DAW faders give finer gain control near unity, so mixes should be built with faders resting around unity

Most DAW mixer faders are designed with greater tactile resolution around the unity-gain (0 dB) position: a small physical or mouse movement there produces a small gain change, whereas the same movement elsewhere in the fader travel produces a larger jump. The practical consequence is that you should set initial channel input levels (using channel gain or the instrument’s own output, not the fader) so that once a static balance is reached the faders sit at or near unity. A common tactic is to place them around -6 dB, leaving room to nudge important parts up into the most controllable region as the mix progresses. This is about manual controllability, not audio ‘resolution’.

Examples

Build a rough balance with all faders parked near -6 dB by setting channel gains; later, nudging a lead vocal up 1 dB happens in the fine-resolution zone near unity rather than at the coarse bottom of the fader.

Assessment

Why is it better to reach a rough mix balance using channel gain controls while leaving faders near unity, rather than balancing by dragging faders to arbitrary positions? Frame your answer in terms of fader resolution.