Attenuating the master track

[jonahmo]

Maybe a dumb question but when all the tracks are too loud, is it just as well to turn down the master track volume as it is to turn down the individual tracks? (it's obviously much easier to turn down the master, especially when there's volume automation and various effects buses mixed in.) And would there be any difference between using the master volume fader to do it or to use a Utility plug-in? And on that note, is there any difference in leaving headroom for mastering and just turning down the volume of the track or file?

[Tarekith]

All of those options are fine and won't cause you any issues if you're just lowering the master fader by a reasonable amount. If you're needing to lower it like 40dB or more, then maybe I'd lower all the track faders. Easy to do in Live though, just select all the track headers in session view and lowering one volume fader will lower them all by the same amount.

[jonahmo]

Thanks. Unfortunately I've always got volume automation so doing the select-all thing doesn't work for me. I guess it would be better if I used the Utility plug-in to automate volume instead.