Hi Tom,
Just took a quick listen to your mix, it's not too bad at all. As Taylor said, there is a slight edginess in the HF, I'm hearing something funny in the very extreme HF too which may get quite fatiguing, maybe aliasing from the Virus (I've never used one) or from a plug-in somewhere along the line. But that can be easily sorted out with a little bit of EQ in the right spots! There is a few ways to approach it, mastering EQ is always a balancing act, and each individual engineer has their own take on it. You sometimes find that the solution for one problem actually brings more issues into the foreground!
I'm not listening on the mastering system atm so I'm hesitant to go too deeply into it, but you could try dipping the EQ very slightly (with a broad Q) around there, and/or adding a small amount in the low mids. If it still doesn't sound better to you, often a very gentle LPF in the extreme HF can help to roll off some of that "digital fuzz", whilst still keeping the air in your track.
I'm firmly of the belief that you should send what you feel is a finished track to the mastering engineer, don't settle for anything less. Try and get it right at mix time, constantly compare your track to mixes that you feel are great, and try to notice the differences between them, in terms of EQ. Then try to match them as closely as possible! This is a great learning tool.
But if you are getting really exasperated with the mix, send it off to your mastering engineer and just ask for some feedback. Even better, attend the session if possible! I can't tell you how much you can pick up just from watching someone great, doing their thing.
I've never used Ableton at all, so I can't comment on it's EQ but I'm sure if you learn its characteristics, you can get good results from it. Try not to fall into the hole of looking to upgrade gear constantly or blaming it, one it can get very expensive (
), and it distracts you from actually truly LEARNING to use what you have. I know Gearslutz will say differently, but it really is the operator not the tools! As an example, some of the best mixes I've ever worked on have been entirely mixed in Pro Tools, and some of the 'worst' have come from people mixing on a Neve desk with racks of outboard! But if you feel DP will aid your creative process as a whole, then of course go for it, I know a lot of people love it!
I hope there's something of use in this post, I'm not really familiar with posting on forums so it may be a bit long-winded.
Good luck with the track, I like it a lot and I know Taylor will be able to bring the best out of it for you.
Take care,
Chris
