arg! I didn't update this like I said, but I'm getting better..so....
When trying to get the best audio level from recording, somewhere from some to many "engineers" either forget or don't know much about audio metering. When you look at a nice analog mixer with no ADC's or DAC's you are looking at a standard Quasi-peak PPM (Peak program meter). It will show dBvu as the audio strength is measured by the voltage of the electrical signal passing through the mixer. Typically, you can work in this realm and go over 0dB (into the red) and not worry too much about "clipping" (squaring or topping which is distortion in) the signal as long as you don't go too far into the red.
When you look at a nice digital mixer, or work in most software, you are looking at meters which are reading the peak handling of the soundcard which is reading the "Full Scale" that the sound card can handle. That type will show 0dBFS (full scale). Typically you cannot go over 0dBFS and not worry about clipping. Digital distortion doesn't sound warm or good like analog distortion, it just sounds like clicking and zapping.
Basically if you want to understand the difference....a reading of 0dBVU on an analog meter equals approximately -18dBFS (give or take) on a digital meter. On most analog meters they go up to around +9dBVU, which is still about -9dBFS on a digital meter. If you're trying to get your digital meter to read (a record level of) -1dbFS or as close to 0 as possible, that's like spiking your analog mixer up around +18dBVU, well past its tolerances. This is NOT Best Practice, and should be avoided. Look up "Loudness War" for more on this kind of thing.
Analog Digital (software)
[]+18dBVU! []0dBFS
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[]+9dBVU []
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[]0dBVU []-18dBFS
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