i started using pink noise to quickly get the track levels correct, and seems to help, but the issue now is deciding how each track is supposed to sound on it's own, and that's basically impossible unless i have context, which i can't really have until i balance out the tracks, which i can't really do until i have each track sounding good, which i can't really do without context, which i don't have until i balance out the tracks, which i can't really do without knowing how each track sounds on it'
i think the pink noise thing might be slightly overhyped