Mixing VS. FX

the ideal....
 
is to have perfect tracks first.
 
so that, in a perfect world, you would simply bring all your faders up, at about the same levels, and the eq of each track...
room sound....
performance.....
levels......
 
all at mono, would just sound perfect.
 
then
 
begin to pan the mono tracks (and select TRUE stereo tracks) to get the soundstage you want.
 
 
all without any eq, compression, limiting, reverbs or other time delays.
 
of course, pink floyd's dark side of the moon would have sucked this way!!
LOL
 
 
 
garbage in = garbage out.
 
so, always try to get the very best capture you can, with the source creating all the lows, mids, highs and clarity, room sound and performance VIBE you can get.
 
you can really run down the rabbit hole if you don't get the basics down first.
 

Agree Bat. The more time I spend on getting really good sounding captures and the best performance I can do, the better my mixes are sounding.

Bingo on workflow, and to a lesser degree musical style dictating that workflow.

30 years ago we printed everything when we tracked - how's that for a nightmare???<G>
 
Not in any way, shape or form looking to go back to that... but it did teach me to think things through, and try to have a good idea of what I was trying to accomplish before I started. I LOVE the ability to revisit my original idea, but I still like having the original idea... if that makes sense.

But really, the most important thing, whether you are printing effects or not, is to make sure that you get the best possible performance on the best possible instrument in the best possible space and capture it as best you can.

Yeah, no pressure there!

Once you've worked enough you develop your own system and refine that.  Skipping the recording part, once you have your tracks, levels are the first thing to work on.  At least for me.  General levels so the elements are in the right spot.  Then I move on to general panning.  It is amazing how much separation you can achieve just through that.  Guitars that are clashing open up when panned opposite.  Once I have the basic soundscape in place, then EQ and then effects.  Finally, level automation.
 
Of course, some of this stuff happens almost simultaneously, esp. as one finds what works for you.  If I'm mucking around with the guitars, I'll go ahead and engage the high pass filter and roll a bit off since I'm pretty sure I'll be using that later.  I love Breverb since I can go ahead of use a preset to get into the ballpark on vocal verb.  I used to use Perfect Space but wouldn't use it early incase I had to do some overdubs and latency was a problem.  Now I don't have to switch a demo verb out, unless I do decide to use PS in the mix.  Once you gain enough experience, you can apply your general rules as you go through the steps above, working on several things at once.  Still, that mental checklist of what needs to be worked on should be with you.  As you curry-comb the song, you might find that you don't use the EQ on all the channels you did before since it doesn't need it.  Or a comp.  And time-based effects get used only where it is necessary, rather than par for the course.
 
This is also true as your recording chops get better.  One should never give up experimenting, but you spend less time on things that haven't worked for you more often than not.  This also applies to using better hardware.  If you can't get a good sound with what is available in the garden-variety interface these days, better hardware ain't going to help that much.  In fact, it is a little easier to hear mistakes w/ lessor hardware, especially driving stuff hard.  The interface preamp will crap out much sooner than a good preamp.  So you back off.  Then if you do start using a nice, high-end transformer based preamp you'll find you can add some hair to a sound when you drive said preamp, rather than just hash.  And if it is the lead guitar or vocal on a song such saturation will help the line stand out.  Then you discover that backing off the saturation can differentiate the rhythm guitar (even tho it is electric w/ some distortion) better than driving everything.  It is a game of inches once you develop decent recording, arranging and mixing habits, and that only comes about through practice.  And the sad thing is, most of the audience can't hear these subtleties we can spend so much time on.  But you tell yourself they can "feel" the difference, as a host of little details add up. 
 
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