We have reached the point where all our instruments and vocals are recorded. Everything sounds good, we can mix it quite well, but then we always seem to need it to be louder. I don't mean "cant compress it any more" louder, just louder. I'm very sure I'm not the 1st to ask about this, links to tutorials would be appreciated.
 
What I have been doing is simply cloning tracks to add signal to the project. This works, but it seems to have limits. Would it be a better idea to just mix the recorded tracks well, export them, and then use mastering software for the rest of the job? I planned on using Ozone for mastering, but that is another can of problems I have yet to deal with.
 
Or
 
Continue to clone the tracks, export the multiple clones to new files, and rebuild the tracks with the newly exported files?
 
Any other techniques I could employ to get the levels up? Again, not "loudness wars" louder, just so we can get on the right path to achieve close to commercial volume, and maybe being able to get our cd finished up. You have the thanks of myself and my band.

Leave it if it is good and Master for louder.
I really like k-clip then a final limiter.

Hi, I don't think cloning and adding tracks is really the way to go, where is your limiter?
Try this one;
https://youtu.be/d7PYjalQ2vQ
This should generate all the gain you need.
Ron

Hi again, I'm just thinking that a limiter is probably not a mastering plugin only. Try adding some limiter to your mix bus and drop that threshold a bit at a time till you get your desired gain but prior to ultra squash. Then you could even get a bit more at mastering.
=-]

I would leave the limiter for the last stage of mastering.

never clone tracks for volume.  Clone for paralell processing perhaps... but not volume
 
All the records you like were mixed well and then mastered

Get the liveliest (most dynamic) mix you can, keeping the Sonar Master Bus to around -6db RMS.
(I occasionally will use a limiter on acoustic drum track to tame rogue peaks, to save editing time)
Export the mix at 24 bit, or even 32 bit.
Then (either in the standalone version of Ozone, or import the mix back into Sonar) use Ozone's limiter (maximizer) to get your mix to the loudness required, just don't squash those precious dynamics too much, for pop tunes . . . if it's EDM you can get away with more squashing. Use dither for the final stage of mastering (16 bit for CD) . . . or change bit depth suitable to whatever format you're exporting to ?
 
"Would it be a better idea to just mix the recorded tracks well, export them, and then use mastering software for the rest of the job?"         . . . my opinion . . . YES
 
As for cloning some tracks for more output, not sure that's necessary if you have a good mix.
 
 

Cloning for loudness is definately not the way to go, IMO. The added volume you get from cloning is not any different from the one you get by just increasing the volume as the signals are 100% identical. Then again, if you nudge the clones apart to create a more impressive sound you'll easily end up with phasing problems if there are many clones.

Start by removing ALL of the cloned tracks, then follow the advice given in this thread to get the mix lively & dynamic - THEN get it mastered.

The mix is not lower, its probably the application you are using to listen to the mix (Windows media player, exc).
Export your mix and then import that back in to sonar to test over all levels.