audio from production audio...

For this feature film I received audio files there are anywhere from 3 - 7 microphones, and i've now spent way too much time worrying about mixing the audio, because the guy didn't provide a picture audio track (mixed down to stereo) so I could simply focus on editing, not worrying about nature mics being way too loud and struggling to hear the actors. Now i'm thinking I should have done my own mix down at least to save me the time. but that would have taken awhile, and its too late now because its sync'ed and the entire movie is edited and i'm just working on polishing. i just wish i didn't have 16 tracks of audio to deal with when im overlapping shots with 7 mics each, and i have music underneath it. then i have to constantly render audio etc.