The level of your audio signal at each stage of the chain is important.
The Volume Sliders on the mixer happen after the effects, so if your signal is too loud when it reaches the effects, turning it down with the volume slider won't make a difference.
Like in this example below, you can see no matter how low I put the master fader, the sound inside the Limiter is exactly the same.
When you're preparing for mastering you usually want to aim for -6db but you can't do that by just turning the Master volume down while you have the Limiter on because you are only changing the volume after limiting has already been applied.
You can use the Limiter's gain knob instead though and this way you can temporarily set the Ceil to -6db for reference and lower the Gain knob until the waveform sits underneath the -6db Ceil line, and then reset the ceil back to 0db.
You will also need to be careful that your individual mixer tracks haven't caused any unexpected distortion from their effects too though, by making sure the signal isn't too hot when it reaches the mixer track. This can be done by lowering the volume on the channel rack or sample properties etc.
This is similar to when you're recording a DJ mix or vocals etc - you need to make sure the input audio doesn't get too loud or you will get distortion. This also applies to VST Plugins - if the sound inside the plugin is too loud you may get distortion depending on how the plugin handles signals over 0db.
If this isn't done right you won't get a clean mix.
This is called Gain Staging:
"Gain staging is the process of managing audio levels at every point in the signal chain to ensure clarity, avoid distortion, and preserve headroom. It’s a foundational technique that helps maintain clean, professional sound throughout recording, mixing, and mastering."
It's important to know that the individual mixer tracks don't get clipped if they exceed 0db - it's only the master channel that does. Some effects - or even the VST instruments themselves - could introduce distortion / compression though so you need to make sure your signal isn't too hot at each stage in the chain unless you want to introduce distortion on purpose as an effect.
It's important to know that the individual mixer tracks don't get clipped if they exceed 0db - it's only the master channel that does. Some effects - or even the VST instruments themselves - could introduce distortion / compression though so you need to make sure your signal isn't too hot at each stage in the chain unless you want to introduce distortion on purpose as an effect.