Do: Go back to your old tracks after while to see your progress! Really helpful when you think your skills are stuck.

Don't: do not abandon your unfinished tracks. They must have had potential for you to start working on them.

Like people in this thread already have mentioned - do check your track's mono compatibility. Whenever I make a sound in Sylenth1 I tend to crank the "STEREO" knob up too much. I use bx_solo to isolate the mono signal.

Also, in general, use a 100% wet send buss for reverbs and delays. This will help you create a more cohesive and definite "room" for your track. So, don't max out your CPU by having +10 single reverbs from the VSTs working alongside eachother. Unless it's for some crazy sound design insert of course.

Haha I break so many of these rules whoops

me 2 ! this is getting ridiculous haha

Do : Create 3-4 reverb and use them wisely

Don't : put different reverb on everything (like sylenth spire massive reverb etc) it will fill the spectrum too much and it can get really Muddy/messy really fast

I somehow always end up forgetting this, I'm going to make it a point to use Send/Returns more, and less reverb on every channel.

Do: Use compression sparingly, not every channel needs to be compressed
Don't: Destroy your dynamics in the name of volume

Haha at least i'm not alone!

lol you know you're not alone~

I have cool ideas allllll the time but only when I'm in the shower or driving or about to fall asleep

hahaha get a phone recorder and record yourself

Do: Always put a soft limiter on your master when starting a new project

Don't: Forget a mono switch on a master

Could you please explain why you think it's a good idea to always use a soft limiter on the master? Also define a soft limiter, I think you mean the opposite is a hard clipper?