How to get better recordings?  That is easy - spend more time and more money.  You need time to learn the craftsmanship.  We are talking about 3 separate "jobs" - tracking, mixing and mastering.  Each of those require a different skill set and some lucky dogs manage to make a living out of each one.  There have been a lot of good suggestions as to how to improve each step.  Try them out and see what works for you.  All this is a craft but also an art, where you find which techniques work for you to get "your" sound - what works for you.  Like the statement above to know what you want a song to sound like before you mix.
 
The most cost-effective thing to do is get your room right.  Well, not right really, but at least not bad.  And find the best spot to record.  There is one spot in my room w/ no obvious flaws - unfortunately I can either have the mic or singer there.  But every little thing you do to your room will help with recording and mixing.
 
And keep working.  Simply throwing time at ignorance really helps.  And read about techniques.  Some of it is impractical ("I found that using my U-47 through a vintage 1073 really gave me the sound I was looking for" ought to - that is $15,000 right there) but you will discover that some of it works for you.  It is simultaneously deflating (I didn't discover that?) as well as reassuring (well, if so-and-so uses this technique I understand why it works for me!).
 
And don't let your equipment hold you back.  There are good reasons why a u-47 and 1073 work well, but most modern preamps and converters are quite good - if not as forgiving as the above.  Once you learn to make good noise out of a basic interface you will be able to double down on the good stuff so don't sweat it and don't use your equipment as an excuse.  You can get good results with what you got.
 
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He should then make more posts, so he can upload them for us to hear as well

In country music for example, it seems like there is a formula being used for the mixing and mastering and songwriting too because the songs that are being pumped out of Nashville seem to have a similar sound and feel to them. Anyone else notice this? 

It's not just country. People have commented on the "Nashville sound" being formulaic for pretty much the last 40 years or more. In a similar way Motown had a formulaic approach at one time, disco, even blues. Here in the UK there was the "Liverpool sound" of the early and mid 60s.

Going further back, the "tin pan alleys" of New York and London had their formulas as well.

The explanation is pretty simple. In part it is because the recordings are made by a small set of people and the music is played by a small set of people, somthe same people keep turning up again and again, and if a newcomer wants to get on they usually have to fit in with the existing people and style unless they're someone like Hendrix who can almost ignore the rule book (but still took guidance from his producer and engineer).

On another level its' to do with writing, arranging and making a commercially successful product.

If a particular song is a hit then people looking to make hits will try to emulate what they think made it a hit. If some of those songs become hits themselves then other will try and hone in on what they all have in common and emulate it. An old bit of advice is "if you want a hit, write something very much like what's already in the charts". The charts get airplay and new releases that sound similar stand a good chance of getting airplay, if plugged well, because they already sound "hit like". And the airplay can make them a hit and the whole circle goes round and round.

Until something comes along that tears up the formula and is a hit despite that or because of it. At which point the people who's job it is to care more about making money from music than being creative will go chasing after the "new thing". In other words it's the "business" motivated part of the "music business" in action.

Country is the new Pop?  Standardization has been around since people learned they could make money off of sheet music and consolidated the recording industry.  If you are putting up big money it is better to be safe than sorry.
 
If you want to make a commercially-acceptable song you have to write it that way.  Same set of concerns, same responses for a style.  Then use the same instrumentation, same chord structure.  Nashville etc. sound that way because it is an assembly line product.  That can be good or bad, depending.  Just about every west coast "name" used the Wrecking Crew.  Even bands (see Beach Boys).  The west coast pop sound was the Wrecking Crew studio band(s) - session musicians.
 
But we are getting pretty far afield from the OPs request of mixing techniques.
 
The biggest problem w/ home studios is there is no one to learn directly from.  You have to read or come to forums to glean a little new info.  The best thing about home studios is it doesn't cost $100 @ hour to learn.
 
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AT
Country is the new Pop?  Standardization has been around since people learned they could make money off of sheet music and consolidated the recording industry.  If you are putting up big money it is better to be safe than sorry.
 
If you want to make a commercially-acceptable song you have to write it that way.  Same set of concerns, same responses for a style.  Then use the same instrumentation, same chord structure.  Nashville etc. sound that way because it is an assembly line product.  That can be good or bad, depending.  Just about every west coast "name" used the Wrecking Crew.  Even bands (see Beach Boys).  The west coast pop sound was the Wrecking Crew studio band(s) - session musicians.
 
But we are getting pretty far afield from the OPs request of mixing techniques.
 
The biggest problem w/ home studios is there is no one to learn directly from.  You have to read or come to forums to glean a little new info.  The best thing about home studios is it doesn't cost $100 @ hour to learn.
 
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Yup, I agree! Sometimes it annoys me.... this video on youtube says it all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o or if the link doesnt work search youtube for Sir Mashalot Mind Blowing 6 song country mashup