Going to concerts and live shows isn't a lot of fun for musicians and especially ones like us who are into recording. I find myself focused on the mix and the overall quality of the sound. If it's too loud and or has poor separation of the instruments with the vocals buried ... It's just a miserable experience for me. We went to see Diamond Rio last year. Great seats. Nice theater style venue. Horrifying mix. They are a band whose vocal work shines with great harmony. The vox were buried the the cacophony of noise emminating from the speakers. I went back to the FOH location and it was not any better there. Compare that to a Bellamy Brothers show a few years ago that sounded like a nice home stereo system in a not so ideal looking old theater venue.

So when I mix i like to check the mix on my phone and earbuds. In the relaxed environment of my living room, I can hear things in the mix that I don't hear in my studio. Things like levels of certain instruments being a few dB low or high, tone of the guitar, and little glitches. My truck seems to accentuate the low end and helps me dial that in better. I don't always listen in the truck. I've turned my sub up in the studio so I can hopefully get a better idea of what the low end will do in the automotive environment.

A lot of the problem we have as amateur recording enthusiasts is the room we work in isn't acoustically tuned or treated and is a major contributor to the muddied mixes and the frustration we experience in trying to get a good mix.
I really need to see if I can get my ARC software tuned up and running. I used it at my old studio and it seemed to work well. Maybe I'll get to that this week.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.