What this cheat sheet helps with
Gain staging is the habit of keeping every part of the session at a sensible level so plugins react predictably and the master does not clip. It is not about one magic number. It is about enough headroom to mix without panic.
Tracks
Trim samples and instruments before heavy processing. If the channel is already hot, turn it down before adding compression, saturation or limiting.
Buses
Keep drum, bass, music and vocal groups below clipping so bus effects can add tone instead of rescue work.
Master
Leave master headroom while mixing. Loudness decisions come after balance, EQ and movement are working.
Export
Check peaks, limiter behavior, reference level and bounced file names before sending the track anywhere.