Hello,
 
I know before sending my mixes out to a mastering engineer I should make sure my peaks are no higher than say -3 or -4 dbfs and that my RMS should probably be -17 to -13 dbfs depending on how dynamic the mix is.  

My question is - do I need to leave even additional headroom for the mixer phase?   Someone else might be doing my mixing too as really I am more musician than audio engineer - so do I need to leave headroom for the person doing the mix?   I am just doing tracking on my end (all synths and vocals mostly - maybe some acoustic guitar).   Right now my RMS is about -20dbfs and peaking around -6dbfs.   Should I record hotter?   Should I adjusted the gains on the track to make it louder for the mix engineer?   
 
Sorry if my question is poorly worded, I just want to know what proper tracking levels should be basically (RMS/peak) before you even start the mix process :)
 
Thank you!
Adam
 
 

I am someone who has mixed other sessions that have been tracked elsewhere.  I can only tell you what I like. If you are sending tracks to a mix engineer choose a rms level that you are going to work at and stick to it for all your tracks.  And yes plenty of headroom is fine too for the mix engineer.  Tracks at -20 rms are great.
 
I often work at -14 rms myself so I like tracks there too.  One of the first things I do is open every track up in an editing program and check its rms level all the way through. Often I have to make adjustments there.  I might decide to pre shift -20 rms tracks up to -14 instead.  Especially if I aiming for quite a loud master later.
 
It's good to provide bounces of things to reduce the track clutter.  And keep those at the right level too.  With and without effects applied.  Some effects are a pain, others are great.
 
For a mastering engineer a -14 to -20 rms pre master is great. The peaks will come up to -3 dB FS or so.  They will have plenty of room to move.

this is almost impossible to answer....
 
because the levels are somewhat tied to the style of music,
and how close your final mix is, to how you want it to sound,
and how good your mix actually is.
 
 
if you do not need to do any more compression, leveling, boosting, ANYTHING that would be required to properly master your songs, then you are probably ok with those levels...
but if you have any question at all, 
i'd bring those peaks down to closer to -10 to -6,
and RMS of 18-22 isn't a bad place to be.
 
 
there is NOTHING to be gained by mixing hotter.

thank you guys - that helps me a lot.   I am going to have a friend possibly mix for me and want to make his job as easy as possible.   

Please tell me if these seems acceptable/reasonable:
 
I am tracking synth/pop/dance genre music, I am thinking:
 
Kicks/Snare:  peaking around -8 dbfs
Other Sounds:  peaking between no higher than say -12 dbfs or so?   
 
I am doing this already now and my total master bus RMS seems to be around -20 to -17 dbfs (depending) and the peaks seem to be around -6dbfs to -3dbfs.

Does this sound about right for my kick/drum levels compared to other synths?

Thank you!!

individual peaks do not really matter...
 
 
all that matters,
is the collective peak on your master bus.
the respective levels of different tracks to each other,
is strictly a subjective opinion of the mix engineer,
and usually what separates the good from the bad decisions.
 

Every engineer has his/her preferences, and therefore it's difficult to generalize. One thing that you should keep in mind is that you have a healthy signal to noise ratio when recording and that there is no clipping. This is especially important if it's a relatively sparse arrangement, with a lot of the parts exposed. After that, that's where it gets difficult to generalize but the mixer should be find with working with whatever he/she has.

and 'engineer' is the wrong thing to call yourself,
unless you have a degree.
 
probably the word "MIXER" is best used in this case.
 

The term 'engineer' does get thrown around quite a bit doesn't it?

yea,
you'd think everybody drove trains to work.
heheh

Actually I've driven a Train and Mixed a few albums.. So I guess I can be that,, You just need the right hat , that's all. Trains are fun to drive because you don't need to even steer them.. But stopping is not as easy as a car. Airplanes are harder too...they crash if you screw up.. Music engineering is a lot safer.