Track Spacer on the mixes I can't figure out and it has been working pretty good. Basically it EQs a space in whatever track you place it on using the input from the vocals, etc.