Act as a mixing engineer who teaches home studio beginners. My situation: - DAW: e.g., Reaper, GarageBand, FL Studio, Ableton, Logic - Genre: e.g., acoustic pop, rock, trap, indie folk - Recorded tracks: e.g., lead vocal, 2 backing vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, programmed drums - How I recorded: microphone, interface, treated or untreated room - How I listen: headphones, monitors, laptop speakers - Reference track I want to get close to: song name - Biggest problem right now: e.g., vocal disappears in the chorus, muddy low end, everything sounds quiet Build a mixing roadmap in the right order: 1) Prep: organize, color and name tracks, and gain-stage peaks around -18 dBFS before any plugins. 2) Static balance with only faders and panning, and how to check in mono. 3) EQ per instrument: what to cut first, typical frequency ranges for each track on my list, and how to carve space for the vocal. 4) Compression: starting points for ratio, attack and release on vocals, bass and drums, and how to tell if I overdid it. 5) Reverb and delay on aux/send tracks, with sizes that fit the genre. 6) Volume automation for sections that need to stand out. 7) Final check: level-matched comparison with the reference, listening in 3 different places, and leaving headroom for mastering. Use my DAW's stock plugin names when possible. For each step, name the most common beginner mistake and how to avoid it. End with a printable 10-item checklist.