Deliver mixes to mastering with headroom rather than hot levels — you lose no quality with peaks around -10 dB

The book stresses that getting hot levels is NOT the mix engineer’s job: you still have plenty of headroom even if peaks reach around –10 dB, and the mastering engineer should be left to get the hot levels. Printing a mix maxed to 0 dBFS with a squashed buss leaves the mastering engineer nothing to work with. Related prep advice (don’t over-compress, watch fade trims, document flaws) supports the same goal: hand over a clean, dynamic mix.

Examples

A mix printed with peaks near –10 dBFS gives the mastering engineer room to raise level and shape dynamics; a mix maxed to –0.1 dBFS with the buss compressor pinned removes that ability.

Assessment

Why is it acceptable — even preferable — to deliver a mix for mastering with peaks around –10 dB rather than pushing to 0 dBFS?