[Outlaw Hans]

stay on topic. shower of nitpickers.
To answer the question: yes I try to get a finished sound that works just fine as a mix with a bit of panning and level riding and a good ear. However, when I mean "mixing" I mean knowing what preset in your lexicon sounds best, how long the reverb tail should be etc. etc. Just like mastering is a different thang, mixing is. I tend to look at the mix in a way that resembles the way it was recorded. So fairly dry with a bit of room and then sweeten with a plate or something. However, sometimes clients feel that there should be a phaser on the backing vox or the rythm guitar should have more ambience. Sometimes clients seem have certain mix ideas whereas I want to stick to the instrument-mic sound be it close miked or ambient or somewhere in between. I'm conservative with compression and other effects. I find left/right balance or stereo width tricky. Too many options. With tracking I find I have a much clearer picture of the sounds I want to achieve. Of course you can't sperate the two completely. All I'm trying to say is that I'm not a dare devil come mixdown. I'm a tracking outlaw though.