Paul, couple questions... do you only advise trim plugs at the top of the channels, or just lowering the "input" stage on your first plugin (such as an eq), or would either be sufficient?
I think a lot of folks just want an easy to follow rule of thumb... like, if the tracks were recorded near 0, put a trim in at -6 before other plugins so that you get some headroom for your compression, eq, and harmonic distortion plugs... and that should get rid of most of your "invisible" overs. Also keep the outputs of your plugs at -6 peak. Plus, keep an eye on your master faders anytime you have audio getting converted back to analog... whether stemming out and summing, or running your 2 mix out to an outboard compressor, etc. In this case, make sure that level is again peaking (on the digital meters) at no greater than -6db on any given stem or your master so that you don't create reconstruction overs. And when using "upsampling" plugins, be very very careful that you set thier outputs lower as well b/c they might be creating reconstruction overs as well when they bring things back down.
Am I oversimplying, or is this the overall "how to"? I've been following the threads here and at prosoundweb and this is what I've put together. Please correct me if I got any of that wrong.
