Hello Everyone,
 
I am working on a minimal synth-pop track - literally just drums (mono), bass (mono) chords and strings (stereo).   , I understand when tracking I should make sure no individual track should really peak over -10db, so my drums being the loudest I have peaking just at -9.7db (good enough), and other tracks lower than that.    My master bus using Span meter is reporting RMS -26 RMS / Peak -6 RMS.    

The mix process is not going to be much different than what I already have as my tracks sound great.   Maybe some gentle compression and some gentle saturation - but I am going to level match what I already have using make up gain or whatever I need to do.   

My question is this....  

Should I be tracking even lower than the mix stage?  Do i need to leave headroom for the MIX phase or JUST mix phase to mastering phase?    

If I submit these tracks with -26 RMS and peaks of -6 RMS to a mastering engineer, that should be a good level right?
 
My waveforms look smaller than what I see in other people's projects, so I am a bit confused.   Could just be because these are NOT mastered tracks yet?


 
Thank You,
Adam

If it sounds the way you want it to, I would say that you are in good shape. Leave some headroom for mastering. If you want it to be louder (for you visual pleasure:-)), you could normalize the track. 
Best of luck

Your levels are absolutely fine.
 
If you want to see bigger waveforms, just click & drag on the grey section (between the meters & the waveform)
 
 

Zargg71
If it sounds the way you want it to, I would say that you are in good shape. Leave some headroom for mastering. If you want it to be louder (for you visual pleasure:-)), you could normalize the track. 
Best of luck

Another way of making it louder would be to add a limiter during mastering on the master buss.

Would someone define "normalizing"?
 
If you normalize "tracks", vs. normalizing "a" track, or normalizing two tracks against one another.
 
I guess I just don't get it...thanks.

It is another word for increasing the volume. If you normalize a track / tracks to -2, your peak of that track / tracks (the loudest part / transient) will be at -2 (on your meter). You can also use use gain to increase the level to your liking. Mark the track / tracks you want to process, go to process and https://www.dropbox.com/s/2dnjpxln2ld2reo/SONAR%20normalize%20audio.jpg?dl=0
Best of luck.

Oh my god...never new.
 
Never used this.
 
So how does this work with volume automation.
 
Oh, and what if I have 16 tracks and normalize them all to -12.
 
Does that make them all even and then to mix I would apply compression and volume automation to controls dips and wanted increases in volume.
 
I guess I should just grab an old project and start from scratch using this to normalize all tracks...as this is what you do right...you normalize all tracks...I don't know, I can't wait to try this.
 
Going to youtube now to see what they have to offer on this.
 
Man, I am glad I asked.
 
Edit/Not a lot of real good videos on this. But I will keep working to learn more about this.

It would totally depend on the dynamics of the individual tracks. Take a vocal track for example. No singer would ever be able to sing at a totally consistent volume. Therefor the highest peak of that track would be at selected at set normalize level. At 24 bit (recordings), you do not have to worry to much about that level ((more headroom) many threads on this forum about that). 
 

You can still use automation for (more or less) any parameter in your track(s). Eq, comp, rev, delay (levels, volume envelope, pan etc.). See photo https://www.dropbox.com/s...%20automation.jpg?dl=0

Be careful.
 
I only ever normalize when I bring an audio file into Sonar that needs a bit of "beefing up" in volume.