Ableton Forum

Revisiting an old topic which still left me with questions

Should I set each individual track to 0 when exporting my session for mix/master? Also, do I lower the master to -5 dbfs, or can I leave it at 0?

If I leave it a 0 the collective volume from each track makes the meter pass the 0 level. But, at the level of each track my meter never goes higher than -8 dbfs.

I read that at the track level, I should ensure my meter does not peak above 0 dbfs and someone recommended on a very old thread, to set my master at -5 db? Thanks in advance folks.

Short answer would be:
1- if your Main is peaking over 0dB then you should select all your tracks and lower their volume fader simultaneously (so you lower them by the same mount and don't change your mix) until your Main stops peaking... and the tracks aren't peaking individually either (if you don't need to render the individual tracks but only the Main then this doesn't matter, but here it matters)
2- then just export your tracks individually. Let their faders where they are, this way when you'll import them back into another session the mix will be the exact same.

BTW, it's not because your tracks faders are @-8dB that they're sending a -8dB signal to the Main track. The first good practice you should implement is to make sure a track's output volume doesn't over its fader value, i.e gain stage with eg a Utility device at the end of the devices' chain.

This forum is full of discussions about mixing, gain staging, exporting etc... You should really use the search feature