Mixing is done by summation so the mix is always higher, until you turn down the master...
...Analog mixers are actually built around something called a summing amplifier, but of course mixers also have faders for each channel, plus a master fader.
Going "into the red" during mixing/editing/processing isn't a problem for REAPER because it uses floating-point for internal processing and there is virtually no limit.
When you render you should keep your peaks below 0dB, unless you render to floating-point WAV, and then re-import for a separate mastering step where you adjust your levels.
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