So, I'm curious. And this is going to be a little stream of consciousness here, but: How many "tricks" do you need to know? Like, there are soo, sooo many things you can do with a mix. And right now, I'm really struggling with the fact that I find myself sometimes head banging to my mixes, but also noticing acutely that they're not where I want them to be sonically. Every time I "improve" something via EQ or something, the mix seems to lose some of the impact. It's like, the more you do the worse it becomes, almost... The emotional impact I think it what rules out at the end of the day, but it's difficult for me to reconcile this with the fact that things aren't quite where I want them to be sonically. I'm sure a big part of it is my limited gear and setup. I'm quite aware of the components involved in all of the great reference tracks I'm comparing myself against and the disparity there. I'm probably just tuned into the higher quality sonics that are going on with all of that gear vs what I'm using. Anyway. I know gear isn't everything at the end of the day. So... I'm just trying to figure out what my expectations should be. I could expound a lot on this and talk about mixing style etc, but for the sake of not blabbing I think I'll just leave it there...

Really looking to hear from some experienced mixers here, but of course I know I can learn from anyone, so all are invited to chime in.

Thank you.