interesting... i'm thinking about mixing my first remix in live. i have protools too. is the sound quality that much different? (i am talking about protools LE)
What i do is: complete as much as i can of the project before i think i'm ready to mix and master. Some mixing is done in Live, but it's light and based on each sample, usually in the clips window. As soon as i'm ready to submix and master, i open up my PT Template, that's already basicly configured for Live rewire.. basic submixing groups are already setup, with about 5 initial tracks per group setup, with aux tracks already assigned to generic rewire channels. I then start bring in every track from live rewired. I start with the kick to a mono aux in the PT Kick Group, then mono bass (sometimes stereo) to the aux in the PT Bass Group, then each perc track to the adjacents perc aux's in the PT Perc Group.. etc, for Pads, FX...
I bounce each group submix down as i go, so i can disable the group, and use the submix (it's lighter on the cpu, and don't run out of power as often, which you inevitably will) to listen to the entire track as i bring in the rest of the rewire groups.
This is simple (if not a tad cumbersome) and effective. Now, alot of reponses you'll see to this post will probably.... WHY? Why go through the trouble.... that sounds awfully complicated.
In fact, it's the opposite. It simplifies things tremendously for me, already having a PT template track for rewire. It'll take me about an hour to go through and bring in every rewire track... so, about 40- 65 tracks, when you only have 64 rewire channels (32 in stereo), i'll have to do some creative submixing using rewire channels (like send several effects that don't overlap to PT FX Aux1, and then PT FX Aux2). But, i haven't run out of channels yet, or put myself in a hugely awkward position. Once i bring every in, i work by submix groups. And, once i've completed this stage, which really doesn't take that long, i have these advantages...
1) The biggest reason is Live's submixing bus sux ASSSSS. Bigtime. Makes tracks sound thin as shit. It also has alot to do with #2
2) Way better Metering!!!!! Metering in Ableton sux donkey dick. Fucking hard to keep track of headroom in the mixing and mastering stage.
3) Grouping... !!!!! Really easy to organize everything, which is important for #4. Try figuring out where the hell you are when you have 50 - 70 tracks.. take alot of creativity with Ableton's small ass window, and no grouping capabilities. (Modularity is better for mixing and conceptualizing the mix).
4) Mixing!!! I have a console, however you don't need it necessarily... But PT's mixing capabilities are 10 times better then Lives... It's got envelope functions, and a shitload of other mixing capabilites... and it's more precise
To summerize, Ableton's midi capabilites are awesome. I mostly use ableton because it allows me the freedom to work on my laptop or desktop, using the same exact setup (different controllers setup with the exact same midi cc's) and instruments.. so, i can be creative anywhere. But, when i want to go the extra mile and make the track sound pristine, and pro,
I sit at my desktop, import to PT, and bang the sound quality into submission. I really don't think with the way Live's DAW functions are setup, that i want to make it my main DAW. It wasn't designed for that. It was originally designed for composition for Live events. Not mastering, not a full fledged DAW. Those are add-ons. And, i think it'll take a while before Live gets to that point. It'll take alot for me to want to use Live for that. I don't think it's ready, and I don't think it'll be ready by Live 6.
Also, as long as PT is the standard, i feel more comfortable using it, and just sending my finished product to the label in a PT file. It's simpler for them, and it's simpler for me. I've got all my processes down, and it doesn't take that much more time for me to get the best sound quality i can out of my tracks.