Exporting Audio Files for mixing

[uptowners2010]

ok i use pro tools 8 le and i use virtual instruments. now i know about recording audio and that you have to record it at the highest level before distortion, but im using virtual instruments, so if i wanted to export strings to mix in another program or a mixing engineer, would i have to set the level to the highest before it hits distortion and then export it,,or it wouldnt matter because it was recorded internally via virtual instrument. i guess the question im really asking is, how do i prepare a song for mixing later on. like levels of each track and such ?

[Craig F]

you are fundamentally wrong about recording each element as hot as possible.
end product is much better if each element has 12 to 24 dB of average headroom.

so print each VI so the average level is the area were the meter changes from green to yellow

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Craig F

you are fundamentally wrong about recording each element as hot as possible.
end product is much better if each element has 12 to 24 dB of average headroom.

so print each VI so the average level is the area were the meter changes from green to yellow

Ditto.