Thanks everyone for weighing in. I'll further read and absorb all of this when I'm at my Sonar box and sit down to face the music... so to speak. 
 
Re: input/output balance... fortunately, Neutron has an internal auto-gain-match feature that automatically balances the levels pre- and post-FX internally so you can compare at equal levels and avoid thinking something sounds better just because it's louder. 
 
The Abbey Roads plugins don't have this, so I'll have to definitely keep an eye...
 
One other thing: with FX sends from a track to its corresponding FX bus, is it best to control the volume of that signal flow with the level of the track send, or can you also control that with the actual FX bus volume fader?
 

Billy86
One other thing: with FX sends from a track to its corresponding FX bus, is it best to control the volume of that signal flow with the level of the track send, or can you also control that with the actual FX bus volume fader? 

The answer to that, like so much else, is "it depends" :-)

Let's say you have a bunch of tracks each with a send to a reverb that's on an aux track/bus/whatever you call it and set 100% wet.

The sends are all post-fader, which is the usual way to set up reverbs because that way if you raise or lower a track fader the relevant track gets more or less reverb applied in the same way that whispering in a cathedral is less reverberant than shouting. It kind of automatically keeps the relative reverb levels tied to the dry signal for you.

If you adjust the reverb aux track's fader then everything with a send to it gets an equal amount of more or less reverb depending on if you move the fader up or down. If you adjust a send then you only change the amount of reverb being applied to the specific track that send is on.

If you're happy with the relative amounts of reverb each track gets but there's just too much of it overall, the reverb aux bus is peaking too high and everything sounds too reverberant and "boomy" then reducing the aux track fader level is a perfectly good way to deal with the problem - so long as the mix sounds good afterwards.

If you want the total reverb level to remain where it is relative to the mix as a whole but the bus track is clipping then it's time to reduce the level of all faders (and therefore also the post-fade sends) by the same amount until the aux track level is under control again. That will reduce the volume of the entire mix of course.

Sorting out reverb levels is one of those things where experimenting pays off. There's no one way or even "best" way to do it. You can even get a reverb bus out of the red by creating a second identical reverb bus and re-route half the track sends to the original reverb to the new one instead, keeping all the levels the same. Which will instantly reduce the signal in the overloading reverb aux track.

Just to add, it's always beneficial to put an EQ before your Reverb plug to filter out using a HPF what would otherwise result in a build up of a lot of LF rubbish.
Quite often I'll EQ afterwards as well to help the reverb sit better in the mix.

Bristol_Jonesey
Quite often I'll EQ afterwards as well to help the reverb sit better in the mix.

Nice trick BJ.
 
I love these gain staging threads. Even the most seasoned veterans of Sonar can learn something new from threads like these.  For example, even though I didn't necessarily agree with Boydie's approach, his posts were interesting in the way he chooses to use pre/post and his explanation. Great comments here.

chuckebaby

Bristol_Jonesey
Quite often I'll EQ afterwards as well to help the reverb sit better in the mix.

Nice trick BJ.
 
I love these gain staging threads. Even the most seasoned veterans of Sonar can learn something new from threads like these.  For example, even though I didn't necessarily agree with Boydie's approach, his posts were interesting in the way he chooses to use pre/post and his explanation. Great comments here.

+1 Great thread guys.  I am always learning here!
 

I use the solo button on the Reverb Bus to get an idea of the general character of the 'verb.
 
It's usually obvious if the top end needs taming, the middle notching etc. Low end taken care of on the way, before the 'verb.
 
But just as with audio tracks, EQ'ing in solo mode is fruitless - it has to be done within the context of the mix.
 
 

Despite some great mixing philosophies and techniques there almost always comes a point where every mixer chooses something arbitrary to start basing all their mixing decisions after. This isn't the worst thing in the world, after all you can always select all and lower an entire mix (or vice versa). For me, it's usually Kick Drum at -12dB. Just was taught that way and I've never had a problem with it. I usually end up with mixes peaking at around -6dB, which if anything I consider might be a skootch TOO hot for mastering but it's always worked out fine. 
 
Wanting faders at Unity is a bit of a vestige of the past. Decide what instrumentation you're going to start with and just go with where the faders go. It's not a real desk, so they can live wherever they are happy. Most people I know tend to stick with the Drums and Bass first, audition the vocal then mute it, guitars synths etc and save final vox for last. I like to do Drums and Bass, cleaning up as much as I can, then vox, then everything else. Your gains will stage themselves out when you choose where the kick volume should be.

Bristol_Jonesey
I use the solo button on the Reverb Bus to get an idea of the general character of the 'verb.
 
It's usually obvious if the top end needs taming, the middle notching etc. Low end taken care of on the way, before the 'verb.
 
But just as with audio tracks, EQ'ing in solo mode is fruitless - it has to be done within the context of the mix.

Big ole +1.   I almost always pre-EQ reverb for the same reasons - I find it helps bring a little clarity, mostly with a HPF but sometimes also adding a LPF too if it seems a bit ringy/bitey.  
 
But I also agree with "EQ in the context of the mix".   I will EQ solo'd tracks for potential problem areas difficult to identify in the mix, but otherwise will EQ with a least a few instruments at a time to make sure what I think hear solo'd is actually working as expected.
 

I spent a good proportion of last night gain attenuating some audio clips with pink noise. Supposedly the idea is you bring down the fader on your input track against the pink noise which plays at 0dBFS maximum until you can only hear the pink noise.
 
The eq curve of the pink noise is what is most audibly pleasing to us humans. Well I thought I would give a science a try. I did notice low-end frequencies needed less reduction whereas mids and trebles needed more. So basically these are my starting points without EQ or any other effects added at this stage. Whether I did this correctly and my mix elements are balanced is another story however we will see/hear.
 

I have seen engineers doing, when using fx plugs, of some of the A & B methods switching between wet dry, while tweaking of fx, and to solo each track or bus,...and effect on & off..and make the fx volume output  almost the same as the un effected track volume, and fx output volume checking...so checking all this, insures a steady volume in, out, to a bus or group Vu, or VL, across the spectrum of all, to ensure the master bus metering is compiled properly...
 
That no overloading on any track or plug ins input or out to another, overloading any is reduced via doing this processing when tweaking the fx... is not occurring at any of the sources, in or outs, makes a more natural head room...
 
And not forced by limiting or brick walled compression being necessary later in the chain of events.
 
Some might say, it begins on the volumes set first with no effects....say make -12 a marker point to not exceed any of the tracks first set volumes.
 
So the loudest instrument is set to not go over, and then..being as it may,..put the other instruments lower than...
 
Then once all that is done to a sort of base foundation first....Then start adding Effects lightly, to mid range, to tame, and or change ...always trying to add flavours , but not adjust the volumes too much, in or out of any effect chaining....
 
Also when summing occurs...very low end frequencies of harmonics not measured, can become overwhelming if using high bit rates....it seems on my experience tweaking sound....panning and eq also ..so as not to add too many of the same frequencies when summing...is to make sure you try to bed the tracks of each, out of each sound track...properly, so that does not occur in summing...mastering that technique is a good practice to try to keep in mind.......?  separation  of frequencies is vital to the sum of all parts.
 
 
So yes some of the info in this thread is very good...Thanks all.
 
Cheers.
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