6. "RE: You could run a couple of compressions at once" In response to In response to 3
"One for just vocals, one for everything else (a technique I recently discovered was compressing the drums some before even putting them through the main mix)
Then, your bus faders would be easier to manage, and maximizing (again with levels not clipping beforehand) should yield pretty good results."
yep. . .I am pretty sure I do all dat. I am talking about mastering the mix after the mix is complete.