hi.

Is having those c1 on each channel the way you have them neccessary? (just curious)

Everyone mixes differently, there's no set rule that you have to start with kick and snare, though i know alot of people do that. I like to start with bass and kick, and get them to a point where they are comfortably sitting together without fighting each other. Then i might finish the rest of the drums, but I like to get the vocals in there as soon as possible. Or, at least, the next most important instrument. After the vocal is sitting well, I'll form the rest of the stuff around that. That's ussually the way i go about it.

As for compression on the master bus, some people like to do that cause it can help 'gel' the mix together.

Well having the compressors on each channel I believe is necesary because I can have that sound hit and release exactly where I want it too so it fits, not often i'll have something be on target from the get go without compression. I usually start with just that, then start at the bottem from kick and bass, and so on. I'm not really asking about the process of mixing but the sound levels of the overall tracks. ( this is after the track is mixed ) do you start with the loudest instrument, kick, snare whatever, crank it up to below peak, then move down and bring the rest up? Just looking for some ideas to try out. I'm guess theres got to be some anchor to work from. if that makes any sense.

I personally like to get the kick alone at -6db (at the most!), this leaves me headroom for when other stuff gets added. the snare ussually doesn't peak as high as the kick, it's maybe 3-6db lower. it depends. by the time everything is pulled up, the final output may peak at -3, but that's okay. for me it's better to be lower - it doesn't really sacrific bit-rate or noise level. plus, nothing will get squashed by the limiter if you play it safe. the result will be much smoother - i've found...

Starting with kick at -6dB sounds good... I'll have a glass of that as well.

Snares, well, depends on what type of snare sound is up for play - tinny, rattle-sound snares will peak much lower than "thunking" solid rock snares. As long as the bass and snare sound good together, I'm okay with that - 6dB extra headroom over the kick is plenty for all kinds of occasions.

I'd like to put a compressor on the drums submix, or at least make it dip the overhead tracks - I'm a big fan of hearing loud sounds make the crashes dip momentarily and "fade" back in; just enough to make it noticable. (overdo it and it'll probably sound silly) It gives the music a sort of feel. I wouldn't put compressors on the individual drum tracks because of this, but if the drummer is too inconsistent...

I suppose it's silly to point this out, but perceived frequency at the same level can greatly be affected by frequency ranges - Overheads at -9dB will sound much louder than subsonic synth at -9dB.