Thread I would like an opinion on my mixing skills

booyaka-

The mix is decent. The thing I noticed the most is that the elements are competing for space sonically.

Consider this-

A stereo signal is where there is a left and a right side, right? A straight up stereo signal has equal amounts of signal in both sides. And you get a nice full sound, especially with synth patches. It's addictive! But if you start layering stereo synth patches on top of each other with out giving the elements some left/right separation, things sort of turn to mud very quickly.

When ALL of the instruments with in a mix are in stereo, the mix IS NOT a stereo soundstage.

What I hear in your mix is a couple of elements that are panned straight up the middle, and everything else seems to be full width stereo, panned hard left/right. I think you need to work on "narrowing" the stereo field on your patches considerably, and then placing them in a positional focal point within the stereo soundstage within the mix. Even though you're doing electronic music, you need to create the sonic illusion of some sort of soundstage.

I would try doing a mix where the synths are NOT in stereo, and use panning of the mono signal to create a soundstage in your minds eye of where the players are sitting as you watch the stage. Use pan to set elements up to the left or right on the stage, and use very small amounts of reverb or delay to bring things front/back distance-wise on the stage. Play with that for awhile, and then try another mix where the synths ARE in stereo, but not hard panned left/right. For example, take your main synth patch, and run the left side panned at 9 o'clock and the right at 11 o'clock. That will give you a narrower stereo field that is centerd around 10 o'clock on the left side of the soundstage. For added interest, you could try making your lead lines move around the soundstage. Don't get too crazy with that, though!!