@Rob Mayzes Thanks Rob! I figured that's why people were asking, but no I didn't use any samples. Only what was in the download. I knew how I wanted the drums to sound, but they just weren't there. I knew how to get them there as a kit, though. I didn't really want to copy the original mix, so I chose not to listen to it so as not to be influenced by it. What I did instead was just mix it how I wanted it to feel. Given more time I have a short list of things I'd tweak. I'd smooth out the top of the cymbals a little more, which I couldn't finesse before I ran out of time. I'd also work on the vocals a little more because I just didn't have time to go through and listen again later before the deadline.

@Samuele Marchi You had put my link in there rather than yours.

When you get REW to accept your interface, let me know. I can give you some assistance with the actual calibration. I have been working with exactly this for a long time.

@Petter Jensen Right on. If you smooth that out, you'll start getting closer to the tone I have there in mine.

@Petter Jensen I just did mine in a four-hour run with no references. That's how I wanted it to sound. Rock is also what I'm most familiar with and I've got a lot of experience mastering. All I needed to do here was get the mix into familiar territory. Mixing is still relatively new to me.

Have you got a diagram or some kind of visualization of what your space looks like? Photos? There's a lot of speculation here and nothing to lay down any concrete advice on. Have you measured the room? That will be extremely helpful.

@Spark Evans What about acoustic measurements? Do you have Room EQ Wizard?

Around five years ago or so I went to Bob Katz's place for him to sign my copy of his book on mastering. He met me in the doorway, signed my book, and then asked me if I'd like to come in for a tour. Of course, not one to pass up an opportunity to honor hospitality when I see one, I agreed. 😇 He showed me around and let me listen to music in his studios (he has two rooms) for almost three hours. He's a great guy and very willing to pass on knowledge to a humbled and very appreciative visitor who only came to get a signature. Bob taught me about room treatment and digital room response correction while I was there. Having never heard of the topic before, I was intrigued. There was something to it, though, because I had never heard music sound like that in my life. Bob showed me Room EQ Wizard and told me that it was a great entry point because it's free, and he also told me to get myself a miniDSP UMIK-1 to use with it, which I promptly did. Of course my setup at home sounded nothing like Bob's mastering studio, and I also became acutely aware of the fact that I didn't know as much as I thought I did about how to properly listen to music critically. But, I became obsessed with learning about how to get myself aligned as closely as possible to what I heard and learned that day. My microphone arrived and I cracked open REW for the first time... Flash forward to now: after five years, a handful of room correction software licenses, and countless hours of experiments, comparisons, and trial and error, I've taken REW about as far as it can go. In addition to that, I'm just about finished with my own DRC software, Iris. I've come full circle I suppose. Iris does room correction my way; the way I remember hearing it in Bob's studio. It took me this long, but I got things figured out. Iris represents so much more than what it does, which is what makes it special.

@Matthew Montgomery Yes. I had no idea. I thought I was just going to get the book signed.