how's my mixing/mastering

so I migrated to the quietest/anechoic part of house I could find, and trying to get serious about mixing on monitors again

https://soundcloud.com/supergrandmatales324/quelk2-unmastered

before

https://soundcloud.com/supergrandmatales324/quelk2-mastering-attempt-1

after

mind the bits of silence (Audacity bug) and the waveshaping noise I could see working but it wasn't really intentional

trying to go for a grainy/anti-smooth mix but still solid-sounding? I dunno. Half unfortunate comparison but Brian Eno when working on that Coldplay album said he wanted a CHALKY sort of sound and that kind of stuck with me

I like the track and I think you achieved a "grainy/chalky" sound, not in a position to offer any technical advice though

the first one is a bit dull, like it has a low pass filter at 8k

the second one is too shrill, like it has a high shelf +8db from 8k

just from listening real fast.

here's a tip. you probably have a favorite commercial artist or song, bring that track into your project and put your master fx on a sub group with your own tracks in there. so when you solo the reference track, it's not getting any of the fx from your project. every once in a while, solo the reference track, and that will give you some guidance.

as far as the mixing goes, judging from what i can hear from the second one (and this is on laptop speakers.. always good to test on weak speakers), is that the drums/beat are mixed way too loud to get the emotive effect or to even hear for that matter the nice pad you have in the background. i'd feature the pad a bit more and really balance that out, but that's also kind of a creative choice. just can't hear it hardly.