Some good tips in here. This is still something I need to improve myself.

A few things I do:
1) I made an action in Reaper that lowers the volume of every item in the track by a whatever # I choose, then raises the fader by the same amount to compensate.
2) New tracks are created at -12.
3) The master fader RMS reading is offset by 12dB so when it shows "0" it's -12.
4) Since every VSTi is way too hot and they don't all have simple output controls in dB I stick a gain plugin at -10 afterwards which is easier than fussing with the plugin output.
5) I use a lot of limiters with linked threshold/output on tracks to control peaks which helps with headroom when tracks sum and prevents stray peaks from skewing the dB reading or causing clipping in other plugins.
6) I have another Reaper action that selects all non-folder tracks so I can easily lower everything when I run out of headroom.
7) I use the waveform display offset feature to easily see the audio while keeping it at a much lower level.

 

Last edited: Jan 31, 2020

i make sure i turn the volume down on the first sound i add to around -12dBFS and start there (if this puts your fader in a position that is too low to work with then you can use clip gains instead).
if things do start clipping the best thing to do is turn down all tracks by the same amount then recheck the balance and make necessary adjustments.

as far as the best level to feed a VST, that information is usually false, but is true for some VA stuff. some VSTs even do the opposite and do not even need the gain to be below zero.

 

No, I won't tell you, I'll leave you to do it wrong and then there's fewer people doing it right to compete with.

 

Another Perspective :
As a child, did you fall in love with music because you knew the levels where mixed great and that there were no phase issues ? nope. your soul just felt it . try to translate that feeling into your music , THEN care about professionalism . And if this all sound like gibberish to you, than just listen to you heart, pull out some old dmx, limp bizkit , or crosby stills and nash and just dont try to analyze it .i know its almost impossible but old Jay Dilla beats give me a warm feeling of "its ok to let the time fly by, being a bit careless, working on simple boom bap loops and try to find some kind of inner peace....

 

I like this thing, sounds like a better one that I built myself in Reaktor, a simple mixing desk that did the following:

1) Raising a channel (this was a 4-channel stereo mixer for stems really) lowered others correspondingly.
2) Boosting the channel EQ (4 band, hi/lo/hi mid parametric/lo mid parametric) did the same thing.
3) Tweaking the FX sends, again, did the same thing.

I did find my mindset changing, and a newfound respect for using purely substractive EQ.

 

in ableton, should i have my utility at the beginning or end of my chain? ive always put it at the end

 

I'd go first. In case of audio channel, first, but in case of a instrument, straight after that. Temper that to be your liked level (see this thread to what people use, I tend to go -6dB normally) and then in the following FX use their output gain to keep the level... well, level.

I exceedingly rare cases you might have to use another utility plugins along the way, but this is _very_ rare.

 

ain't that necessary?
If you react that way upon my opinion, then I would take a seccond and ask myself who's the kid

 

This thread is really cluttered when the obvious answer has already been given in a few different varieties.

- Turn up the monitors more than you usually do and then never touch the knob again. Simple.

You will be forced to mix sensibly. As has been mentioned: Bob Katz's K-metering is a calibrated/scientific approach to this, if you want to be precise about it. You don't have to use it to achieve the spirit of the idea, but using K-metering will let you set your exact target headroom rather than just "ear-balling" it.

 

~~ delete ~~

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2020

Doing it on studio headphones will do the work?