Yeah, I get what you're trying to say. Should I have an eq on the master channel(not to actually EQ), but just to see where all the frequency ranges are peaking and where I have free space? Would that be considered a normal technique to do? lol

That's fine, but another option would be to grab a spectral analyzer. Most DAWs have one built in, and a very popular free one is Voxengo's SPAN.

It's tough to discern what makes a good sound with out understanding simple components of the mix.

A catch-22 is almost evident here, because with out the learned ears of experience you won't be able to discern the what is tasteful for yourself to have it relate for other people.

I wouldn't quit say that it's a catch-22, because that implies you are creating in a vacuum. Thankfully, we as artists and human beings are lucky enough not to exist within a vacuum. There are thousands of tracks that have been released that you can use to train your ear. You find the records that inspire you and you listen to them in a different way - not as a fan, but as a student. You ask questions about what the producer was doing and why, and experiment to try and apply those concepts to your own work. You also look for records that you dislike and listen to them as well, trying to figure out what you dislike about them and why, and making sure to avoid those sounds when you are composing your work.

These experiences are not going to be as effective as trying a bunch of different things and failing until you get it right, but when you're just starting out it can be an invaluable resource to get you started.

I think it's best to start out with a clean master channel - though I advocate system-wide analysis plugins just for ease of use. I have a spectral analyzer on my master chain, and I'm about to add something I got from the EDMProd.com Start to Finish videos on Progressive House - A high-cut filter set at somewhere around 70-100 Hz that I can turn on and off while I'm mixing to help check the low end.

Though, a decent high pass filter on any channel needing some low rumble/mud removal is a great place to start, technique-wise.

I actually wish I had remembered this, because that's actually something I think should be just standard operating procedure for anyone working on a DAW when it comes to mixing: every channel that does not need to have any bass frequencies should have an EQ or a filter that cuts off any unneeded frequencies if the sound has some. Most of your sounds, whether synth or sample, will have harmonic content in the 30-250 Hz range. If it's not a kick or a bass, any of that information is just adding to the overall volume of that frequency range, which isn't beneficial at all. Start sweeping up in frequency until the sound starts to lose a bit of its character. It'll probably start to sound a bit more hollow - that's when you know you've gone too far, and you can back it off until it sounds normal again.

Other than that, if you're just starting out think about an equalizer as a surgical instrument, not a necessary effect (even though it is, and you'll soon realize why) - you should only consider using an equalizer on something that sounds good but it doesn't fit with everything else. All the creative design and/or advanced mixing applications are great but they can distract you from the most important experiences that a beginning producer or engineer should be developing: how to remove frequencies from specific sounds so they do not get hidden when they are played at the same time as other sounds. That was the core function of an EQ, before any sort of mid-side or sidechain or crazy sound design shaping came into play, and sometimes I think new producers (especially ones without any experience in classical sound engineering) tend to look at all the cool stuff you can do in your mix and can overlook what the necessary stuff to do in your mix can be.

Like I said, just listen to a lot of songs that you love inside your DAW. Dissect them and try to recreate them. Figure out how the sounds are blending together to take up the whole frequency spectrum while maintaining their individual clarity. A finished song is an open book, you just have to be patient enough to read the pages instead of watching the movie.

EDIT:

1. EQ // get your sound clean

I actually want to kinda clarify on this a bit, because I think this wording is what leads to a lot of bad habits for newer producers. We should be careful not to conflate "clean" with "good" - you don't want to EQ a bad sound to make it a good sound. You want to EQ a good sound to make it a better sound in the context of your mix. Sample selection and sound selection is a critical skill to develop, but it is something that is hard to understand at first. That's why I recommend learning drum programming and sound design before you start approaching the concepts of mixing, because by learning how to create your own drum kits and your own loops you will start to hunt for samples that sound more like the loops you have or the tracks you are taking loops from, and by learning sound design your taste for synthesizer patches improves.

You want to learn how to do everything, but you don't have to learn how to do everything at once.

The only notes that are technically "out of scale" are the minor second (+1 semitone) and the Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th (+6 semitones), but there are even times when those notes could sound good!

If you're really worried, just think about if the vocals are in major or minor and if your song is in major or minor, and avoid certain transpositions that would fall out that (avoid +3 when major, +4 when minor, etc) and break that rule if it's not quite sounding right. Like eidolon said, the most important part is to experiment and see what sounds good to you!

I agree with metta for the most part; I would say that there is nothing wrong with what I would refer to as a "feeling" mix. If something sounds excessively loud in comparison to something else, I find it a bit distracting and I'll just sort of bring the fader down to about where it sounds better, without concerning myself with it balancing perfectly or anything like that. I agree not to break down to analytics, but if you get a gut feeling about something that involves elements of sound design or mixing, I wouldn't discourage it.

It's good to separate your analytical and creative thought processes so you don't have to keep switching focus, but as you develop your skills in mixing and engineering you will incorporate a more creative and reactive approach to your entire project. One of the biggest lessons I've taken away from talking to my engineering teachers or watching videos about mixing is that the best mix is one where you are able to listen to and look at a sound, and have acquired enough experience to know what it needs without having to deliberate on the possibilities.

As you get used to how things go together in your mixing sessions, you will start to pick it out instinctively in the other sessions. Don't try to ignore a problem just because you're supposed to be wearing your composer hat at the moment - the distraction of noticing it might be worse than just tweaking it to your liking on the spot!

Think about how the compressor does its job of reducing the dynamic range: You set a threshold where any peak above it is turned down in volume at a ratio of X:1, where X dB in is heard as 1 dB out. So 2:1 means every 2 dB above the threshold is output as 1 dB (so a sound going 4 dB over the threshold will come out only 2 dB above, etc., etc.). It doesn't normally cause an increase, because by decreasing the dynamic range you're actually lowering the ceiling on the overall volume.

Your compressor probably has an auto-makeup enabled for the gain, so as you are reducing the dynamic range and making the overall sound quieter, the program is turning up the output gain so that the peaks remain at their original volume - making everything that did not hit the compressor louder as a result.

If I were you, I'd go diving through the Mixing/Mastering subforum for the threads on compressors and watch a few videos on the specific effects of what a compressor does and how it does its job, and it should become more clear!

To fine tune automations, hold down the Command button when dragging the break points.

To contribute to the subject of the thread: I think from a classical mixing perspective, there is nothing wrong with having your sounds stick to one place in the stereo field. There are other things you can do to make your song more dynamic and moving - playing with reverbs and filters, melodic shifts, and new instrumentation, for example. But if it sounds better when you move things, do it!

I have a pretty strict rule of avoiding the mixer's volume/pan for my primary automations, because I like to use those to... well, mix! I'm pretty sure every DAW has some sort of pan/balance utility plugin (Fruity Balance in FL Studio, Utility in Ableton, Gain in Logic) that lets you automate the parameters. So I try to set a "default" position, and if I feel the track needs any pan/volume automation I'll use the plugin more often than the main fader or pan pots.