Hey Guys,
   I'm still a newb at this stuff but I wanted to ask a simple question about waveform size on my final mixdown stereo track. My typical song is rhythm guitar, EZ Drummer, EZ Keys, Scarbee bass in Kontakt and a lead guitar track. I'm just making some simple backing tracks to practice to, so nothing complex. Here's where I don't know if I'm missing a step. Once I get my drum and keys and bass done, I'll add rhythm guitar and a lead track. All good, I like the mix etc... so I bounce it down to a single stereo track and the waveform seems very small. In my mix everything seems quite loud and not clipping etc... When I get my drums and keys done, should I be bouncing those individual tracks down to audio and use those audio tracks for the final mixdown instead of the EZ Drummer and Keys tracks? I will try and send a screen shot later tonight. If I remember correctly the waveform peaks at -3db. Any thoughts??
 
Thanks in advance!
 

Whats your master bus set to ? if you moved your master bus fader, move it back.
Typically I set my master bus to 0dB. this is something you shouldn't really play with, always leave it at odB.
use individual tracks as an accumulative sum  to balance the level on the master bus.
 
Something important to note is your hardware fader (sometimes hidden) all the way to the right in CV view.
Make sure this is set to 0dB as well. once this mix is done it can be feed back in to sonar, then using a brick wall limiter you can boost it, in a process close enough to be called mastering it.
 
You can always use the export function and see if the results are different, however I doubt it.
what you are probably experiencing is the difference between what you hear / vs what you see
and this phenomena comes up all the time.
 
your monitor level, what you hear in your speakers, your hardware level, all play in to what you get during a bounce / mix down / export. its all about trial and error. find a good level using Peak and RMS. trust your eyes when it comes to levels, trust your ears when it comes to balancing. then it should be close.
 

There's no need to bounce midi to audio unless your using a LOT and your CPU and memory is maxing out. The sound your hear is the sound that will always be exported if you use the default settings.
I use " SELECT NONE" from the edit drop down before I export. Seems to always work where "SELECT ALL" sometimes failed me. 
 
Always have a Master buss so you can see the levels among other handy things you can do with it. I always have the LP 64 multi band on mine. 
 
And just to be clear,, Is your final mix track your talking about something you imported back to Sonar? Sometimes waveforms look small even though the track is loud.You can adjust the size of the view with the magnifiers.