Soundwaves

and why HAHAHAHAHA? are we all expected to be experts at this?!?!

And what you're attempting to describe is 'clipping.'
Clipping Distortion orrurs when a signal is amplified past the handling of a particular component.

Now, you're talking about some kind of VISUALISATION.
you can alter the scale of an occiloscope to the point the wave exceeds the viewscreen, but it's not going to distort it, per se(it's a screen=no sound).
Are you talking about a particular audio program?
Because then that can be VERY true, because in CoolEdit(AKA adobe Audition) and Audacity (and many of their ilk) the visualisation they give (resembles a frozen waveform on an occiloscope or a seismograph reading) is a representation of the abilities of the program and recording format they use's limitations.

Should you exceed the maximum amplitude that it allows things get ugly fast.

Eyeball Kicks is trolling your thread, dissing you personally, or describing a technique used by lazy engineers.
Possibly all of the above.

so i'm doing good by keeping it within the limitations on the screen. that's what i thought...

i appreciate it!

I don't like funked with audio...

Getting the best signal to noise ratio is simple as getting the input as loud as it will get, then testing for clipping, adjusting the gain at the appropriate point until it no longer clips.

After that, hit record.

And I'M sorry Steve. I'm just sick of all the funked with, uber-compressed, dynamicless, EQed to hell recordings out there in the world. A little on edge. Sorry.

That's the basic idea, yes, but it's much less important to get a very loud signal when you're recording digitally, and even less if you're recording in 24-bit.