Gain staging means setting a signal’s level so that recording produces neither noise (too quiet) nor digital clipping (too loud). The most common misconception: thinking you can fix this later in the DAW. You can’t — the decisive moment is when the signal gets digitized.
Why the order matters
A signal recorded too quietly can be made louder afterward — but the noise that got recorded along with it gets just as loud. A signal recorded too loud is even worse: digital clipping hard-cuts the signal peaks and sounds distorted — and that can’t be fixed afterward, unlike analog tape, which eases gently into saturation.
The target range
At the loudest moment you plan to record, the level meter at the signal source (audio interface, mixer) should read around −12 to −6 dB — well below 0 dB (clipping), but with enough swing that barely any noise remains relative to the signal you actually want. This safety margin is called headroom.
Where does gain actually get set?
At the source — the gain or trim knob on your audio interface or mixer. Your track’s volume fader in the DAW does not change this recording: it only determines how loud you hear the already-recorded signal during playback/mixing, not what actually ends up in the audio file. Rule of thumb: leave the track fader at 0 dB (unity gain) while recording and do the actual gain work on the interface.