Hey Guys I'd sent this off for some Professional Mix Feedback from Sound on Sounds Mike Senior, here is what he said...
Overall, this is within spitting distance of a commercial release, as far as I'm concerned, so in general good work. The main thing separating it from showtime, in my view, is the vocal tuning, which still feels a bit shaky in general. There are also a few spots of vocal timing I'd address too, particularly the first chorus "to take" and "of mine, still in decline, because of you" which both feel early. The vocal balancing's pretty solid, though, which is great, and definitely helps give it a professional polish.
A few random thoughts that strike me as I listen: Nice involving intro -- like that a lot. Build-up into the first kick entry is good. The synth lead first heard 0:44 is consistently a bit early, and undermines the groove. So is the one in verse 2, first heard at 2:10. Have you considered dropping the snare for eight bars or so at 3:15? Would draw more attention to all those cool synth details you've got going there, and would also give you a way to build through the section by reintroducing it later.
Love the idea of the drop chorus at 4:02, but it's quite a long drop, and it feels as if it needs a bit more build-up through it. It seems to lose a bit too much momentum, where if anything the opposite should be the case -- it should seem inevitable that the drums will return. Your reverse transition effect certainly helps, but I think you need more than that. I wonder you could so something with the eighth-note synth stabs, for instance, to make them evolve over time. Or perhaps repurpose some of the great stuff you had during the intro, particularly that nice sequenced rhythm synth first heard at 0:21. Could you also go more to town on the full synth wash at that point too? There's no right way to do this kind of thing -- it just needs a lot of experimentation.
Everything is very clean and clear, despite the copius layers/effects, which is great news. The only thing I'd like is maybe a bit more pitched bass in the bottom couple of octaves, just to give it a little more warmth on big systems. The kick's nice and tightly controlled, so there should be no problem doing that.
