Quote:
Originally Posted by jerdude  If your mix is peaking at -6db... no mastering engineer is going to be able to get it to commercial level without drastically changing your mix. the drums will be softer... the lead vocal softer... and everything else much louder. |
That's not correct. You seem to fundementally misunderstand how things work.
Delivering a 24 bit mix that peaks at e.g. -12 dBFS, -6 dBFS or -3 dBFS will basically have 0% influence on the final sound or loudness of the mastered track. What's relevant is how the song is mixed i.e how the different parts in the song are mixed (and compressed/limited) in respect to each other. Not having the final mix song peaking near 0 dBFS.
If anything, delivering a mix that peaks at -3 dBFS or above could have a detrimental effect on the final outcome, as you risk the mastering engineer having to attenuate the whole signal digitally (depending on what chain he's using).
Even assuming he's only cutting (not boosting) at the first level of EQ, phase changes will likely cause the mix to overload when printed very hot, thus introducing an extra processing step of unnecessary attenuation across the whole spectrum.