GENERAL NOTES
In order to help you while you are mixing, you may find it useful to place a reference song on a dedicated track of your DAW. If you're making a song that sounds like the band Cytrobal (don't bother, I made it up...), pick one of their songs and listen to it carefully. The purpose is not to just listen and enjoy, but to hear what the instruments sound like, what stands out most and when, what effects are used and how much, where the instruments are located and parted, etc.
Then try to draw your inspiration from it to give your piece the same color, the same tone. Listen to the reference song then your own to compare them as your mix is progressing to check that you are on the right track. This is not easy to do, it takes experience, habit, and it also takes knowing your equipment as yours is different from theirs and you can hardly reproduce the exact same sound. But it will help and inspire you. This is just a piece of advice, but you can learn a lot from doing this.
See how stereo wav files will get bigger as the quality goes up:
96 KHz 24 bits - 32.9 MB 96 KHz 16 bits - 21.9 MB
88.2 KHz 24 bits - 30.2 MB 88.2 KHz 16 bits - 20.1 MB
48 KHz 24 bits - 16.4 MB 48 KHz 16 bits - 10.9 MB
44.1, KHz 24 bits - 15.1 MB 44.1 KHz 16 bits - 10 MB
As you can see, the difference between 16 and 24 bit files is pretty big for an identical KHz figure (66% gap), and this is directly related to the accuracy and quality of the sound file.
And there is no need to become paranoid. During the recording, if you see that the VU meter hits the red zone, but you only go beyond 0 dB once or twice very briefly, that should not be a problem. It probably won't be audible and furthermore, you will be able to correct it manually. But if you see that your recording level is constantly hitting the ceiling, then stop recording, lower the entry level and start over. Either you forgot to set the entry level, or you played or sang much louder than when you were ajusting your settings. One thing is certain: if you set your vocal levels by whispering in the microphone, then record screaming, you will get some bad surprises!
Once you (think you) have finished mixing, listen to your song for your own satisfaction, then do something else. Forget about your song, go walk the dog, read a book, go see friends... Wait a day or two without listening to the song at all. And then, comme back to it: you will rediscover it, with fresh ears, and the song quality and flaws will jump right to your eardrums!
Immediately take notes of everything that bothered you: guitar 1 is too loud, or the voice is too bright, or the bass drum is too boomy, or this, and that... Write down everything you think is wrong and sounded obvious, then fix your mix. And then again, wait for some time, listen again and do so until everything finally meets your taste.
This process can be rather time-consuming, but it is indeed pretty efficient.
Keep the raw recording, delete all of your settings, plugins, effects and start over. You could even start recording again if you think that this is the cause of the problem. But let's assume it is just a question of settings... By starting all over again, chances are you will not reproduce the same things you previously did, so your new settings may well satisfy you more.
Errr... Just in case, keep track of your first mix (by recording your new mix under a different file name). You never know. If you cannot do better thant the first time, you will be glad to have kept your original settings!
