Slutty Mix Tape

[swan]

So....

i'm involved in a mixtape project where two guys with two separate rigs are feeding me signals from ableton live and turntables, and i need to get 2-3 stereo tracks to one stereo track.

I'd like to do this as slutty as possible, and i am able to rent/borrrow some gear,
possibilities include
2 distressors
2 fatsos
red 3
some daking comps
germaniums and lots of other pres.
and an AD-16x
and possibly a tonelux console

what would be the best way to do this? headroom and gainstaging are a huge issue, especially with the ableton live rigs, because the guys are running multiple tracks simultaneously in each rig which pushes the awful sounding 2bus inside live. (should i have them hit an L2 on the 2bus before they leave Live?) Feeding some compressors or summing inside of the tonelux sounds great. Should i go line in on the Ad-16 or should i go line in on an outboard pre first? It's all mainly dance and older disco stuff, so many tracks used in the mixtape are lacking modern punch. Lemme know