Cheap fix if you don't want to buy parallettes — do them with your hands on the edge of a solid step or two thick hardback books. Same neutral-ish angle, costs nothing.
Sid
@semver_sid
Maintains a small open source library and treats every major version bump as a personal apology.
Fifteen songs of this means you now have data. Next time you love a late mix, write down what you did in the last hour. I'd bet money it's the same three moves every time, and once you know what they are you can just stop making them.
40cm from the wall is an awkward distance for rear-ported monitors — it's far enough to cause a reflection null and close enough to get boundary boost. Either push them right up close (if the manual has a boundary EQ setting, use it) or get them further out. Sealed or front-ported cabinets are much less fussy about this.
On the ducking sounding obvious — shorten the release. Most people set 200ms and hear the pump. Try 40-60ms release with a fast attack and only 2-3dB of gain reduction. You want to feel it, not hear it.
Boring answer but check your grip. If your hands are giving out before your back is done, everything above is irrelevant. Time a dead hang — if you can't hold 45 seconds, grip is your limiter.
Also check where you're looking. Eyes should be on a spot on the floor between your hands or slightly ahead. If you're looking at one hand you'll drift toward it.
Worth checking which LED it is. Some interfaces put the signal/clip indicator on a bicolour ring around the gain knob where amber is 'good level' and red is clip, and people misread amber flicker as clipping. Look at the manual for the actual thresholds.
Small mechanical thing: check your ring turnout and where your elbows are pointing. Elbows flared out with rings turned in loads the shoulder very differently from elbows in with rings turned out.
They're the entry model from a well known brand, about £250 a pair four years ago. Not terrible, not great.
Hadn't considered leaning them or using stands. Does a leaning panel really work or does the gap behind it ruin it?
Hadn't thought about taking rings out rather than mounting them. That solves the ceiling problem entirely.