Record at home, mix in a studio
That's my general plan for self-written projects that I plan to put up for sale.
I can write, perform, and record reasonably well, but mixing is a weak point for me. Made worse by the fact that i've chosen every note and tone in every song.
This weekend was my first mixing session (for this years-in-the-making project) with the amazing engineer/producer that mixed my last project. I brought in uneffected WAV files for every track, and he glued them together.
I'm incredibly excited - with fresh ears and an alternate opinion, he's breathed new excitement into tracks that had been made stale by my years of tweaking. Plus, we changed some arrangements and re-performed a couple of the tracks to kick them up above the level I'd have been happy to end with.
From what I see here, most of us are writing and recording in isolation. I'm remembering how valuable it is to have a second, trusted, opinion.
My next mixing session is a month away, but I'm already looking forward to it! I'm already frustrated that I can't email out these unmastered 1st mixes (that will probably be tweaked a little when the whole album is done), but I want to wait until it's a whole "fait accompli."