Okay, like so many others, I'm doing a bit of mastering in Wavelab (just on some demos).
Simple Question 1: If a song has a few peaks that are fairly high before mastering, no harm in lowering the gain on the whole file to give yourself some headroom before continuing, right? Gain changing down 4 to 6 db...
Simple Question 2: Conversely, if a song has an average that is fairly low, is there any reason to raise the volume first before continuing with any mastering, or at least before final limiting. For example, say, before mastering the song peaks at -10 (averaging much lower), so you do a bit of EQ, maybe a little compression, the song still peaks around -10...is there any reason to normalize or gain change it up (how high?) before applying the final limiter?
Thanks.