mixing electro music (house, trance, progressive)

[mr. whette]

Hey guys so I just started making music about two years ago and I've only played around with techno/house kind of stuff. The only program I use as of right now is reason 4 but Im working on getting protools. Anyway I don't have any friends who like making this kind of style of music so getting new information doesn't come as much as id like it too.
What I've been wondering lately is how to learn to mix well? Correct me if Im wrong but mixing is everything that has to do with compression, eq's, maximizers, stereo imager ect. right? I have played with these things in reason (mostly sidechain compression) and know they make a hugge difference if you know what your doing, which is what I want to learn. I've also heard that mixing and mastering is very different with electro dancey stuff then a lot of other genera's so not all the information applies the same. any information would help, thanks guys!
The sort of style I'm going for is electro house, for example you can check these songs out: Ika-zeros in love(remakerz remix), Deadmau5-some chords

[DJFP]

Probably the single most important thing I have figured out in mixing is to learn how to sidechain so your bass drum cuts through all the other layers clearly

[Aykey]

compress the shit out of everything and sidechain the kick pattern.

If you do it right it will get you a "semi" professional sounding mix.

If you wanna sound fully professional go find a good mixing engineer. Someone who understands electro music.

Its easy to find a professional recording/mixing studio, its not that easy to find a professional mixing engineer.

[Bryst]

There are a lot of things that apply to electro that also apply to other genres too. Yeah it's definitely much different, but basic mixing principles still apply.

Like the others said, the DIFFERENCE is mainly in the low end with the kick drum and bassline. EQ, compression, synth plugins, midi - learn how to use all of that properly, then use your ears.

I'm fairly new to it all too, but it's fun work! Good luck.