blinkSaunders

We released our self recorded, mixed and mastered record in another country and its good quality, but I have learned a lot since doing it and want to remaster (including minor remixing) for the US release so it's less harsh and more natural sounding.

Even though I tried to be careful in PTLE 7.4 and no individual tracks peak, it is multiple-loud-rock-guitar-stuff most of the time and my PT master fader went down to -6 on some tunes.

Q1) should I spend time pulling everything else down so the master has more head room by getting it back up to 0 with the hopes for a more "open sound"?

If moving the master fader to 0(with no plugs on it) and re-leveling is not going to do much for me I will probably just take another look at the Mastering EQ I applied after bouncing which could improve as well.

If the master not peaking at 0 is far better than the master not peaking at -6 quality-wise then...

Q2) I have a question about re-leveling the drums which are bused to an aux which is at 0. Would it be better to drop the aux a few db to say -3, or bring down the individual drum tracks and readjust the compression on the aux buss? It's kind of the same question as with the master level.

Thanks for your time.