Set Master fader at 0dB

 
I've just read a comment by some mixing engineers that it is advisable to leave  master fader at 0dB during mixing. Their comment was as follows:
 

On analog studios, you can use the master fader to make the entire mix quieter. But on digital

mastering guy pointed this out for us by showing us our recording on an oscilloscope. Most

frequencies past a certain point. Needless to say, this doesn't sound good.
 
 
I don't really understand how this limiting effect can happen in the master bus.  I do not typically mess with the master fader during mixing but sometimes I slightly adjust the bus input.  Does anybody has a better explanation about this issue?

"It was basically cutting off frequencies past a certain point."

Is that what your mastering engineer said?

I tend to have the master fader below 0db. My mixes are not brickshaped as a result. If anything... I would think the opposite is true. Keeping levels lower assures that the signal will not clip, and the compressor will not kick in to limit the upper excursion of the signal....except fot the very top of the spike and peaks....and that should be a gentle treatment.... the end result is music that has dynamics. 

My goal is a little bit of compression to fatten & tweeze the mix and at the same time to keep the dynamics in the music. I want the music to sound good, and when I look at the wave, I want to be able to see where a verse goes to a chorus or a solo happens.  My wife was looking at one of my mixes (wave form) and pointed to the screen and asked what happens there..... because it did look different from the rest of the wave..... it was a very smooth place in the usually up & down wave....

I am able to make a "brick" out of the mix by using a compressor (mulitband included) and pushing the levels on it. Of course, that sounds like a mess and has no dynamic range....it's just loud.

I guess I'm the odd man out.  I keep SONARs master at 0 dB and mix into that.  Of course, it is a pain w/ the amp/speaker volume, tho my old firepod at home was w/in easy reach.  I think of it akin to the master on a desk, w/ a separate monitor output.  Of course, driving digital doesn't act like an analog out, but I don't have to readjust the volume of all the channels/buses either.

@

Thank guys, I wasn't able to explain that statement either. Gain in my mind is just a multiplying operation on the incoming signal gain, not a frequency filter. This came out of a mixing section of the Indie Musician Survival Guide I happened to read. Go figure...