I talked to a mastering lab today about an album I am working on.  They requested that each song have a PEAK (not average) level of no more than -3.
 
Does that sound right to most of you?
 
Obviously, they know what they are doing but I thought that was a little cool for a transient peak.  I am having to scale back several mixes because I was trying to get the mixes strong prior to master bus compression to minimize the need for it.

If the songs are mixed right, -3db is enough headroom. If you sit back and listen to all of it and you feel the need to turn up and down the volume between the tracks then maybe -6db is better.
 
When I worked with Danny Danzi in the past he asked for a least -3db.
 
Also, hopefully -3b has a good dynamic range. That's the key IMHO.

I try to get my mixes peaking no higher than -6dB prior to mastering.
 
This makes album compilation a total breeze.

-3dB peaks should be fine for the mastering guy to work with. So would -6dB. Or even -12dB. Either way, he's going to turn it up. If anything, I'd consider -3 to be a bit hot.
 
What he's really asking for is enough headroom to adjust the RMS values without having to squash those peaks too much. If you gave him a file that peaked at, say, -0.1dB, then it would be physically impossible for him to raise the RMS level without significant peak limiting. Giving him 3dB means he's got more options.

I agree. I never let my final mix-before-mastering go above -3db and, as others have said usually closer to -6db.

He (or she) just doesn't want a mix coming in at -.3 dB.  Nothing much left to master w/ something like that.  As others have said, -3 dB and more is fine.
 
@

OK, thanks.  Given this advice, I am going to mix so that the peaks are all LOWER than -3db. Many of my songs tend to run along at a certain level and then have one or two brief peaks, even though nothing audibly changes.  I believe it is usually something in the vocal.  Because of my style and highly structured programming, the instruments generally have very consistent levels.
 
By the way, the person in question was Julie at Sweetwater in the studio division.

I'm always baffled by this "leave room" argument.
 
Do mastering engineers not request/use/understand floating point? Or do they, and this is supposed to be some sort of social engineering?

drewfx1
Do mastering engineers...

I'm going with number 2.
 
:-)

There's a new school of thought about this and for the broadcasting industry, it is now law. The LUFS, loudness unit full scale, law is meant to bring restraint to the industry. It seems that it does not apply to the music industry but there are those who would like it to.