Quote:
Originally Posted by TOM@METRO
Let your ears be the final judge. If you like what you hear, don't fix it.
Meters and lights are there to help if you feel there may be room for improvement. I think of them as guidance rather than absolutes.
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This^^^, but remember that many of the Waves Signature plugins are designed to work best at a certain level of input. Those plugins all(I think) have an INPUT control with a multi-color "light" that should be showing green-yellow most of the time(no color is too low and orange-red is too high)
To dig a bit deeper(which you should), there are also the track meters(which I always try to keep out of the red) and your MASTER meter(even if you have not created a MASTER track, there is still a master path). Using a MASTER track gives you a master meter to make sure you don't hit red on that either(which is surprisingly easy to do). Unlike all other kinds of tracks, the inserts and meter on a MASTER track are Post-Fader(so turning the master fader down can/will remove clipping). My preference is; if I can eliminate master clipping by pulling down the master fader by 3-5db, I will do that. BUT, if it still hits red with the master down to -5, I will instead(or in addition) turn everything else down by 6-8db("everything" does NOT include AUX tracks as they are usually fed by Post-fade sends).