Sweetwater has written up a good overview of the fundamentals of live sound. There are a few different articles linked in the main one where you can dig deeper into some areas you’d like to know more about.
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/sound-advice-fundamentals-of-live-sound/
Sweetwater put together a good article explaining the importance of gain staging and how to achieve a mix with the lowest amount of noise and distortion.
Technology in the 1980s changed the game for record making, as synthesizers, drum machines, automation, sampling and other studio trickery entered the market. Draw inspiration from the era’s sounds for your mixes.
https://www.waves.com/tips-for-mixing-and-producing-80s-sounds
Waves put together a video doing a shootout between the CLA-3A, CLA-2A, and CLA-76 classic compressor models. Take a quick listen to hear the differences these compressors can have in your vocal processing chain.
Get tips on how to choose and use different EQ plugins modeled on vintage hardware equalizers, and find out why engineers are still using these tried-and-true EQs after decades of recording technology innovation.
https://www.waves.com/vintage-eq-plugin-guide
Here’s another great video from Waves about how mixing can really change the style of a song. A lot of these tools utilized in the studio can easily be applied to live environments as well. If you have 20 minutes sometime, it’s an interesting watch!
Here’s a great article by Jeff Mac posted over on Sweetwater’s site. The points about masking and managing content in the 2-5K range I find especially helpful. Take a read when you have a minute.
Craig Anderton has a helpful article posted on Sweetwater’s site about headroom. If you ever wonder why we set gains to a certain level, take a read through this. He also does a good job explaining the difference between headroom in a digital vs analog system. This is especially helpful since our Avid consoles tend to mimic an analog setup, but some of the plugins use a digital representation. Take a read, feel free to leave comments or send an email if you have questions.
Here’s a great article to get an idea about the different types of compressors and what you should be looking for when picking on to control parts of your mix.
Waves has posted an article on some coming mistakes to avoid when using effects.