Hi all. I'm looking for input on mixing. I want to know where I should be setting my finished mixes to. Regardless of technique or any nonsense I'm just wondering about where you expect or more importantly want mixes to be in terms of db lvl.

I also know that sometimes an engineer will reject a mix for being over processed. Are there any engineers out there willing to comment on this? Are there times that you get a mix that you feel needs to be reworked before mastering? If so what are some of your major complaints? I know that that as a musician making home recordings a constant temptation is use some kind of master bus compression/normalization to make the track sound finished. Have you had issues with this? If so where do you draw the line? I personally enjoy the very present sound of close miCD compressed vocals. Do you every find yourself telling whoever has made the mix that they need to back off the comp on a single track? (the last statement should be taken within reason, ie we all know that if you listen to a squished vocal track and the breath sounds garish and cartoony that it’s possible it has been over compd)

Anyhow I think at this point you get the core of my questions. I’m looking forward to the input I think the answers to these question could be really helpful to many newbies out there.