Thanks Guitarhacker and MandolinPicker for you very informative responses. I found out I was compressing too much of the transient on my various tracks, it was making my music flat and less transparent. I let the transients through the compression's attack on my tracks and suddenly there was more room in the mix :)
 
Interesting about complexity in music. It makes one think about originality a lot. I think discouragement is the worst detriment to creativity. There are lots of undiscovered variations and themes in music, at least that is the idea. Every voice is unique and the idea is to find your own sound and style that identifies you and separates you from the crowd in a good way. Quality not quantity...    

If I have a song that is 44 khz 16 bit I do not need any dithering at all to make a wave file or mp3 of the same format do I? I am sorry for such a simple question.
 
Thanks in advanced. :)

not for a CD file.  Dithering is used in reducing bit rate.
 
@

Layering vocals and the stereo imaging techniques.
 
I have heard a lot about the professional studios using many layers of vocals in overdubs.
 
Sometimes even up to fifty vocal tracks all singing the same melody in the same pitch. Do they really use that many vocal overdubs in a song? What is a typical vocal setup for one of today's popular songs?
 
How do I EQ something like that?
 
When the song starts out if the vocals are too wide it sounds unnatural. But as the song progresses the vocals can widen more especially in chorus and/or bridge parts.
 
Up in the 6k range I want that part clear for vocals.
 
I would think a bus with all the dubs separate from the main vocal bus.
 
Perhaps a side chain so the main vocal cuts out any overlapping from the vocal dubs.
 
Multiple vocal overdubs to be panned hard right and hard left.
 
Then there are harmony tracks to consider.
 
And also ad libs often traveling from left to right or right to left.
 
How do you get the spacial positioning right so all of the vocals fit in together?
 
How much of the bottom end do I cut off the vocal overdubs and ad libs...
 
Should I cut or boost some of the high end also on certain types of vocals?
 
Then there are lead vocals and harmonies while there are oohs and ahhs in the background.
 
With the full accompaniment of so many vocals a song can become well, vocally complex.
 
The idea is to make each vocal type stand out as much as possible without making the mix too muddy and confusing.
 
I am sure it is to do whatever sounds best but there must be some golden rules when mixing so many vocals in one song.. 
 
There must be a check list i.e. the main vocals and overdubs go here in the mix, harmonies go here, oohs and ahhhs go here and ad libs go here and they are eq'd as such. 
 
How do you set something in the front of the mix and something into the back.
How do you know what goes in front and what in back? When do I use small room and large room effects? 
 
What are your basic techniques for mixing lots of various vocal parts together in one song?
 
Or say, how would you mix a song with lots of overdubs how would you treat the overdub tracks versus the main vocal. If the song also had harmonies how would you also add them? If it had ad libs between vocal lines how would you mix them in? 
 
And also oohs aahhs and mmmmms (harmonies)....
 
:)
 
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this process.
 

I have absolutely no 'reigning it in' when I'm producing stuff. I think I don't actually LISTEN to enough /new music/ to get ideas that are actually logical, and so I just put a lot of stuff together and see what works. 
 
I think I actually liked my older, "ignorant" process where I could think up a cute little melody and some cool lyrics in a day, and then throw a synth drum kit and some chords behind a cheesy-sounding piano synth and call it a day. These days, I always have to top myself or do something new.
 
 
--
For specifics... I naturally hear most vocals with harmonies, so I do those a lot. I've spent a lot of time listening to jazz and big band so I'm inclined to produce brass-based stuff (being a trombone/trumpet player) and I LOVE chords so I have to do chord progression stuff... none of that modal stuff. 
 
I'd say when it comes to mixing, the ONLY thing I do just about every time is put the vocal tracks thru one buss, boost the highs and cut the lows till it sounds good.

After many years of working with Sonar to record and mix my own and others music, one of the most useful techniques I've found for working on the focus of a mix is simply to listen.  This may seem obvious, but when working on music in a DAW there's so much going on visually that it's very easy to get overly (IMHO) focused on that, and to give too little attention to what our ears are telling us. Getting back to listening can be as simple as closing my eyes while playing a track, while resisting the urge to open them to tweak yet another eq or fader.  Just listen.  Sometimes when working at night I will turn the lights and the video monitor off, and listen to the track.  That way I can keep my eyes open, but what I'm seeing is my imagining of the soundstage complete with players and instruments. Try it sometime...

A lot of the mixing is in the arrangement. By putting all the instruments in their own, non competing space, there is less to mix. You could say the mix does itself.

You can't fix poor recording techniques in the mix, but you can fix a poor arrangement in the mix. This is where less is more. Give everything the space to shine.

Understand that some sounds occupy the limelight while other provide a supporting role. Sometimes the limelight changes like a follow spot is bright but it may be equally bright on different performers at different times.