I am SO TIRED of my mixes not sounding clean!

[Darangen]

I always have a limiter running. I set the ceiling to -.2 db and usually end up pushing the gain up anywhere from 5 to 12 db, depending on how much volume the tracks have.

Different genres have different ideas about volume. You won't see a classical orchestra pushing everything up to -.2 db and using a lot of compression, they feed of dynamics from super soft to very loud. On the other hand, put in a hard rock cd and they've got it as hot as they can get it without ducking on the compression, even the "quiet" parts are loud. Open up a classical song and a song by Sick Puppies or Dream Theater (or any band you know or like that uses distorted guitars in a rock setting) in a wave editor and you'll quickly see major differences in the shapes of the wave.

Even if you're not trying to up your volume level, a limiter is always a good tool to have and use. It'll protect your speakers, your ears, and your listeners.

[LuketheXjesse]

Woah, hi Darangen.

[WillRock]

Haven't read many of the posts here so this may have been touched on, but as a reverb maniac, I use reverb TONS in my mixes, and it used to make them very muddy. A tip to right that problem is use a reverb that has EQ settings, and take out the Low frequency of the EQ as appropriate. By saying that I don't mean "do this for ALL reverb" but EQing reverb can work WONDERS on a muddy mix. Just my 2 cents there.