But in all fairness, squeak, it's hard to demand decent mixing and self monitoring skills from people that barely have any playing skills either...

Usually, the better the player (on these demos), the more likely that what they play is mixed well as well. Most good players actually WANT to hear the accompaniment, not just themselves

It simply illustrates what a wide range of playing skills and ability arrangers get used by. To be honest, you don't see this much with WS's and stage pianos, etc.. Only the poor arranger tends to be abused by people with next to no ability at all What amazes me, though, is that, given how the accompaniment is the only decent thing being recorded, why on earth they want to hear themselves over the top of it to the point where it can't be heard!!