I feel you when you mention the Balance aspect of the recording. I mixed with headphones vs. Monitors.
The SD1 had a Tribal Age style that I loved the drums, which you hear. But I wanted to create some pace to that particular style. I isolated acoustic guitar strums and recorded separate tracks. Same thing with the string parts,
I used variation 3 and 4 of a Baroque style and slowed the tempo down.
Barogue styles are normally fast paced. When slowed down, the worked perfectly with adding that "pace" I was looking for.
The lyric "watch the sun arise, there's a morning glow, looking at your child and story untold" are one of my favorite lyrics.