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→Trim/Gain
== Trim/Gain ==
Since mixing boards are typically working with microphones and a wide range of instruments, incoming volumes can be radically different from channel to channel. A <u>trim</u> or <u>gain</u> pot/control is used to attenuate the inbound signal before it hits the pre-amp or fader. This helps avoid clipping as well as maintaining good [[Tone#Gain_Staging|gain staging]]. It can be used to roughly level or normalize all the channels, while the faders are used to make some instruments more prominent or otherwise create a pleasing mix.
It may seem a bit counterintuitive to have two ways to control volume, but remember that certain processing occurs before the signal is affected by the fader, such as sends to external gear, amplification by a microphone pre-amp, and adjustments on the channel strip itself. Too hot of a signal can result in unwanted distortion. Furthermore, an extremely hot signal would require sliding the volume fader very low to normalize the instrument with others. This greatly reduces the volume fader's adjustment range, making it more difficult to fine-tune that channel's volume.