Serban Ghenea, arguably the most successful pop mixer alive, famously mixes entirely in the box with insane headroom. Masters rarely clip converters. They pull everything down. Learning to mix with peaks at -18dBFS is a recurring theme in these sessions, allowing the analog emulation plug-ins to behave as they were physically designed to.

Check out the official Mixing With The Masters website for their "Inside The Track" series, or search for "Andrew Scheps mixing workshop" on YouTube for free clips that will immediately change how you route your busses. Your ears are the only tool you truly need—but a little guidance from the greats doesn't hurt either.