Gain staging

Gain staging is managing signal level at every point in an audio chain — mic preamp, interface, software — so each stage runs with healthy level and none clips.

The classic failure is boosting late what was recorded too quiet early, which amplifies the accumulated noise floor. Set healthy level at the first stage and every later stage inherits clean signal.

Related terms

HeadroomHeadroom is the safety margin between your audio's peaks and the maximum level the system can handle before cl… ClippingClipping is the distortion that occurs when a signal exceeds the maximum level a system can represent — the wa… Noise floorThe noise floor is the constant background level present in a recording when nobody is speaking — room tone, e…