I was wondering how you would go about preparing your track to send out to DJs, or for you to play out yourself. I don't have the means yet to get my track mastered by a proper engineer so just looking for tips.
So after I have done the mixdown and bounced the track, I load the waveform into a new mastering project and the track is around -20dB RMS give or take, peaking at around -10dB to -6dB, depending on the style, and then I proceed to add some light compression and Linear Phase EQ, and then limit it, bounce it, and this is the part that throws me: to check my tracks I usually have a mix, and throw it in with other (released) tracks, but the volume is never the same

Are there any processes that you guys do to prepare your tracks before you send them out as dubs, or before you play them out yourself? if you don't get them mastered before hand that is. And how do you achieve that benchmark volume so it fits in with full release tracks?
Hope I've asked this clearly enough.
Thanks in advance
