Dance remix - mixing/sound advice needed! (sound clip included)

[RainbowStorm]

Hi!

Today I was doing some dance stuff for a change. I was sitting in the studio trying out different techniques. I read the Mixing Engineer's handbook and tried out different things. I was focusing on eliminating as much "plastic" sound from the keyboard as I could to make it sound a little more natural. In terms of what type of dance sound I was trying to get I was trying to get a typical Backstreet Boys type of sound. At the same time I wanted clearity on the main instrument. (electric piano) I was doing this by eliminating frequencies in the 400 - 500Hz range on the problem tracks. I also wanted a nice stereo picture and a rather soft bass sound. I was focusing on three elements: "Drums, bass, electric piano". The sound was recorded completely dry with my Yamaha Tyros keyboard directly into the RME Fireface 800 audio interface. Mixing and mastering was done digitally, so only one A/D conversion in the recording chain.

Now to my question. I was doing this sound sample to get a reference point for on what sound quality I am currently able to record with the knowledge and gear that I have, as I am in the learning phase of mixing. (my home studio is rather new and I'm pretty unexperienced too...) I would like to know what is the worst part, in terms of sound quality, of the sound/mix? What should I do to make it "better" sounding from here? Can you isolate any problem areas that I need to focus on? I would like to have it a little louder, but yet not so it sweeps away too much dynamic range. Please listen to the 40 first seconds of the sound clip and post some thoughts or comments... Thanks!

The demo sample is available here:

Dance remix - 192KBit/s mp3

Best regards,
Andy

[RainbowStorm]

I just have to say that so far I've located five things I should do something about mix wise:

- The electric piano needs more compression, it tends to dissapear now and then.
- The electric piano needs some more "bite". It blends in too well right now. An increase of the 2000 - 8000 Hz area with some added volume would make it stand out a little more.
- The snare drum has too little reverb and would become a little larger by adding a little chorus on it.
- Maybe a boost on the 200 - 250Hz frequency area on the electric piano would make the sound a little larger.
- I think I didn't put any delay on the mix at all, maybe some delay would make the snare hits come alive a little more...

[Lagerfeldt]

Actually I would start by changing the sounds.

If your original sounds are not up to par the mixing won't matter very much.

That's not meant to be offending just that it's very outdated production wise.

Getting the samples, instruments and performance right from the beginning will help you get the right sound much, much more than 7 days of mixing will.