Save your ears! Use PC Quad Curve Hi Shelf Attenuation until you are ready to mix.

This is simple and obvious but even though I was given this piece of ear saving common sense advice years ago by one of my engineer buddies I had indeed been neglecting it. By doing so I caused myself unnecessary ear burn and fatigue and I figure maybe I could save some folks some unnecessary pain by mentioning it/reminding people.
 
Basically when tracking and editing there is absolutely NO need for ultra clarity, "air", etc. Just activating the Prochannel Quadcurve (or any EQ with a hi shelf filter... which is pretty much all of them) and turning down the gain on the highs will have NO effect on your ability to get quality takes or do your editing. What it WILL do is keep you from burning out your ears which can cause actual pain (earaches/headaches/whatever). This means longer tracking/editing sessions and you can turn things up a little more if need be.
 
The experienced engineers will probably laugh that I'm even mentioning this but I'm guessing this is something that is not really considered by many newcomers to recording so thought I'd make a post about it.
 
Personally I actually do this on my "Pre-Master" bus which is a bus I create for every project to do my master effects on leaving my actual master bus freed up for output level control (either with simple fader adjustments or sometimes a limiter but I usually save limiting for a seperate "mastering" project).
 
So... yeah, I'm a dumbass for not doing this ALL the time (especially considering how much time I spend tracking and editing) and laugh if you will but as I learn from my Beep ups and bungling I try to share my experiences so others can hoepfully have a smoother experience learning all this crud.
 
Now get back to reading real advice from the real pros on here. lol
 
Cheers.

Thanks for the post.   Such a simple thing, but I for one never thought of it, and have frequently felt 'tired-ear' syndrome. 

Hmmmmm ... that *sounds* like a great idea!

Good idea, I never thought of doing this. Although I do wonder if bass is more or less damaging to the ears than treble. The highs can be fatiguing after a while though. 
 
Yeah definitely remember to turn the shelf off while mixing otherwise you'll end up with a "cocaine mix" -- that's why a lot of 80's mixes sounded so brittle, rampant cocaine use in the studio which screws with your high frequency perception and makes you crank the treble up to compensate 
 
I keep plugging away at my magnesium advice as well...although I don't think anyone believes me....taking supplemental Mg (prefereably a good quality one) can help reduce damage to the ears from noise, scientifically proven and researched by the military. Same thing with resveratrol. Not a substitute for keeping the volume down of course, but it certainly can't help to give yourself some extra protection. 

I've got to disagree with this, at least for tracking.
 
When tracking, you are making the foundational sonic decisions that will affect the finished product more than anything you will get to do downstream. By many orders of magnitude. This is not a subtle thing. The sound you capture constrains what's possible in the final mix more than anything else. Note that I'm not saying it defines the mix; though it contributes quite a lot to that area. But it definitely sets what the possibility space is.
 
Editing is another question. But tracking is critically important, sonically speaking, and it's best to hear it as transparently as possible.

In any case, ear fatigue between tracking and mixing only matters if you're planning to mix on the same day as you track. Which is a terrible idea for all kinds of reasons.

Well you would get your tone first then turn down the highs. You don't go tweaking with the high shelf on. Figured that would be obvious but yeah... I should have said that. Sorry.
 
As far as highs... well my evidence is anecdotal but I certainly experience more fatigue/pain when listening to screechy stuff than say a bass track.
 
Meh.

That's why my system is calibrated at K-14 = 76dB