Back in the old days no-one would have tried to do all the composing, performing, recording, mixing and mastering all by themselves and I don't think that anyone should be expected to do everything to the highest standard even today. Of course, I may be biased, but I would think about concentrating on what you are good at and having someone else look after the areas where you are weak. If you can't afford to have every track mixed and mastered elsewhere, I would at least suggest you have one or two songs mixed by someone else while you look over their shoulder and ask questions.

If you want to read and hear a few mixing case studies then I'd highly recommend the Mix Rescue series in Sound On Sound magazine - see a typical example at

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep10/articles/mixrescue-0910.htm

James.

James Perrett, JRP Music http://www.jrpmusic.net

Della Perrett's Sweetedge http://www.sweetedge.com