Gain Calculator
Convert dB to linear multiplier or linear to dB (amplitude or power), and add up a chain of gain stages to find the total gain and output level — with a clipping check.
Gain in decibels is logarithmic, so stages add in dB but multiply as linear factors. +6 dB ≈ double the amplitude; +20 dB = ten times. This is a calculator, not a measurement.
Decibels ↔ linear multiplier
Amplitude (voltage): dB = 20·log₁₀(factor). Power: dB = 10·log₁₀(factor). Edit either field.
Gain staging
Enter an input level and a chain of stage gains in dB (comma-separated; use negative for attenuation). Total gain is their sum.
Common dB ↔ amplitude factors
Amplitude (voltage) multipliers — power factors are the square of these.
How Gain in dB Works
Gain is the factor by which a signal is multiplied — this dB multiplier tells you how many times larger or smaller the output is relative to the input. Expressed in decibels it’s logarithmic: for amplitude (voltage gain), dB = 20·log₁₀(factor), and the factor is 10^(dB/20). For power it’s 10·log₁₀(factor) and 10^(dB/10), because power scales with amplitude squared. So +6 dB roughly doubles amplitude (×1.995), +20 dB is ×10, and −6 dB halves it.
Because decibels are logarithmic, cascaded gain stages add in dB while their linear factors multiply. A +12 dB preamp, a −3 dB pad and a +6 dB stage total +15 dB — and applied to a −18 dBFS input give −3 dBFS out. Watching that running total is the essence of gain staging: keep levels healthy without pushing the output past 0 dBFS, where digital clipping occurs.
The distinction between amplitude gain and power gain matters when you cross domains. Voltage gain — the ratio of output to input voltage — uses the 20·log formula and covers microphone levels, audio interfaces, and op-amp circuits; power ratios (RF amplifiers, antenna systems, acoustic watts) use 10·log. The same physical ratio — say, a tripling of the value — is +9.5 dB in amplitude but only +4.8 dB in power. This calculator lets you switch between the two so the right formula is always applied. For audio work, amplitude (voltage) is almost always what you want; power gain is more relevant to speakers, transmitters, and acoustic measurements you'd cross-check with a sound pressure level calculator.
In a typical DAW recording chain, practical gain staging means: set the mic preamp so peaks land around −18 dBFS (leaving 18 dB of headroom), track into plug-ins that like −18 dBFS nominal, then trim the master bus so the final mix peaks no higher than −1 dBFS before mastering. You can model each stage here — preamp gain, channel fader, plug-in trim — by entering them as comma-separated dB values to verify the chain doesn’t clip before you commit to recording. To verify how loudness targets fit this picture, pair this tool with the loudness normalization tool to find the exact gain adjustment needed to reach a target LUFS.