Today I'd like to share a couple reasons why you shouldn't spend too long on any mix.
Fatigue
The first and probably most important reason why you shouldn't spend too long on a mix, is simply that you will get fatigued. After hours upon hours of mixing, your ears will start to protect themselves and you won't be doing any good anymore. You can keep on and on, but there is a point of diminishing returns. You are going to get ear fatigue and not hear accurately. That's why when you go back later and listen, you say, "What in the world was I thinking?" This is a common result of fatigue when mixing. So set yourself deadlines and give yourself breaks. This will help to increase your endurance and keep your listening as accurate as possible.
Priorities
The second reason you shouldn't spend too long on a mix, is so you prioritize your time on what is most important. If you don't, what will happen is that you will spend way too much time on things that aren't that important, only to be fatigued by the time you get to the important parts. If you haven't yet, try this: Make yourself do a one hour mix. You would be surprised at how much you can get done, and it will help you figure out what parts of the mixing process are the most important. If you don't give yourself any barriers, you'll often spend far too much time on the less important tasks. For instance, instead of spending an hour EQ'ing a snare drum, maybe you should spend an hour adding width and depth by simply setting levels and panning. Over time you will figure out what you need to prioritize the most, and what you are most skilled at.
Anytime you start mixing a project remember to set barriers to prevent fatigue, and prioritize what you think is most important.
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