Few random thoughts here to share:
Chris Illet: When I listened to your mp3 it was dead mono and pretty low resolution sounding. Perhaps you can take a look at your mp3 encoder settings and see if that didn't screw with your mix more than you think.
But hey, now you know how other engineers feel when somebody monos up their mix and squashes it with an mp3 encoder!
Regarding arrangements and edits: I did a few edits here and there, mostly as what I would call triage(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triage).
I found a bar of the shaker/cabasa thing that didn't offend and then looped it for the song, then dropped back in the spots where it did its little fills. Did some beat detection/time alignment with the bass/drums/clave at the end, where they all ritard slightly but not together.
I didn't think the song needed too much editing, and its my opinion that for a first time mix, one shouldn't really be asked to rearrange the parts to create a workable arrangement. If you're submitting tracks
to me to be mixed, you're submitting stuff in the arrangement that you like, and you want them mixed like that. However as an arrangement decision I did mute the repeating acoustic guitar part when the electrics came back in to prevent the song from getting too busy at that point.
regarding the guitar "solo": I thought about fixing some of the clams in there, but that smacked of effort and would have taken time away from fixing other things. Also, I figured if somebody had left that there as a final track, then somebody in the band must have loved that part and would have been upset if I took it out.
Also, that single line part basically defined the approach I took to the mix. I heard it and said, "well the only way this is going to work is if I drench it in a springy reverb" and that led to other FX used elsewhere.
the bass track: This is a candidate for explaining why you should always record a Bass DI track even if it's not in vogue these days. I probably spent the most time in the mix trying to make that bass track work.
Great sounding vocal. What was the mic again?
The MS guitar? Great idea.. I immediately turned off the side tracks cause it sounded too "headcavey" for me to use. I prefer a single acoustic guitar to be a mono instrument. If I want stereo, then I double it or do something else.
The drums... What was the intention here? 2 separate takes and picking and choosing the best parts? I just went with kit #2 and did a stereo panning thing. I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't any spot mics on the bass drum and floor tom/cymbal thing. I guess limitations can be good, but my first impression of hearing those tracks was not one of joy.
Also, did you move the mics around between take 1 and 2 of the drums?
anyway, thanks for posting this, I had a lot of fun mixing it.
Greg