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Last edited: Aug 27, 2015

If you refer to the K System for metering, to me, it doesn't look all that useful nowadays unless you're using analog gear or analog modelled software because digital seems to never clip, so the good old ''turn down the master'' works well enough to keep your headroom safe for mastering (with analog stuff, clipping can occur even at -5/6 dBFS so it makes sense to work with 0 dBFS at -12/14/20 to avoid any unexpected ''surprise'')

 

One question for you Sonar Sounds: is your Digital to Analogue converter digital or analogue? [it is analogue] ;) Do you know how much headroom it has before distortion occurs and finally clipping? So far for keeping the master buss at 0dBFS all the time... there are DA converters that start distorting already at -6dBFS or anywhere between -6 and 0, so what you hear is not really what you get. ;) Therefore it is important to choose your DA carefully, too. I use TC BMC-2 for that. Excellent DA. But I use gain staging anyway because... [regarding mixing]

Regarding mixing, plugins are often calibrated for analogue processing [-18dBFS RMS] these days, so the fact that they don't clip at 0dBFS doesn't mean anything. It's cleaner and better to mix a song with loudest RMS levels at -18dBFS for bass and drums, and you don't have to worry about your DA distorting or master clipping at any time. That way mixes end up being about K-14 or K-12 which is -14 to -12dBFS RMS with peaks reaching -6dBFS to even -0dBFS at the most if the audio is dynamic enough. My mixes usually have between 12 to 8 dB of dynamics [which is perfect] with peaks up to -6 to -2dBFS, usually. It is alright if the peaks reach only -6dBFS because it gives you some nice headroom for mastering later, and it's easier to master a song like that.

Cheers!

 

I use it. And assuming that you know it in detail (and you understand my bad english), I'll shortly try to explain why

K metering is for me an instrument of methodical planning of my mixing-mastering process that allows me to achieve maximum constancy and repeatability of the parameters associated with loudness and dynamic range of the final mix.
Operatively, I control that each mix individual track input not exceed K20 with a careful metering; similarly, I provide that the main out is constant under k14 (usually the sum of the K20 tracs originates a level not far from k14). this assures me to avoid clipping on single tracs and to originate a good dynamic range to use when mastering to get the desired level of loudness without excessive use of limiting; especially the repeatability of the results is considerable.
How to organize this process inside a daw is a bit complex, but once created a template you'll see that it worth the pain

 

It remembers me years ago when ppl said : what ? Protools audio bus is ONLY 24bits linear ?
I can saturate it with only 16 tracks.

But those ppl pushed all their individual tracks at max, and at the end, they needed to lower their master/buses level to compensate...ence the audio bus over charged digitally even before hitting master bus output.
ppl using proper gain staging (most serious mixing ppl) never got any problem, even with 32+ tracks projects.

Nowadays, with 64bits float bus, there is no more OBLIGATION to reduce gain on audio mix bus. BUT like SineWave said, a lot of digital plugins work best at -18dbfs for mixing. They are optimized for that range. Mastering plugs are supposed to be optimized for less headroom, around -6

Another aspect SineWave said is DA convertion "headroom".

And finally, the most important to me : human ear.
Once you know about freq loudness curve (Fletcher Munson), and about "eardrum limiter" reducing dynamic when you raise level (making everything sound good...until you listen at lower level), you understand K-metering still up to date. Even more when mastering, but not only.

Modern music/production or not, our human ear still the same since stone age

Final question : why -18dBfs RMS track reference ? (something most ppl don't even wonder why)
You double energy every 3dB

Take a single track : -18dBfs RMS
2 tracks : -15
4 tracks : -12
8 tracks : -9
16 tracks : -6
32 tracks : -3
64 tracks : 0dBfs RMS

With a little intermediary buses tweaking, you can mix from 8 to 64 tracks, even 128, without too much fader fiddling on individual tracks. With almost no digital headroom, it will work too, but you will spend your time tweaking levels.

With a K-system, when you solo a track, you already know if the level is already in the ball park. Not without calibrated monitors.
If you add non calibrated monitors, and "all over the place" levels, you loose time, reference and consistency.

It can work, if you send your tracks for mastering to someone else more serious...
I seen a "supposed" mastering eng working in Abbey Road using mixing monitors to do it in an office-like room

 

I'm a little oldschool so I don't use K metering in my work but VU metering which is a little bit "hotter" than K-metering. However, the results are the same, just a little bit hotter. Somewhere in between K-14 and K-12. That's how I store, archive the mix, so I can master it later on however I like. ;)

So I record and keep all my tracks at ~18dB VU and monitor my master buss having unity gain at -14dB VU. Just like I used to in the 90s... ;)

Sleepy time records metering plugins help me a great deal with that: http://sleepytimedsp.com/downloads and I also use Sonimus Satson and Britson a lot: http://sonimus.com/products/

I usually start a song with at least 8 busses, so I have a VU metering plugin on every buss channel. I don't use or watch the master channel at all for anything as I have great VU metering on TC BMC-2. I only have just a simple clipping limiter [Michael Gruhn's - MGA] on the master channel for "just in case" when something breaks, cracks, overloads... as a protection. That's a good practice to protect your speakers and your ears. ;)

Cheers !