Damn Deranged, It's to the point now that everytime I read your post I wonder more and more "who the heck is this guy?" Your well accomplished I see.
I also can mix pretty good and I learned from yr's of trial and error cause I'm the only guy I know (in person)who cares enuff to get it right in the sweet spot. I used to make re-writables and run back and forth to the car until I got good enuff to know what the cars gonna sound like and just worked on fixing my environment. Now I use my waves bundle as well as some freeware stuff but nothings gonna help your mix like good'ole fashioned trained ears. I can't imagine mixing something that's recorded too loud or too low as well (at times). If you have a goal then research the reason for a certain plugin and try it. If it helps then you got a weapon in your arsenal if not, when it's time for it it will reveal it's purpose.
make sure your mixing with headroom(levels below the red and barely in the yellow, safely -6db from what FP's taught me) and your master is at 0db ALWAYS. After that you got a good chance of making it atleast sound balanced. Then you can start with positioning your sounds in the mix...panning and depth are a good start. Somethings need to be upfront(main melody,drums,snare,E&J), some things need to be panned to make room for the sounds to breath. Compression and effectz can come in at this point for now you'll be able to hear them for what there worth alil better before making more adjustments to your present place in the mixing process. Roll off high ends on low end sounds and low ends off high end sounds. Filter samples if needed and if your in FL try not to use that good'ole "Sound Goodizer" until you atleast got a nice balance. After you've done what you think is what you want to have (ie, reverb on snare, compression on drums, plates on vocalz etc.) you can push your limits. I use Cubases Puncher to give my drums a better chance of pushing thru the mix without distortion or bleeding into other sounds. Remember tho that loud isn't strong, thats what compression is for. If your levels are way up then ur taking away room for final steps to be more effective so keep it in a good range and watch your master to make sure its left and right bars are moving comfortably. If there moving in unisine then your creating a brick house and it's already over processed regardless if it's below -3db or whateva. Ask yourself at this point..."does this sound clean?". If no, then undo until it's not a brick anymore. If your answer is yes then it's time to push it up and out as a whole by using something like the L3 multi or ultramaximizer. I like to use the "high res cd" preset and make my adjustments from there. I slide that left bar down until I see that right bar almost at the top. If it's already push'n the top when you open it up then your mix is too loud and your not leaving room for improvement. If it's off balance with a huge lean to the left/right then your stereo mix is not right but thats another thread. That shouldn't be though if your monitoring your levels as you go but it can happen if your using things like the C_SuperStereo in the wrong way. As for now you should atleast be hearing a huge improvement in you track and your master should have risen up considerably yet comfortably. Now is a good time to export/bounce your track out so you can take a look at the wavform. If it looks like a unpeeking porkupine (typo I'm sure) then you might be ok. listen to it on another source before going any further and decide on any adjustments you might want/need and make them. After that you can grab the BEAST like
the iZotope Ozone 4 and pick a perset your interested in. I like the CD Master cause it's basic and I can adjust up instead of adjusting down first. I maximize the harmonics and give the dynamics a boost to bring out the little things that make music inspiring and work from there always watching my master and looking at the levels inside the plugins i use to ensure a good none-peeking mix. ***note*** If it's clipping/cutting inside a plugin it's too loud. Everything you use should be working comfortably and not peeking regardless of what your master is telling you. At this point you should be able to hear and have a good control of the sound of your mix regardless if you use all or just afew of the things i mentioned here. Find your way around you DAW and be aware of what to look for and the things you do will change the sound of the mix but not F it up. Good Luck man and hope you found something useful here.
As for the know-it-alls... I gave an example of a recent mix on a beat i just finished tonight for a mixtape Craftmanz Ent's doing with Dynas (BBE recording artist) and thought I'd share. If you find alot of gaps in info (as I'm also aware of) then help dude out but by disecting my contribution your not only looking like a problem sniffer which only proves your bytcha$$ness but also your proving that your a non contributor but a great critique like your lil sister when you fart next to her while she's eating. example... (fart) "You stupid jerk...that's why mom wont let you use the car cause your a phuck up and a jerk!!!"...Sound familiar? Don't lie either.