Just some of my own fundamental mixing tactics that I was telling someone about in email earlier today, which I thought might fit well here since I had written it out anyway.

My "Elementary Mixing Tip":

Asking "How high (or much) is too high?" is asking the wrong question! Instead, ask "How high is high enough?" and you'll have a much more successful strategy on your hands.
Think of it like any time you've had to calibrate a monitor, or a video game. Those instructions always apply the "Bring it down and slowly turn it up until.." kind of scheme, don't they? This approach is just as helpful when it comes to sound. When you apply this method, you might even be surprised how little you often need to raise a level of things to get to the desired spot.
And of course the properties of the sound can make all the difference in this respect, pitch & (especially) frequency and all that. A mid-range sax can sound louder on your system than the bass in spite of what the numbers read. So going by the digits or graphics on your mixer screen is absolutely never the reliable way. Always let the ear be your master and final judge, not your eyes!

I realise that all this is very basic & general (hence the term "Elementary" at the top), but that's deliberate in an effort to avoid technical terms for the non-veterans out there. I'm sorry if that makes this post little but a load of "well, duuuh!" for the bulk of you, but well...we were all novices once, and this simple approach has served me well for a very long time cool

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
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BBox 2022 Audiophile, Mac Pro Intel, OSX 10.6.8, 800x600 (TV VGA)