Anyway, your advice is sound. I’ve learned the hard way that the best results from Ableton Live mixing is when keeping the volumes low. This is another case where Logic handles hot signals better, and then we could read posts where someone is complaining that the overall sound in Logic/Cubase et rest is better than in Live. If one is careful, the quality is about the same.

I like to keep all my channels in Ableton about -8db across the board all summing towards the master. Usually the master will peak in red just a very minor amount from time to time. I put a limiter (usually a Wavearts) on the master at -.1… Your hearing is correct: Ableton does not handling hot levels well. You can also overdrive cheaply written plug-ins. Many people say Ableton doesn’t sound as good but it’s mostly user error. Oh yeah don’t forget Ableton has a built in volume knob plug-in: Utility … check out my blog: http://www.wiretotheear.com

Keep those faders low!