[Baggage]

Originally Posted by JohnnyMusic

OK, I wasn't sure how much about mastering you were familiar with.
Yes, part of mastering is making the mix louder,(and if you don't do this it will be no where near a commercial mix in level), part of which is very simple as ashcat said, just turn up the gain as close to o as possible without going over. If that doesn't do it, the rest is done with a limiter at the least, and some compression may be used as well. And again, how the rest of the mix is done will the affect the apparent loudness as well (the dynamic range etc).

FYI I am in the habit of leaving the master fader at 0, and start my mix by making sure all the tracks are low enough that master is no where near clipping (some suggest -18 RMS for each track). That way you don't clip the master so easily and if your mix ends up a bit low, it does no harm to put a gain plug on the master channel and turn it up so it is peaking closer to 0, then compression and limiting to pump up the overall loudness and reduce dynamic range if you like). Doing some reading about mastering will help you get more familiar with these concepts. Then some reading about the history of the loudness wars might interest you ( some say they are over)...Have fun!

Thanks JM. When you say you use a limiter are you putting that on the master fader or other tracks. I've heard other say to not put fx on master?