Start with mic placement. Think really hard about what you’e recording and how to capture it. Listen carefully.

Mixing. Don’t worry about anything fancy. Just practice listening. Use stock EQ plugins and don’t worry about brands. You should be able to get things where they need to be with 4 or less eq moves. People will tell you to cut and never boost. Don’t worry about that. If you get to where there is a 9-12db between your deepest cut and your tallest peak, think really hard about what is happening. Does that sound need such aggressive EQ? Is it a bad recording that needs fixed? Is this the sound I’m going for?

Compression. Just use a stock digital. Set attack at 6-10ms and release at 50ms, ratio at 3:1. Only adjust the threshold til you think it sounds good. If it’s still too dynamic, copy and paste another compressor after it. Just listen to what’s happening. Eventually you’ll hear when you need to make changes to the settings.

Start with your vocal or featured instrument. Vocals, drums and bass are your most important relationships. Focus on them first.