i wish i had known about this earlier on as it would have improved my mixes.
Basically gains staging in a DAW environment means controlling levels so noise doesn't get introduced. "in theory" w/ DAWs being 32 bit and up, we can hit levels hard.
In reality that's just not the case. We all use plugins and often times while signal is in the green it's still too hot.
This overloads the master bus and is often too hot for plugins. Yes even quality ones from UAD, Waves, Slate and so forth.
The goal is to do a little house keeping up front so your final mix is dynamic and full while still leaving plenty of headroom for mastering.
Here's an easy to understand explanation with links to other resources.
http://itsthedj.com/2017/01/if-youve-ever-used-a-dj-mixer-then-you-understand-gain-staging-lets-apply-that-to-your-daw/
Submitted January 10, 2017 at 05:05PM by eric-louis https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5n7b92/gain_staging_its_not_esoteric_audio_jargonif/?utm_source=ifttt