gain staging
The process of managing signal levels at each point in the audio chain to optimise quality and avoid distortion.
In Depth
Proper gain staging ensures that the audio signal is neither too quiet (losing resolution to noise) nor too loud (causing clipping and distortion) at every point from microphone to final output. Each piece of equipment or plugin in the chain has an optimal input level, and gain staging involves setting these levels methodically. Poor gain staging is one of the most common causes of amateur-sounding recordings. Professional engineers check levels at every stage of the signal flow.
Many beginner producers create muddy, distorted mixes simply because they never learned gain staging; fixing this single issue often transforms the quality of their entire production.