the problem with mixing too loud PRE mastering,
is that in the end,
it all ends up sounding a bit 'crunchy', and unless you have stellar metering,
you have probably added a lot of clipping and near misses,
which in the long run, especially listening to more than one song in a row (like on an album), will lead to ear fatigue,
without fail,
every time.
 
 
mix you levels lower.
 
get your volume with mastering.
 

agree with Batsbrew..
Used to fight (and loose) to get a mix loud...guess it takes mastering skills (and gear/software) to get a mix loud while still sounding good.
But don't let that make you feel bad, the stuff you compare it against is probably mastered.
If you can get a mix to sound great peaking at fe -5 or 6 db, you're done and completed a proffesional mix.
Mixing is about sound, volume is a part of mastering like Batsbrew wrote.
 
My monitors have plenty bass, but sitting in front of them I don't hear it really.  From the other end of the room facing the speakers sideways, I get a better idea of my bass level.
Most monitors are not ideal to hear the tone/sound of your bass, I'd try headphones at a low volume for that.
Why not try to learn your KRK's better, would be my advise...a/b your mix with a reference song you know well.
To get a very good setup for monitoring bass (volume and tone) would cost you expensive speakers and a well treated room.
And then you'd still need to check your mix made on highend / audiophile stuff is ok on consumers playback gear so your KRK's would be handy then.
 

what I have been hearing (internet) is that the loudness wars are over.
It appears that any music placed on any of the streaming sites is normalized to their particular level. 
So, is an extra 2 db worth it? 
 
Granted, my view is based around my perception that CDs and any other physical media is pretty much dead.

timidi
what I have been hearing (internet) is that the loudness wars are over.
It appears that any music placed on any of the streaming sites is normalized to their particular level. 
So, is an extra 2 db worth it? 
 

normalization is not the same as mastering to obtain a louder mix.
 

but yes,
if sites are typically doing 'normalization', the point remains that you don't need a 'hot' master to compete with the streaming.
 
this really is more driven by professional releases that have awesome masters that sound great and are still super hot.
 
put in a playlist on somebody's personal device, those particular songs, especially in shuffle, will just kick everything elses's ass with volume,
then it boils down to how good the mastering really was.
 
there are some hot pro masters out there that are able to get a super clean but super loud refined sound,
and that kinda sets the bar pretty high.

I can understand not wanting to be 12db lower than everyone else, but IMO in the age of YouTube and streaming services it might be better to just make it as loud as the song can get without destroying it. Trying to get it as loud as pro mixes is hard and will most likely cause you to destroy your mix if you don't know what you're doing.

Also, did the loudness wars even work. I know people perceive louder as better, but I grew up in a time when the loudness wars were taking off and I often listened to older music and I don't remember disliking it. I just used my volume knob if the difference was too great.

Bob (Katz) declared the loudness wars as over.
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/end-loudness-war
 
I came from a background (classical) where the more dynamics and rubato the better.  But I appreciate all types of music and styles.  So the key is to fit in with the particular expectations of the genre. 
 
To the OP: you can give LANDR a try for comparison, previews are free and the uploader is available from SONAR, they're constantly updating it for better detection of genres and such. 
 
Funny that you mention the volume knob, there's a science behind that and it's part of replay gain.  There are level balancing standards in place by several streaming sites in effect so if something is totally squashed it could get turned down to have a comparable volume with something that's more dynamic.  Matching on perceived loudness.  So if you push too far, the result when aired may sound worse than if it were left a little more open.  Of course it varies depending on who's using what standard to play it, etc.
 
Something personally I've seen you may find useful... There's some videos by Ian Shepherd with various tips.  What's useful is the techniques he's using to A/B things.  Some of that can be applied to any platform when you understand how to properly level match things for A/B comparisons.
It's easy to think one thing sounds better because it happens to be a few dB louder. 
https://www.youtube.com/c...MFrnWIF6N5YtOZzmCGP16A
 
Keith