Mixing Help

[whirlwindRA]

Hello, I am working on mixing an album for my band. I feel like it sounds okay, but terrible in comparison to other songs. Here is a relatively unfinished mix of one of the songs (no vocals have been recorded yet either) but I need some suggestions for things to do with all of the instruments. I have payed pretty close attention to each instrument and drum, but it seems like it isn't good enough.

This mix was a bit experimental for me since I decided to put all of the drum mics through a reverb fx bus... I can't tell if it's really good or really bad lol... Yes, I'm aware that it's very quiet right now but I will make it louder later.

Here is my mix:



Here is a studio version from almost a year ago:


There are actually some things that I like better in my mix but I'm not really sure overall.

Thanks for taking a listen! Any ideas on what I can improve on specifically?

 

[BryanMoore]

To me it sounds like you have a great deal competing for the same space. What have you done so far with panning/frequency separation, etc?

 

[whirlwindRA]

Everything is panned out, and for the most part, EQ'd. It is panned almost identically to the studio version, and there should actually be less things going on in the chorus in my version. What do you suggest doing?

 

[whirlwindRA]

Whoops, I had the wrong version under my mix. Now it's the correct one.

 

[bluesunlegends]

Too quiet, pump up the volume!

 

[whirlwindRA]

Too quiet, pump up the volume!

Yes, I know, but otherwise how does it sound?

 

[Chili]

"My Mix" version is very muddy. It tells me that you are not mixing in a good environment. Your room needs to be treated for good acoustic response and your monitors should up for the task (not necessarily expensive). You can learn about treating your room in the Studio Build forum of this website.

The studio version seems squashed to hell.