The first and most important link in that chain is the gain for your microphone.
What Are Gain and Gain Staging?
Gain is the amount of amplification applied to a mic in terms of decibels (dB).
Thedifference between gain and volume has more nuance, but that is a sufficiently simple differentiation.
Why Is Gain Staging Important?
Gain staging is the first and most important link in the delicate signal chain of audio.
Improper gain means lower quality for every other setting and filter.
In short, if your gain is too low, you introduce background noise.
Both of these hurt the audio signal chains quality.
The Basics of Gain Staging
Anyone can gain stage their microphone properly.
One Gain Staging Test Method
Here is an example method to test your gain staging.
Dont yell as loudly as possible, but be realistic with how loud you might be!
A fairly safe visual indicator is to use the color-coded volume indicator in your recording software of choice.
