You got the right ideas but yes as you assumed the mixing does need more work. With some technical corrections, this beat will sound better than it already is.
the 808 pattern bangs, solid drums and instrumentation...as far as the mix goes it sounds like too much midrange to me get some more highs in there to even it out
Now is that suggestion in terms of mixing, or the song itself?
Cause I did specifically EQ the high's out of the song on the master track to take away a bit of the harshness when listening in earbuds.
If it's as far as the song IDK I think it's fine the way it is, I'm trying to learn balance here, or basically resisting the urge to try and do too much.
On my studio monitors the bass is a little overpowering, the highs are... well, hardly there. The Mids are slightly too loud. What are you mixing on? I love the track, really though. I went through the same issue with mixing, I was using a shoddy 2.1 system, found a nice deal on some studio monitors at musicians friend and I could instantly tell what I was doing wrong in my mix. Overall, Sick track man.
I got just some Dell CPU speakers with a sub, then Sennheiser HD-280's (probably my best bet), some cheap ear buds, and my laptop.
In that order, I make tracks on the CPU and headphones, then when it comes to final mix and mastering I also use the ear buds and laptop and compare Vs. commercial recordings, though I'm more focused on loudness (which I achieved pretty well with this one).
I'll take into account for now that I have a tendency to cut out too much high frequencies and boost mids and lows too much and compensate as best as I can.