http://www.box.net/shared/714y8mv34s
The top end of your mix could do with a good dose of extra air, but this could be easily remedied with some buss EQ. However, if you're going to do this then a few of the HF transients (kick, stick clicks, snare) will probably need to be rounded off a bit to avoid them poking anyone's eye out. The kick in the choruses particularly sounds almost like it's glitching -- it's a bit like it's been gated with too high a threshold, turning the natural attack into a kind of audio click. The vocal lip noise in the reintro and second verse will also need to be dealt with, I reckon, as it's rather distracting with the extra air boost in place.
In addition, there's also a bit too much woof overall in the 100Hz zone, but this is probably beyond the reach of such a simple fix, because it seems to be coming from a build-up between the bass and kick. I'd suggest looking at the EQ on those different instruments to try to focus them into slightly different regions. Most people have tended to leave the 100Hz are of the kick clearer to let the bass through, but although that's perhaps the most straightforward approach it's not the only solution.
The snare sound is relying heavily on its sharp initial transient to carve its niche in the mix, but I'd suggest giving it more sustain character as well (as I've already discussed in a number of these critiques), otherwise any down-stream loudness processing will murder the apparent drum balance. The tom fills seem a bit wide, as compared with the cymbals image coming through the overheads. I like the compression pumping! (I'm a bit of a sucker for that, what can I say...
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I like the vocal sounds, both in the verse and the chorus, but I think they're being sucked a little too far back into the mix by their effects. Get a bit more predelay in there, and see if you can pull the return levels down a touch, because I think the performance will impress people more if you keep it a little clearer of the backing. The vocal levels, on the other hand, are probably a fraction too high throughout at the moment. That said, I think there's still quite a bit of potential for filling out the drums and guitars in the mix texture, in which case the higher vocal level might be more necessary.
Speaking of which, my suggestions for inflating the texture would be to make a bit more of the overheads and guitars in the balance, and maybe to shift a bit of the low midrange emphasis onto the guitars instead of the bass. The backing vocals could make much more of a statement too, filling out the top end of the stereo picture and hinting at more epic acoustic dimensions. Tempo-sync'ed delay could really be your friend here, as well, as it'll give you more sustain without washing things out. It already feels like there's enough long reverb, but I'm not convinced you've found the best patch for it yet. Something more spacious and high-ceilinged, but without too much length, which will only add mix clutter.
Despite the criticisms, you've clearly got a vision for what the band are trying to achieve, and it's just a case of pushing your implementation to get closer to it. Thanks for submitting!
