When I track in Sonar, I can adjust the knobs on my MOTU 8Pre and see the levels change in Sonar.
 
What should my goal be as far as a number on the track meter for the track I am adjusting?
 
Thanks.

You'll get a bunch of different answers, but the main one is don't go into the red. I like to allow about 6 dB of headroom but some people allow more.

When you say 6 dB of headroom, you mean that my meter for that track will read -6 dB...right?
 
Zero is kinda redlining it, so to lower the level I would be going to -6 or -12.
 
After I track, I then keep all of my tracks at a preferred -6 to -12 dB in my final mix. That would place the master that I bounce to a stereo track, at about */- 3 dB of the original track level...I am assuming as a result of gain staging.
 
I could and probably am WAY off here in my understanding of all of this, but it seems that from what I have read, that everyone says to keep tracking at a low level and to have a final mix at a very low level. This is in an effort to allow room for the ME to work.
 
So, am I even close to understanding this.
 
Step one: track at low levels...say -6 dB on the Sonar track meter, when adjusting the interface input gain.
Step two: mix so that all tracks do not exceed the original tracking level, but expect the final master that you want to bounce may be of a higher value in dB, as a result of gain staging.
Step three: re-mix if final master buss is in excess of -6 dB.
 
Thanks

You can raise the track gain up six. Then just try and avoid red with your pre amp.

In 24bit recording, anywhere from -24dB to -12dB is GREAT!!! This gives you 12dB for any occasional spikes and this assures you'll never clip and waste a good recording take. If you think you need to record as hot as possible to get quality, your wrong.
 
CJ

I would just add that getting the level too low, or getting very inconsistent levels across tracks makes mixing difficult.
 
Example: You don't want a lead vocal at -20 and the bass and kick each at -3.  You need to have some room to move the track and bus faders both directions during the mix.
 
Example: If everything is recorded at very low levels, you may have trouble getting your mix up where you want it without a ton of compression (or jacking up the track gain, or normalizing the wavs, or whatever).

I tend to adjust either the master volume on a given soft synth, or the gain on the audio interface for a mic or guitar feed, and if needed (which is rarely), I would use the input gain on the track strip, to where the level is at around -6 or a bit less, keeping the track faders pretty much at default, or dropped a little.
 
When I have an instrument that is going to change a lot for a given section of a tune, I will more likely set that up on its own track, with its own settings, so that things don't have to move too much from initial rough settings too much.  That is the case usually, when I am tracking MY material, as I have a reasonable idea of what the target balances are for instruments and sections.
 
I have also been lazy and adjusted things with faders/gain only, but I would rather adjust gain down farther down the staging chain than early, so I am not dropping it down early and having to raise it later - just to avoid noise.
 
As long as there isn't too much level to where clipping occurs, or there is not enough room to mix and master, I think most reasonable settings are likely OK these days.  Moderation seems to be the ticket.
 
Bob Bone
 

My target when I track is -6 dB and that continues to be my target all the way through to a final mix.

I also tend to write out the song's sections, in order of importance, and mix to THAT list's order, which usually them puts all the hoopla and bells and whistles and such of the end of the song mixed first, and then work backwards still in order of importance, pulling things back and even muting some stuff along the way, so that it gets easier and easier as you follow things in this direction, pulling a piano part back or dropping some steel string guitar for the second verse, and maybe then being able to leave in some neat flute or french horn sound that otherwise would be too much.
 
It just makes sense to me that if the end of the song chorus has to be the maximum presence version of the chorus, then starting with it and doing that - giving it everything you can, gives you a known point to keep the prior sections down below, and getting things to calm down is a lot easier than going the other way.
 
Doing things this way often saves a lot of time, as you may now realize that you might not actually NEED that 10-guitar multi-track 'thing' in the 2nd verse anymore, because it just doesn't fit within what you already KNOW works for the climatic ending choruses and such, because working backwards from the maximum doesn't leave room for that number of instruments without causing massive problems,
 
Bob Bone
 

I try not to get over -6db or have a dip below -20dB for any steady state of the sound.  The most important thing is to not go into the red, which can ruin a take.  And yes, think of 0 dB as just about as loud as you can go without problems.  There is some headroom built into 0 dB, but one good punch of sound can use that up.  And remember that the louder you capture the tracks, the more you need to pull all them down come mixing time.