Have read a few descriptions and understand basically what gain is, but I am quite the novice with audio work.
I've never heard gain or it's usage described by those who are really familiar with it and I don't really get the difference between gain and volume boost.
EDIT So if I understand correctly, gain directly boosts a signal from a line or input while volume handles the output. Volume isn't really for boosting either.
Would this mean, in most settings, getting 'close to' as much gain as possible without any hiss/background noise is ideal?