Hey guys. I'm new to audio engineering and would like criticism and feedback on what I'm trying to do here. I'm basically just trying to record classical music (all the instrument parts) on electric guitars and bass, staying as faithful as practical to the original music while also making some concessions to make the instrumentation sound more modern. It's not supposed to be classical music but not metal either. There are versions of classical music on YouTube that are just 8 bit computer generated synths that have hundreds of thousands of views, for example, so there is some interest in classical music out there for people who just fall asleep to violins and orchestras. Doing the audio engineering on it is presenting me with challenges though, not least of all because I'm new to all of this.

Here is what I'm currently working with:

Here is the first version I uploaded which just sounds like a bunch of muddy mono tracks stacked on top of each other:

I feel like I'm making some improvement on the stereo field but still have a lot to learn. There is a little noise in the first video above (the more recent one) and I think it's because of the limiter on the master bus but I'm not entirely sure. I'm using Ardour on Linux and mostly its native plugins (Calf 12 band EQ, etc.).

I feel like expanding the stereo field and keeping it balanced is my biggest problem. Panning:

2nd violin part (100% left) ---- Cello (75% left) ---- Bass (center) ---- 1st violin (65% right) ---- Viola (100% right)

Each of these stems has another stem purely for reverb which is panned opposite to its parent stem, but never hard right or hard left, so there's at least a little bleed through on the same side as the main stem. I have an EQ and limiter on each stem, an exciter on the 1st and 2nd violins and viola, and an EQ, very slight hall reverb, and limiter on the master bus. That's basically all I'm doing here with the stems.

The bass part was recorded with some distortion that I now regret. It sounds like crap but I'm not going to re-record the bass part to this, just move on to the next piece next time I record anything.

I'm not going to improve without having my balls busted so I appreciate any and all constructive feedback you guys can give me.

Thank you!