Definition of Volume

[ron spencer]

I am curious about something....can anyone explain to be the difference between volume and gain? You can adjust both in most audio editors....just wondering the difference.

[soundz]

Originally posted by ron spencer
I am curious about something....can anyone explain to be the difference between volume and gain? You can adjust both in most audio editors....just wondering the difference.

To make a long story short...

"volume" is the listening level, "gain" is a multiplier you apply to the audio signal to achieve the volume you want. Volume is always positive while gain can be either positive or negative (can also be zero, of course).

Negative gain is also called "attenuation".

Example: you have a piano track and a violin track; you adjust the gain of each so that the volume of the instruments sounds balanced. You may have to attenuate the piano using negative gain and boost the violin by using positive gain.

While mathematically gain is a multiplier, ie you multiply by 0.5 to attenuate and by 1.2 to boost (example values), a decibel scale (logarithmic) is most commonly used so that the actual multiply seems to be an add/subtract operation, like in "add 3dB to the bass".

Ok?

best,

soundz

[ursamtl]

And to make matters worse, the "volume" control on consumer electronic devices actually attenuates. The maximum setting equals a direct electrical pass-through with no electrical resistance. Turning it down adds resistance to the input, which attenuates the signal coming out of the control. This signal is then fed through an amplifier circuit. Therefore, we are not really turning the volume up, we are in fact reducing the attenuation on an amplifier's input!

[ron spencer]

makes sense...thanks