It may sound a little bit dumb but yeah, when I turn up the volume of my computer the sound is stronger, louder, but the same happens if I turn up the gain, so what’s the difference?
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audio processes, whether analogue or digital, have a range where they are effective, and as the amplitude (or digital representation of it) begin to get inaccurate. distortion and clipping might be used deliberately sometimes but mostly we try to at least make it possible to avoid it!
so gain scales the input, and we adjust it to fit the input through the process as best we can, like directing a hose into a bucket. some systems won’t be powerful enough, or sensitive enough, or maybe oversensitive, but usually if equipment or software is connected up as intended the default gain will be centered and effective.
volume is used ambiguously. we just say volume instead of amplitude or perceived loudness, or any other scaling, we’re just saying ‘the amount of sound’. often a volume setting or the level meters it affects will have a ‘db’ value, meaning the effective level of decibels we may expect it to reach. but gain is specific and decibels would be meaningless as the output level cannot be measured at the input.
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