Neuroharmony

Jesse G
I don't place any plugins on my Master Bus, I use a Mix Bus instead. 

Why? Is there something wrong with putting plugins on the master bus?
 
If every track is routed through a mix bus, which is then routed to a plain master bus, that seems like an unnecessary step in the signal process.

The  “Mix Bus” is a bus that combines the summation of all of my audio tracks. This is generally used to perform some final processing on the whole mix before the Master output.  I want my Master Bus clear and clean to add a Spectrum Analyzer for checking my overall mix frequencies.  But hey, that's just my style of mixing as we all have one.
 
 
 
 

Yes that is a screen shot of my Limiter. And I'm using -.4 not  -4  Huge difference. 
Yes if your sending tracks off for mastering I would not be following this method. I'm talking about self mastered demos and backing tracks here. The OP was wanting loud, I have no problem making all my mixes come in at between -12db and - 15db Average RMS level.
 
My understanding is the loudest anyone should go for would be around -9db average for heavy rock, classical music has more room to breath and the average might be around -17db.  
 
Important--Without Wave Lab to analyze my tracks I would not even have a clue what was happening. 
Here are the tools I use in Wave Lab to master. 
First I check my peak level,  you can see clearly my Brick wall works as planned. 

 
Then I check my average RMS You can see the song is in the ball park.  
 

If it needs to be louder you can always slam it through this. I find most songs will take this setting at around +1.5db.  But if you push it to +3 db you will start to hear it compressing. 
 

 

Thanks, this is all very helpful.
 
I just realized, I don't even know if I'm reading the output meter correctly! Why are the left and right sides labeled differently? The left side ranges from negative infinity to 6, while the right side ranges from -39 to 0. The "red zone" begins at about 3 on the left side, but it's about -6 on the right side. When people say to mix in the -3 to -6 dB range, which side are they referring to?

One other thing - do not confuse your Master Buss with your Main Outs (Sound Card / Interface outputs)
 
The master buss is one which you insert yourself in any project, or it might come preloaded in a template
As far as Sonar is concerned it's no different to any other buss in that it has inputs/outputs, an Fx bin, Pro Channel etc
Your main outs are totally different and have no Fx bin or any other controls, other than gain and level fader
These are pre-loaded by your driver software
 
Generally speaking, the outputs of your tracks go to sub-busses (drums, vocals, keys etc)
The outputs of these busses go to your Master Buss
The Master Buss feeds your Mains
 

Neuroharmony
Thanks, this is all very helpful.
 
I just realized, I don't even know if I'm reading the output meter correctly! Why are the left and right sides labeled differently? The left side ranges from negative infinity to 6, while the right side ranges from -39 to 0. The "red zone" begins at about 3 on the left side, but it's about -6 on the right side. When people say to mix in the -3 to -6 dB range, which side are they referring to?

The left side is the fadder settings where "0" is called unity gain. This is where you should always set a master buss. 
The right side is your peak levels for the meter. 

If you put the brickwall limiter on the Master buss effects bin and set it anywhere less than 0 your master buss peak meter should not turn red. I chose -.4 and so far it has worked brilliantly on 100's of songs. 
If I check my peak level in Wave lab and it shows as 0 then I go back to Sonar and I always find a track that had by passed the master buss. 
Good idea to mute the master buss bto make sure everything is passing through it.