Normalizing - drawbacks?

[espskully]

I have discovered lately that some of my guitar heavy mixes distort when summing?? occurs - the tracks can be OK soloed - but when played together they crackle and clip.

So - I pulled down the faders in logic a bit - and it fixed it up - as well as some eq'ing.

Now I have a clean mix that sounds good - but the overall volume is low. Would you guys recommend increasing the gain or volume of each track - or increase the volume at the end with the final 24bit stereo mix? If I have a clean track - what are the drawbacks to normalizing? I know there is another thread about change gain vs normalizing.

Is it bad to take the stereo mix and goose the volume of just that to get the overall level up?

Sorry is this is a loaded question.

 

[Stealthtech]

Theres no instruction.
Normalizing normally sucks.
Get your recording right from the get-go.
Perhaps blend the 2 or 3 with Eq. sounds like there fighting for the same freq.
You can do things before the final or after. preferably before
This is an experimental thing you have to work with it.
Time hopefully is on your side.
Takes me months sometimes to get the guitar track Im looking for.
or, you could do the normal thing

 

[TexRoadkill]

If you've already pulled down the volumes then normalizing will just put you right back where you started. What you want to do is limit or compress more of the individual tracks and/or the final mix. That is the only way to make it louder without clipping.