Only commenting on the mix:

Bright, but nicely balanced.

At 0:20. "Illinois" is a bit buried. Then again, it shows up enough for the listener to figure it out. wink

Piano sits nicely in the mix. I like the bits of guitar that sneak through.

At 1:31, the word "fill" is also a touch behind the instruments. Combined with the pronunciation as "feel", it took a moment longer to process than the rest of the lyrics.

Slide guitar sits so nice in the mix.

The chicken picking guitar sneaks in again at 3:24 - nice. Same for the piano fills.

Switching settings on my headphone software, in "Mono Cube" mode (which cuts a lot of bass), the /S/ pops out a lot, so you might want to look there. Not hearing any issues in mono. Sounds good in "Lo Fi" mode as well.

The bass seems a bit "tubby" to me. I know it's traditional country, but still.

My son's comments: The low/mid area could be brought up a bit. A bit of sibilance of the vocal. It could also be a bit wider, but that's a personal preference.

Non-mix comment: the ending seems overly long to my highly unqualified ears. At 3:30, you could have ended with an a capella "Of Illinois", or put a piano tag after it. Or at the recap at 3:40. But to go another round or two for the instruments - despite how lovely the "ooohs" are, seems to much.

Then again, I thought Against The Wind could also could have done with a quicker fade. wink


All in all, a nice sound on a nice song. Really well arranged, lots of nice things listen to! laugh

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?