Whats next? and first question! TOTAL NEWBIE ALERT!!!!!

First just a little about me! Sorry for the novel!
 
I am a long time lurker and this is my first post! I am the type to learn things myself first then ask dumb questions lol
 
I went from Acid pro 7 to Studio one "upgraded to artist" and reaper "never upgraded past the demo with reaper and Sonar x3 "I upgraded to lifetime platinum after awhile".
 
I wanted to switch because I felt limited with sony pro but had no idea what to switch to. Sonar ended up winning and I am glad!
 
For some reason Sonar was always easier. So I stuck with it then upgraded to lifetime Platinum. I love sonar and everything is laid out perfectly for me. 
 
I joined groove3 and studied and I also go on Youtube and study! My only complaint I have is no new YouTube Cakewalk videos on the official channel for learning new stuff :(
 
Now for the question! Its about mixing music! I should explain what stage I am first lol I am in a metal band and mix a full session! Drums. bass, guitars, keyboards "sometimes" and vocals. Sometimes we end up with 70 stems
 
Just FYI to get to the point below it took me awhile plus every song I force myself to explore 1 new thing and I dont know what to do next. Which is why I am writing all of this!
 
So far I get everything organized before I even start! Colour coded and named plus in order! Kick, bass, snare etc I will start a thread on my mixing order next. Id like to know yours
 
I do a quick balance of everything etc Kick up the middle. overheads L/R etc
 
I gate any tracks with noise
 
I also try to have intro and verses in mono and then switch to stereo and spread things L/R when needed in stereo during Chorus's. It would take a whole thread to explain this in detail. Those that do it know what I mean. I also raise some tracks a little with automation during Chorus's
 
I make mix buses and direct all the drums to one. Guitars to one, vox to one etc Mostly to be able to turn the whole group down at once. Doing track by track is a big pain and sooo time consuming! Plus its nice to add a little reverb etc on a group bus
 
I start with the kick and have everything muted then the bass guitar and have those 2 play and then everything muted while I mix the song. Then snare etc. The point is I never mix in solo. I sometimes solo stems just to check on things but I have found that a stem can sound like garbage alone but for some reason sound INCREDIBLE within the mix.
 
Sometimes I start with the overheads btw and then mix single drums in. Both work out great
 
I also decide which will have the bottom end. The Kick or bass. I also always EQ first. Then compression if needed Then I always go back and add a touch of saturation on the kick, bass, snare etc . I dont touch the vocals till after the music is mixed.  Not sure if thats the right thing to do. Then I add reverb on certain things. Just a touch. 
 
I always start from the beginning of the song to be sure there is a constant flow. I sometimes do the repeat option "I forget whats ts called" If I get stuck on a part then start from the beginning and mix while the song plays.
 
I guess I am supposed to start at the chorus but I never do
 
Then I explore effects and automation! I recently discovered the snowflake thing for when the computer lags. A lifesaver
 
I am now exploring parallel compression. Which is sort of confusing. For example I have a bass guitar stem then I clone it and on the 2nd stem I turn the a compressor or limiter all the way up with the stem turned down then slowly turn up to blend. I also tried with the tape compressor thing and it works pretty good. I still have a ton to learn here
 
I force myself to review how to do things on every mix! For example kick EQ tips etc to see if I am missing something. I sometimes force myself to completely start over!
 
I dont master our music. I run it through landr or emastered just to get an idea on how things sound then I send over to a guy on fiverr and he charges $35 a song to master it.
 
Which isnt to bad. Anyone needing mastering practice email me and you can try our stuff ;) Its metal music with violent lyrics btw so if you dont like that stuff then dont ask me. Just a fair warning
 
To spend so much time on a mix then put it through landr and then release just seems silly to me! We have a fan base that buys are music and it seems insulting to do it that way.
 
Not to contradict myself but I discovered MajorDecibel this week and its amazing. I didnt post a link because I didnt want to seem spammy. Use google if you want to
 
After using sonar platinum for almost a year I decided to open Studio one this week and spent 2mins on it and shut it back down. I just love sonar to much and I still have to much to learn to try a different DAW at this point! I just thought maybe using something different would spark something new to learn with mixing. I was wrong!
 
Now for the question!
 
What should I explore next in mixing?
 
If you have questions please ask and any advice would be extremely appreciated! If you want to hear one of our songs message me.
 
PS. Thank you sonar for being so awesome ;)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

As to your signature, put PC specs (CPU, RAM HD / SSD etc), Audio Interface, MIDI Interface etc.
 

@Zargg Added

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FemcanLana
I went from Acid pro 7 to Studio one ... reaper ... Sonar x3 ... to lifetime platinum.
 
For some reason Sonar was always easier ... everything is laid out perfectly for me. 
 

Oh, you're too kind. (=blush=) Such a nice thing to say.

dwardzala
I guess I will give you this piece of advice - if it sounds good, it is good.  You should avoid adding things just to add them or using techniques just to use them.  Keep you mixes as simple as possible.
 Set up your mixbus processing early in your mix (i.e. add your compressor and turn it on).

+1 Keep it simple!  The more you add the more that can go wrong.  Murphy's law applies to audio!