Q: i hear a lot of fun details like percussion or sfx or cool background chords in your music that i dont notice unless i focus on but they add to the overall vibe or replayability or whatever, but usually when i add any element to a song it tends to default be way too PRESENT and take up too much attention when i actually want it to just chill in the background. any advice?
A: i think this might be arranging and not mixing ...... Usually, and this may surprise you, but usually the notes that you are hearing are actually not very many notes at a time. Even in a big arrangement, usually not very many things actually happen at the same time. and the things that do are usually in direct physical reenforcement of each other (i.e. the same note). There's usually less than 5 notes at a time, and less than 3 things happening rhythmically at a time