So, this is my first post on a mix on this forum. Let me start out by saying I’m an early learner, so take what I say with a grain of salt. If Jonathan disagrees with anything I say, your rule of thumb is: go with what he says! 
I love this mix. I only joined the forum recently and am blown away with how professional the mixes are here, this piece included.
Love the balance. I’m mainly a guitarist. I absolutely love the sound and eq on the lead guitars. I agree with Jonathan that a little automation would help, and to my ears, just a few dB more volume on the lead guitars during the lead breaks. I love that sound. It’s almost metal with a touch of 80s Eagles’ guitar. Cool.
My son is a drummer. Really into metal/scream-o stuff, cuz of the complexity of what they do with drums. I’m talking August Burns Red, know what I mean? (Greiner is amazing!). So, to my ears, I think the drums need some work:
I could go for a little more separation with the drums. They’re not quite loud enough for this genre maybe. Maybe that’s just a matter of taste, but that’s me. A bigger deal, though is that I can’t get enough of the kick on my speakers: on headphones (Grado SR-80s) and on my KRK monitors (VXT4), the kick just ain’t coming thru. The only time I really hear it is on the double-kick breaks, but it doesn’t sound natural. I can’t tell if these are perhaps MIDI drums? If so, on those double-kick parts it’d help a LOT to automate the velocity of the kick. It sounds too perfect. All the same velocity.
Not only is the kick not loud enough, but it’s dull and muffled. Needs a little more crack. It competes with the bass and gets lost.
In the lead guitar breaks the high-hats are a bit loud, a bit tinny and distracting.
Now, on the other hand, the snare is awesome. Very nice snap. Same with the toms. Excellent. Don’t touch them!
Another thing with the drums – and you might not have control over this (ya work with what you’re given) – is that for this genre they seem maybe too structured. Just a thought, but it still somehow sounds very “pattern-based” — pattern-fill-pattern-fill. I’m thinking it’d benefit from more varied embellishments rather than just fills at the end of phrases. Again, you might not have control over that: that’s more about arrangement than mix, but just sayin’.
Bass guitar maybe gets lost a bit. Could use a bit more definition.
All that said, this is an awesome mix., Nice energy. The mix on the guitars is beautiful, both in tone and in balance. The other stuff, I’m making suggestions. I might be way off, but I hope there’s some value in my feedback. All that to say, I could never have mixed this as well as you did! Seriously, I’m making some suggestions, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this mix does indeed sound quite professional.
Nicely done,
Tesgin
I tried my best to use compression for as far as I get them, but I think the bass sounds pretty tight. I use the fabfilter compressor cause I feel like its a good one to learn, with the graphics and all.
) and reverbs. Added a bit of parallel compression on drums, some ambient reverb on guitars, some plate reverb (epicverb) and some hall on the synth’s.
