Help out a beginner please!

Hi, I'm relatively new to recording/mixing and so on, and very much an amateur, so I could use some help and advice! This is a mix of a song I wrote recently. I'm using it to try and improve my all round "game" at recording/mixing at home. The song is what it is, as is the singer/player, etc. (i.e. me), but I'd like to at least get the mix right. If anyone could listen and give me a second pair of ears, and any advice on what could/should be done to improve it, I'd be grateful! Thanks :)

Only listening via ipod headphones, but the mix seems ok in general. The slight echo on the vox is a bit too short for my taste. Maybe pan the guitar slightly left/right? The string pad belongs into the middle, not right. You can stretch/broaden it via chorus if you like. Otherwise I like the mix ... The song has a nice Jethro Tull feeling to it :-)

Mixing is so much about personal musical values and tastes, IMHO, so what I've got to offer you could pitch a lot of salt on. I thought the mix overall was just fine. However, the strings do seem to occupy frequency space that the vox and guitar sit in. You could bring some more separation to those elements through pan placement, volume changes, verb, eq, whatever. I liked the delay fx you had on your vox, but I found myself listening quite a bit to the effect, rather than your voice (which is wonderful by the way.) You could try backing off the effect a bit, or automating it so that it is more or less prominent in certain sections of the song.

I like the song. It struck a chord. It reminds me of Jethro Tull as well. Pete

I'm listening on a laptop, and the mix sounds right to my ears. I really, really like your voice! It's got a great quality that I wish there was a plug-in for. :-)

I like it. I might dynamically notch 900hz on the vox, maybe a multiband comp with a narrow band at 900hz but again, listening on USB speakers so I may not hearing it the same way it really sounds. Sounds good.

Not sure if the version in the first post is an update or the original, but either way, if I was you I wouldn't change a thing. It is great the way it is. Sounds done to me. I really like this. Gordon Lightfoot kind of style. Nice.

I think the mix is fine. You have a voice much like Ian Anderson...that's a very good thing. I listened to it three times and would like to hear more of your work. You sound like no beginner to me. Steve

Thanks very much for the input guys. Yes, I downloaded Reaper in late 2006, but had never used a DAW before and knew nothing about recording at that time. Since then, I have just been messing about with my own stuff, when I had time, and when I had something to record - so maybe 50 or so songs in that time. This forum (and Yep's thread) have been hugely helpful to me in that process. I am conscious that I still have much to learn, because I learn new stuff every day right here on this forum. This is the first recording that I thought was getting close to how I wanted it to be, but I have just set up some acoustic treatment and am trying out a new preamp, and don't yet trust my own ears. Your feedback has been very useful (and, in some cases, flattering!). Thank you!

Wow. It does have a certain "Minstrel in the Gallery"-era Tull over it. The voice and picking with the string arrangement behind I guess. Which is like totally awesome. Give us MOAR!!!!