Will you please give me some mixing feedback? My ears are not as good as they once were and I need to know if I am on the right track. The piece used is the Dvorak Symphony 9 Fourth Movement. I have only finished the exposition section.

This is 100% VSL plus the Spitfire Symphonic Strings. All 8 woodwinds are individual instruments. Horns and Brass and timpani are all VSL. I had the most trouble with the strings. It is difficult to get sampled strings to sound as rich and complex as real strings. In this case, I used VSL Orchestral Strings plus VSL Chamber Strings, plus Synchron Strings (room mix), and that still wasn't a rich enough sound so I added Spitfire Symphonic Strings. I did not use the Appassionata Strings because they seemed to decrease the "bite" that I needed. 

I used a CD of the London Symphony Orchestra and copied that into Cubase. Then I used the Cubase tempo matching feature to create a tempo map so that my version would exactly match the tempos of the LSO performance. Here is the CD of the LSO.

Dvorak 9 CD of the LSO

In this version, I used MIR Pro, Synchron Stage without any other processing EXCEPT I have a VSL compressor on the clarinet for the solo. All instruments are 30% to 40% wet/dry. The overall wet/dry offset is -25%. 

Dvorak 9 MIR Pro Only

In my final mix, I added several additional elements. I used Fabfilter Pro Q2 to match EQ curves with each of the strings groups. I added three instances of Altiverb (front, mid and mid-back) and sent a small amount of each group (woodwinds, horns, etc.) to the appropriate Altiverb (Mechanics Hall), but just barely heard. In the Final Mix I added a small amount of Cubase Magneto (tape emulation saturation), a small amount of Stereo Widening, and a small amount of the VSL exciter. Here is a link to my final mix.

My final mix

So please provide some feedback. Is the final mix better than the MIR Pro Only? Is there something else I should do? Please share your thoughts.

Based on feedback I received on other forums, I did a remix. I think it sounds even better now. If anyone is interested in what I did, let me know. Here is the Remix.

Dvorak Remix based on Feedback

Paul

Hi Paul, that sounds wonderful. Especially the strings, very real and expressive. Ok, some places are a little different as the cd, but that doesn't matter at all. It's a rich strings sound, what you get here.
Because you asked for feedback: perhaps you can get some more expression in the clarinet solo, that sounds a little flat to me.
Concerning the MIR Pro version and the Full Mix, I find it difficult to make a choice, I think at the end I should choose the full mix, but I think, this is a matter of taste, and there are also moments in the music that I should choose for the MIR Pro version. The MIR Pro version is a little more direct, and sometimes that gives more detail but in other moments I like the more mixed sound of the Full Mix.
You wrote that your ears are less good, and of course I believe you. But at the other hand you make a wonderful piece of music, so that should give me the idea, that for this kind of work your ears are well enough, happily for you!
And for you perhaps nice to know: comparing the different versions I had all of them in a different tab of the browser. In a certain moment I was writing this and listening and thought that I was listening to the cd version, and: tada... it was the full mix version.

My thanks to everyone who replied! 

I received a number of suggestions on this forum and on other forums. In response, I did a Remix incorporating all of the suggestions I have received. I think it is even better now. Here it is.

Dvorak Remix based on Suggestions.

I listened to the Mir pro only and the "final mix" but thought the Mir pro only sounded much better. There is something wrong in the later version, but I can't tell exactly where it went wrong.  The Mir pro sounds more natural to me.  Great performance anyway!   

Hi Paul

I have to say i think you've done a magnificent job....i think it sounds wonderful! and to me its almost indistinguisable from the LSO Cd version, which in itself is an achievement i dont think i'll ever be able to get near to.

I liked all the versions you did. I prefered the Mir version best before you did the different remix, which i think is better as a finished product, as thats the one i cant tell the difference between the CD but the MIR version to me has a rawness thats just lovely....sort of like your listening to the best orchestra on the planet rehearsing, which in itself would be brilliant thing to hear, and i think you've done an incredable job.

Trust me, there is NOTHING wrong with your ears! or the judgements you made in your mixes, i'd take any of those in a heart beat!

Loved the idea about importing the CD track into the DAW to get the tempo track perfect.....thats a brilliant thing to do....and one i'm going to borrow!

With kindest regards

Paul