Here's just the way I was always told to do it.

Record your track this hot

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then pull the slider off to 0. Nothing. Dead quiet.

Then start mixing and move the fader accordingly until it blends how you want it.

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to start, then up to

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and so forth. My thought it that if the starting point (100% of what is available) is low, like

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and you start going louder and louder, THAT is where you start introducing noise.

Am I "analog" thinking and "digital" thinking is 180 opposite?