You have kind of confirmed my point with the "pick up cool tips and tricks" comment
I completely agree with this - but the premise of this thread is that this would be a good way to "learn" how to mix
To use the instrument analogy - you always pick up tricks and tips from other players etc. but this is not a substitution from learning the basics in the right way
If this is a means to picking up a few tips and tricks then great - but as an approach to learn how to mix I think there are much better ways
I felt I should raise this point before people spend a lot of time forming "rules" and "guidelines" as the focus of the original intention seems to have shifted already
I have no intention of trying to sabotage what sounds like a lot of fun (which is reason enough to do it!) but wanted to play a bit of "devil's advocate" to help the discussion and help come up with a way to support the original intention
Perhaps a better approach would be to take "baby steps" - ie how to mix a single acoustic guitar track (compression, eq etc.) as the first project, then move on to an acoustic + vocal, then just a kick drum, then mixing a kick drum with bass guitar, then a whole drum kit etc.
I appreciate that a mix should always be seen as a whole but a "step by step" approach would mean people only doing guitar and vocals can "drop out" when they have enough, people not using keyboards could miss that section etc.