I'd love to give a special shout-out to our newest membership mentor, Gemi Moon. Gemi recently passed certification in The Reverse Engineer (very difficult) and was asked to be a mentor for this community. Gemi is very talented in her own right, but she also has a lot of love and compassion for other musicians. If you book calls with her, you'll quickly find that she's not only helping you get better but also giving you a bit of joy and confidence in your day. She has that kind of energy! We love Gemi and are excited for her journey as a mentor. I hope everyone can give her a warm welcome here in this community :)

Can Mastering.com do a class on this topic??? How to pick the right kick?

I created a song where I got the kick to hit 0 on the VU meter. However, at it's loudest peak, it's only at -8 DB on the true peak meter. When I turn the gain up on the kick to reach -5 DB on the TP meter it exceeds 0 on the VU meter. So I EQ the kick to get rid of some of the low frequencies so it can sit around 0 on the VU meter again. But the gain goes back down to -8 on the true peak meter. Meanwhile, my clap sits perfectly at -5 DB on the true peak meter. Should I turn my clap down to match the gain level of the kick since I can't get my kick to stay at -5 DB?

How do I know when to choose a compressor a limiter or a clipper on a track?

I can't get both -5 on the TP meter and 0 on the VU for my Kick. It sits perfectly at 0 on the VU without any processing, but no louder than -12 on the TP meter. I used the smack attack plugin to get my TP meter closer to -5 it worked! But It pushes my VU meter way past 0. When I gain stage the Smack Attack plugin back down to 0 on my VU it brings my TP meter back down to -12. 🤦🏾‍♂️ This foundation method (so far) has not worked for me. I need some help.