Connecting equipment is just the beginning of a never-ending set of challenges. Once the signals start flowing through those rackmounted modules, it can be a long, bumpy ride down the treacherous road of gain staging.

So...what to do?

In any integrated recording and mixing studio, including uncomplicated cassette 4-tracks and self-contained digital-audio workstations (DAWs), maintaining optimal gain at each stage of the signal chain is crucial to the ultimate goal of clean, undistorted recordings.

DEFINITION

Any point in the chain at which the signal level can be changed is called a gain stage.