Mixing/arranging ideas

Hey guys, as many of you know I started a blog aimed at home recordists (Home Recording Wizard).  Not to be spammy, I am just sharing my recent article hoping it helps some newcomers into the field.
 
Much of the stuff I learned in this article was learned over the years in Cakewalk forums and getting feedback from experienced Cakewalk users on my mixes in the song forums.  I like to pass on my collective knowledge to others while I continue to improve myself.
 
This article has basic ideas and a mixing strategy I find very important to getting a decent mix.  Hopefully it adds to someone's bag of tricks and ideas.
http://www.homerecordingw...levels-finding-pocket/

Thank you Dave.  Spot on with the hat analogy.
 
Back when I used to gig alot, the bass player would always say "turn me up a bit in the monitors" ...which would lead me to say "turn me up a bit now, I can't hear myself"....which led the singer to say...ah you get the point.
 
You have to separate the musician and engineer roles, which is difficult to do (for me).  I would be interested in a simple experiment:  Take 4 novice mixers - Guitarist, Drummer, Bassist and Vocalist, give them the same mix and see how they mix them.  I wonder if you could tell who mixed what, based on the levels.  
 
..I can picture it now:
Listener "why is the bass so #$%#$ loud??! I can't even hear the vocals for cryin out loud!!"  
Bass Player - /smiles and rocks out to the best mix of any song he has ever heard....