sup fam, just passing through to see if there is anything new here..and I stumbled upon your thread. Judging by your mixing it sounds like you have a decent understanding of what you are doing. I like how there is separation and clarity with the music in the front and in the back and also I like your use of panning and the way that you have utilized the stereo field. That pad that came in at 20 seconds was nice. Nice chopping and build up of tension. My bias would have liked to hear acoustic drums there. I wasn't vibing with the choice of kick you used but I felt like the chord progression and music was very well done in that beginning section. But 53 seconds in, killed it for me. I don't think that choice of sound was executed the correct way. It's not only that it sounds too much like stock sound but it is harsh. I would try washing it out and slapping an LFO on it.
But I liked the beginning so much, which is why I'm commenting. It was nice to hear something different. I appreciate the creativity and the audacity to explore. Just do something with those stock sounds. I would probably roll off more top end from those hi hat or automate some verb.
These are just my thoughts, nice job on that first section though. Interesting that you classified this as RnB/Soul because I immediately started thinking of Phil Collins with those pads which was one of the reasons I liked it so much.
