Here’s two tips that I wish I knew earlier

1) your hi hats/cymbals/shakers & tambourines are the only things that sit in that frequency range, they don’t need to be loud.

2) Every sound has a sweet spot, trimming the excess frequencies gives you the headroom to increase volume

Tip 1 helped me understand mixing from a frequency/ energy perspective. If you don’t have a lot of elements in a frequency range they don’t need a lot of volume cuz they have their own space. Mixing this way helps balance your peaks when they hit the compressor/limiter

Tip 2 is KEY for achieving balanced but STRONG mixes. A high shelf on the bass and low shelf on low mid sounds (Pads/ Keys/ samples) gives those two sounds space to play nicely together. Taking some of the highs off snares allows for the attack to smack without hurting your ears.

A lot of people mix without a goal in mind here’s an easy one

“I want to make the important parts stand out”

Before mixing figure out what is important in the song. Is it the bass? The groove? The sample?

Your mix priorities will shift to align with that hierarchy.

Personally, I use EQs to trim the fat off of sounds. I want the all the instruments to sound great at a volume that doesn’t have me straining to hear them or turning the track down because there’s too much high/low imbalance.

Get a good volume mix FIRST, then trim the fat w/EQ

Finally, mixing from a WHOLE SONG perspective is much more important than an individual instrument perspective.

Avoid EQing sounds solo’d. Each sound needs context in the song.

If it sounds good mono at a low volume it sounds better stereo on blast.

Final bit of info, you don’t need A LOT of plugins for a mix, especially if you don’t know what it’s doing to the sound.

I use stock EQ/Compressors for taming sounds.

A couple of good analog emulators for LIGHT bus compression/ Adding color with EQ

That’s it