I've been dealing with a frustrating issue and need some advice from more experienced producers.
**The Problem:**
I do proper gain staging — all my channels are hitting between -18 and -12 dBFS with faders fully open. Everything looks clean individually. But when everything plays together, my master is hitting -3 dBFS to 0, showing orange/red. I know this is a summing issue but I'm not sure how to fix it cleanly.
I tried using a Drum Bus to control the total energy but it kills the punch and energy of my drums. Routing is correct (master send is cut), but the drums just feel weak going through the bus.
Currently I just pull my master fader down to around -6 dB as a quick fix, but I feel like I'm missing something.
**My Current Mix Workflow (FL Studio):**
1. Gain staging — every channel peaks -18 to -12 dBFS, faders fully open
2. Drum balance — kick is reference point, everything else relative to it
3. 808 + kick sidechain with Duck plugin
4. Melody hierarchy — pad > piano > pluck > lead
5. Plugin chains per channel (EQ → Compressor → Saturation → Space)
6. SPAN for spectrum check, LEVELS for mono/phase check
7. Master chain — Ozone 12 (EQ → Dynamics → Exciter → Imager → Maximizer)
8. Youlean Loudness Meter — targeting -14 LUFS, -1 dBTP True Peak for Spotify
**My Questions:**
- What's the cleanest way to handle summing without losing drum energy?
- Is pulling the master fader down actually a valid approach or am I missing something?
- Any tips for controlling total mix energy before it hits the master chain?
Thanks in advance
