im readin now Steal Like An Artist nd its exactly about that . The author gave an example about comedians that tried to be like other comedians they admire but couldnt so they just made there thing
like everyone else said you need a good mix first so when you limit you wont get a lot of distorten. download span analyzer so you could see what RMS levels you got , then put a limiter , if you use ableton dont use the native one it distroys the transiets . i preffer L2 By fabfilter
if you mix one instrument at a time , you should probably know what causing the peak . even a small hi hat can can cause a peak if it hits the same time as the kick or snare (or any other instrument with an transiet) watch your master and find where you get your peak, and mute every instrument thats playing at the time . i had the sime problem last night,a tom was hitting the same time as the sub so i just faded the sub just a little and then it was ok .