Matt,
Understood.

Kevin, something else that I do, and works for me and my style of recording. I record synth tracks only, no vocals and no acoustic instruments. Hence, I can go back and adjust as necessary, and record the track as many times as I want with the same MIDI sameness.

First, I record each of my tracks separately, one at a time. I try to find the peak of the track, and have that peak somewhere between 0 and -3dBFS or -3dBr. That assumes that 0dBr is the same as full scale and clipping. I record each track so that each is in that same range. What this does for me is to give me the fullest dynamic range of the instrument, so when there is quiet, I'm not getting hiss from the lower levels and running into the noise floor. Synths are inherently noisy creatures, it seems.

After recording all the tracks, I adjust the relative volumes of the tracks to what I consider to be pleasing. I have an arranger keyboard, which means play a chord, it generates the backing sequence, you play the melody on top. Since each of the backing tracks are at a different volume, you need to play with your mixer to get that relative volume setting back. So, I go through and I set all the audio tracks to give me what I'm looking for.

If I do it right, my main mix output should be just below 0dBr. There is no headroom. Now, what I'll do is to group all the audio together as a single group, and then lower the peak output to -3 or -6, or even -12dBr. At this point, I have not applied any effects whatsoever.

Once I pull all the channels down by the amount I think I'm going to need, then I start applying the effects I want, EQ, reverb, compression or whatever I'm using. I keep an eye on the main outs to make sure that I'm not exceeding 0dBr and go into clipping. If I do that, I need to remove all the effects and lower all the sliders some more, to give me more headroom for mixing and effects.

In the end, I should get a mix that has very good dynamic range (provided I don't mash it with compression), all the instruments should be clear and distinct, and I should have the peaks at between 0dBr and -3dBr.

As to applying this to a live recording, I've never tried it, I'm not sure how it would work, but I'd be willing to bet Bob Harvey would have some good insight into this.

Gary

I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!