symbiote wrote:
If you mix in 24/32bit (which you should be doing =P), a mix 3-4dB below max shouldn't be too much of a problem. But to answer your question, I tend to have a "benchmark" sound that I very rarely touch once it's well adjusted. Usually the kickdrum and/or bassline (more often, both.) I try to stick them so that they peak somewhere between -6 and -7dB and leave them there. I'll only adjust them if I EQ them enough for the levels to change.
I currently mix in 24bit @ 44.1
With time tho, I've noticed I don't really end up in the situation you describe, I tend to home in really quickly to the "right" volume, which usually stands somewhere between "too loud, distracts from everything else" and "too low, can't really hear it." I find the best tests to figure this out is low low volume playback -- if you can hear all the elements clearly even at very low volume, then you are on to something.
I have a slightly different approach. I start pretty quiet, then slowly up the volume until I hear something that's not right in the mix (usually too loud and tiring to listen to). I adjust that and repeat the process. If the mix sounds OK all the way from quiet to loud I take that to be quite a good sign
One thing I can suggest is to not spend too much time tweaking a mix until you are fairly done composing, as otherwise adding stuff to the mix will force you to continually re-adjust the levels as you add/remove elements and/or tweak/EQ/FX stuff, so all that precious time you spent tweaking will be lost. Of course not saying to ignore all mixing issues until the end, just saying not to waste too much time on it =P. Works pretty well for me.
The biking video track is the first one I've done where I've mixed like that (no EQ, compression, reverb or anything added at all). I must admit that it's a better way of going about it from "mixing as you go along".
I had in my head the idea of trying to get it to sound half decent completely dry before starting to mix proper.
Royston
