Please help with this mix?

[crimsonhawk47]

Does something seem off on this?
Here's the back ground of what I did

I mixed it down until the master fader would only hit -10db
I eqed everything, with almost no boosts, just cuts and carves (including a lot of high pass filters)
No compression, so it isn't squashed
This is not limited or anything, so just turn it up.

I decided to listen to this on the new default apple headphones, just as a reference to other songs

Even turned up, I feel like it's missing something in the mix. The kick is really bothering me too
It almost feels like there is a pressure on my ears when I hear it.

I could just be totally crazy, but I need opinions. (and as a side note, anyone that can help out with the kick will have my vote for president of chile)
View attachment 39613

 

[crimsonhawk47]

I should also mention that these are ALL audio files my teacher gave me for a project. So if they are recorded in a bad way, that would be good to know.

 

[Kid Diamond]

Sounds West Coast / Funky to me. Nice.

It doesn't sound very well balanced.

You need to work some more on your gain staging.

I feel like the drums should really be carrying the whole track.

Kicks needs more energy, snareclap more presence.

Maybe pan the hi hats a little to the left and the shakers a little to the right.

I think you should make better use of the stereo field that's at your disposal.

And yes, I know I'm not good at providing constructive criticism.

 

[City Beats]

It's incredibly too quiet.... also, whatever that sound is that keeps coming in throughout the whole song, around 51 seconds is when I looked... sounds like a chime or something... anyways, that's GOT to go... it's killing my ears... either EQ out that pain frequency or tuck it back... if your teacher gave you the tracks to mix he probably won't let you make a production call and get rid of it all together, so find other ways to mask it.

 

[HERESY/KNOKK SHOPE]

OK, I loaded the song into my daw. Peak and rms are cool so it's not a matter of the song being too low. I don't know what daw you're using, but if you were using pro tools you could easily bump the master fader for more volume if you wanted to. It would be the same as turning all the tracks up (or down) so if you need to use it do so.

I can't say if this was recorded in a bad way or not. There is no way, by listening to this mix, that someone can say that proper gain staging wasn't utilized. No one here was present when it was recorded, no one here knows where the sounds came from, what instruments and pres were used, where the levels were at coming in, etc. The only thing we can hear is the mix that you made.

What is the concept of the beat? What story is the beat attempting to tell? Find that out and then use that to guide you where you need to be. I can hear everything clearly, just some things need to be turned down while others you can turn up and I'd pan things differently as you have a bit of room to work with when it comes to placement in the stereo field. But emphasis and priority should be given to whatever drives the concept and emotion of the song.