djtrailmixxx
 
 (BTW: for some reason, I often end up with WAAAAY to much reverb, even with lots of treatment and nice monitors)

Perhaps you've deadened your room too much and overcompensate with verb?
 
That would be strange but it's the only thing I can think of that would cause you to use too much reverb sauce while mixing.
 
Or maybe you are getting too close to the mix and should take a week off before printing the final. At that point maybe you'll catch the extra verb and turn it down accordingly.
 
Alternatively... maybe there is a an export issue where you are setting things up so any reverb busses are getting outputted at full blast instead of following your send level settings. That could maybe happen if you were exporting busses instead of a "what you hear" final mix? I can't think of exactly HOW that woudl work but yeah... a full blast reverb bus would be problematic.
 
Whatevs... this just really stood out to me. You should totally start a new thread... maybe even in the Techniques area to sort it out because that ain't right.
 
Cheers.

I have a boombox wired into the mixer, so first port of call is there. I also burn it to disc and listen to it in the car, and if I have access to a bigger sound system (I work in theater, so I usually do) I'll give that a shot too.
 
But really 80% of my mix notes come from the boombox and ear buds. It's what people listen to now mostly anyway.
 

Thank you all so much for your input.  You've given me many ideas.
 

i know there are some skeptics here, but this truly did improve my at-home mixes.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Foc...chnology/dp/B004MVZ4XG

I'm lucky I have USB inputs and most of my playback devices these days. I just put the album on a stick. 
If your old stereo system doesn't have a USB input pick up a Sony Blue Ray player. I now use that for Playing music CD's and then the USB input. It will even play from a USB external drive so we have all our music on there and movies too. Best $80 I ever spent... 
My car also has the USB input and a I also use a small kitchen Getto blaster that has one as well. 
My DAW has my NSM10's , and then a small mixer can send the signal to a Sub and these cheapo computer speakers. There is also a old Getto sitting there but I find it better to get out of the studio and go listen in different rooms. 
 
Another new trick I use is post on Sound Click/ Cloud and play from your phone or laptop or ? 

Thank you Cactus Music.  You may have solved my problem.  I will be looking into the Sony Blue Ray player this weekend.  Thanks again.
 

 
Don't forget to also listen to your playback from another room in the house.  I've read of pros leaving the control room to listen from afar.
 
 

I've worn out my cd-writer on my 3 year old computer.  As Paul sez, leaving the room and door opens helps. 
 
Unfortunately, I've never discovered how to replace single songs for a CD once I put it on my windows phone.  I end up w/ slight variations of the working title everywhere.

I make rewritable CDs. A little old fashioned, I know, but it's the only method I can use without thinking and adjusting and tinkering.
About test auditioning in the car: I usually do it with car not moving. Due to the studs of winter tyres the asphalt here is made very coarse (IIRC stone size even up to 4 cm at biggest) in most places (and still some places need to be re-paved every 1-2 years), so the tyre-noise can be quite disturbing.

But the whole point of listening in a car is the background noise. Having white noise at 70db will point out errors in your balance. I don't listen in the car to hear how pretty the song sounds. I want to see if I can still define each part of the mix clearly. And for some reason it really does point out if you have overdone the reveb. 
 
And yes always listen at different levels. Before I leave the studio I turn the volume down  to mostly check the vocal level. I want it to be the last thing I hear as the song fades to zero. Of course thats the style of music I'm working on, I don't think that rule applies to heavy rock. 
 
The Blue Ray Player replaces a Computer completly in a multi media set up. It will even stream Net Flicks directly. You can look at photos, movies etc.  Mine is the basic model and not wireless but it has ethernet jack for direct connection to your router. It's also cool to be able to control the volume from the remote. 
It can be a little picky about some formats that I've downloaded but seems to play just about every computer format of media.