{"id":1761,"date":"2021-08-22T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mixxed.com\/blog\/?p=1761"},"modified":"2022-09-22T11:43:25","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T11:43:25","slug":"difference-between-gain-and-volume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.routenote.com\/blog\/difference-between-gain-and-volume\/","title":{"rendered":"Difference Between Gain and Volume"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s the Difference Between Gain and Volume?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we’re starting out in making music, we come across a lot of technical jargon that can be hard to decipher without the right help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it can feel like making music is like undertaking a science project. Terms such as lossy & lossless<\/a><\/strong>, sound pressure levels<\/a><\/strong> & noise floor<\/a><\/strong> are very technical subjects that can be hard to break down – until Mixxed<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time we’re breaking down gain & volume, and why these two things are useful meters for your music production and why they are different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixxed Mixer Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Noise Floor: What is it?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do I Measure Sound Pressure Levels (SPL) in My Music?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are Buses, Aux and Send Tracks?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Gain Staging?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 5 Metering Plugins to Masterfully Improve Your Tracks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Audio Volume Measured in?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Volume<\/strong>, on a very basic level, is the decibel output <\/strong>of your Soundsystem<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, volume is the measurement of loudness <\/strong>(or just loudness itself<\/strong>) that you would use on your track after it finishing it<\/strong>. When you’re mixing down<\/strong>, volume <\/strong>is the level that your <\/strong>mixing and master buses receive<\/strong><\/a>, and from there <\/strong>to your output hardware like headphones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you’re having a great time DJ’ing in the club<\/strong>, volume <\/strong>is the measure of the loudness <\/strong>of the rig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you’re blasting your favourite tunes <\/strong>in the car to hype yourself up <\/strong>on the way there, volume is how loud your speakers can reproduce the signal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volume does not change the tone of the sound<\/strong>. It’s simply a knob or fader <\/strong>that makes the audio louder or quieter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Audio Gain?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gain<\/strong>, however, is a little bit different<\/strong>. It’s more complicated, but we’re going to break it down for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often used interchangeably with volume<\/strong>, the gain is the level of a signal before any processing.<\/strong> Volume is the level of a signal after processing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising the level of a signal after processing won’t change the tone<\/strong>, but raising the level before any processing will<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the age of digital sprung up, gain <\/strong>has begun to mean different things<\/strong>. It’s used interchangeably with volume<\/strong>, however wrong this may be. But in the age of analogue<\/strong>, gain only referred <\/strong>to microphone preamps <\/strong>and guitar amps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gain on a microphone preamp <\/strong>raised the input level of the mic.<\/strong> This affected how the analogue technology <\/strong>in the mixing desk <\/strong>or recording console would have interacted with it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a guitar amp<\/strong>, gain raised <\/strong>the input level <\/strong>of the guitar<\/strong>. A fun little twist with guitars is that some featured both gain & volume knobs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant you could overload <\/strong>the signal <\/strong>by sending a ton of input gain <\/strong>into the amp<\/strong>, whilst also keeping the output fairly quiet <\/strong>via the volume knob<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re a guitar player, you might already recognise this process. By overloading the amp <\/strong>with so much gain <\/strong>that the speaker can’t process it properly<\/strong>, you’re creating guitar distortion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why gain can also mean distortion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in the digital age, gain has three meanings<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. How loud the input is<\/strong><\/li>
  2. Another word for volume (particulalry on compressor plugins, you may see “volume” rather than “makeup gain” knobs)<\/strong><\/li>
  3. Distorion <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"
    Gain staging, Source: Aulart<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    What is Gain Staging? A Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Okay, so we’ve laid the foundations and built the house. Now it’s time to build the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Gain staging <\/strong>is the process of ensuring your sound has a consistent dB level <\/strong>through its processing chain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In other words, it’s making sure <\/strong>the level going into the channel <\/strong>is the same as the level coming out of the channel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our ears perceive loud sounds as “better” when compared to softer sounds. <\/strong>Because of this bias by our ears, gain staging is important <\/strong>because it allows us to make the gain consistent from plugin to plugin<\/strong>. If we didn’t <\/strong>use the process of gain staging <\/strong>and went nuts, we wouldn’t be able to tell <\/strong>if any of the plugins <\/strong>were actually making a difference <\/strong>or just making the sound louder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Do you see why this would cause problems for us because of our dang ears? It makes our judgement much less accurate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Every plugin <\/strong>that you use requires gain staging<\/strong>. EVERY SINGLE ONE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you use a compressor<\/a><\/strong>, use makeup gain to gain stage <\/strong>(turn up the volume) and fill in for the lost sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you’re eliminating frequencies <\/strong>with a filter or an EQ<\/strong>, you’ve probably reduced the level going out of that plugin<\/strong>. So, use the output gain\/volume knob <\/strong>to make up for the lost levels<\/strong>. This, my friend, is gain staging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the flip side, a distortion plugin will make your sound a lot louder<\/strong>. So, use the output volume\/gain knob <\/strong>to bring the output level <\/strong>of that plugin back down<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You may well find that gain staging <\/strong>is what is holding you back from creating a super fun, professional<\/strong>, mixdown<\/strong>. It’s equally important to gain stage your recordings<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What’s the Difference Between Gain and Volume? When we’re starting out in making music, we come across a lot of technical jargon that can be hard to decipher without the right help. Sometimes it can feel like making music is like undertaking a science project. Terms such as lossy & lossless, sound pressure levels & noise floor are very technical subjects that can be hard to break down – until Mixxed. This time we’re breaking down gain & volume, and why these two things are useful meters for your music production and why they are different. Mixxed Mixer Tips Noise…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,19,17,323],"tags":[478,477,261,474,479,480,481,475,476],"class_list":["post-1761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-music-creation-tools","category-music-sampling","category-tutorial","tag-difference-between-gain-and-volume","tag-gain-vs-volume","tag-mixxed-com","tag-what-is-audio-gain","tag-what-is-gain-in-audio-recording","tag-what-is-gain-staging","tag-what-is-gain-staging-in-mixing","tag-what-is-volume","tag-what-is-volume-measured-in"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDifference Between Gain and Volume - RouteNote Create Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We're exploring what makes gain and volume different, the different meanings that gain has developed since digital, and what gain staging is!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/create.routenote.com\/blog\/difference-between-gain-and-volume\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Difference Between Gain and Volume - 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