DB to Linear Gain Conversion: The Working Method

This is one of those topics where the received wisdom is half right, which is worse than being wrong.

This covers dB to linear gain conversion the way it actually works in a session: the mechanism, the numbers that matter, and the decisions that follow from them.

Nothing below is theory for its own sake. Every number here is one you can check on a meter, and every step is one you can run on the next track you open.

Key takeaways

Process from a lossless source, and convert to lossy once, at the very end.
24-bit gives 144 dB of dynamic range and is the working standard.
Check whether the tool normalises output, because that changes your gain staging.
Keep the unprocessed original, always.

What the tool does, precisely

Online audio tools have a reputation for being toys, and a lot of them are. The difference is whether the processing happens at full resolution on the original file, or on a downsampled preview that gets re-encoded on the way out.

Processing that matters happens at the source sample rate and bit depth, writes a lossless result, and does not silently normalise or re-encode your file on the way through.

Work from the highest-quality source you have, not an MP3 of the thing you want to process.
Keep the output lossless if any further processing is coming.
Only convert to MP3 or AAC at the very end, once.
Check the output level. Many tools normalise by default, which quietly changes your gain staging.

Headroom: where a mix bound for mastering should peak.

File formats, and when each one is correct

Format	Type	Use it for
WAV	Uncompressed PCM	Mastering, delivery, archiving, anything with more processing to come
FLAC	Lossless compressed	Archiving and distribution where size matters and quality cannot
AIFF	Uncompressed PCM	The same job as WAV, historically on Apple systems
MP3	Lossy	Final listening only. Never an input to processing
AAC	Lossy	Streaming delivery. Better than MP3 at the same bitrate

Bit depth	Dynamic range	Where it belongs
16-bit	96 dB	CD, and the final delivery for physical media
24-bit	144 dB	The working standard for recording, mixing and master delivery
32-bit float	Effectively unlimited	Internal DAW processing and field recorders that cannot clip

Sample rate	Nyquist limit	Where it belongs
44.1 kHz	22.05 kHz	CD and the majority of streaming delivery
48 kHz	24 kHz	Video, broadcast and games
96 kHz	48 kHz	Hi-res delivery and heavy pitch or time processing

Getting a clean result

Upload lossless if you can. Every lossy generation compounds.
Do destructive edits once, at the end, from the original.
Keep the unprocessed file. Always.
Listen to the output against the input, level-matched.
Check the top end for encoder artefacts if the source was ever lossy.

Sample rate conversion quality varies enormously between tools. A poor converter introduces aliasing that no later processing removes.

Knowing when to stop

There is a point in every session where further work stops improving the record and starts merely changing it. Recognising that point is most of the skill.

You are undoing changes as often as you are making them.
You cannot articulate what the last move fixed.
The reference no longer sounds obviously better in any specific way.
You are adjusting things you would not notice as a listener.

Bounce it, sleep on it, and listen once in the morning on a system you did not use to make it. That single listen tells you more than another two hours ever will.

A ten-minute version of this

If you have one evening and not one week, this is the order that gets the most improvement for the least time.

Two minutes: listen all the way through without touching anything, and write down the three things that bother you.
Two minutes: fix the loudest problem on the list, with the simplest tool that will do it.
Two minutes: check in mono and on a phone speaker. Fix anything that falls apart.
Two minutes: level-match against a reference and note the tonal difference, not the loudness difference.
Two minutes: make one broad corrective move based on that comparison, then stop.

Three specific problems solved beats twenty small adjustments that cancel out. The written list is what stops the session drifting.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most important thing to get right with dB to linear gain conversion?

Tonal balance and translation. A track that holds up on a phone, in a car and on monitors is finished. One that only works on your monitors is not.

What loudness should I target?

-14 LUFS integrated with a -1 dBTP ceiling covers almost all streaming. Go quieter for acoustic and classical material, louder only where the genre genuinely demands it.

How much headroom should the mix have?

Three to six decibels, with no limiter on the mix bus. That gives the mastering stage something to work with.

How do I know when it is finished?

When it holds up level-matched against a commercial reference, translates on several systems, keeps its low end in mono, and your changes have stopped improving it.