Tracking Hot?

[WIZZLE]

I stumbled onto one of tubedudes TIP OF THE DAY Post and it was all about tracking hot. I am using a Shure mic, tube pre amp, plugged right into my computer for recording on ACID. How am I posed to track hot, does this mean turn up the output on my pre amp, or what I have no idea what tracking hot is and how to do it with the software I have? HELLPPP

 

[Sennheiser]

Trackin hot on analog tape means to the point of saturation without distortion.

For computers it means not exceeding 0VU. I guess.

 

[Seanmorse79]

...just like Bob Barker says, you want to get as close as possible, without going over (clipping).

If you want to see what a difference it makes, try recording something hot, then try recording the same thing at a considerably lower volume, then normalize it. The latter will sound like a bad 4 track on a hot day.