Digital audio
Sampling, bit depth, codecs, home recording, mixing and podcasts.
Audio Aliasing: What It Is, How It Sounds, How to Avoid It
Aliasing in digital audio explained practically: why frequencies above Nyquist fold back, how to recognize it and which filters and oversampling to use.
Audio Bitrate: CBR, VBR and ABR for Voice and Music
Constant, variable and average bitrate compared: how they affect quality, file size and compatibility, with starting values for speech, podcasts and music.
Audio Compressor: Threshold, Ratio, Attack and Release Explained
How a dynamic range compressor works, what threshold, ratio, attack, release and knee do, and how to set it on voice and podcasts with starting values.
Dithering and Noise Shaping: When Audio Really Needs Them
Why adding noise improves audio when bit depth is reduced: dithering, dither types and noise shaping explained with practical examples for final export.
Audio Equalization: Filter Types and Voice Frequencies
High-pass, shelving, bell and notch: how an equalizer works, what frequency, gain and Q mean, and where to make changes on a voice without overdoing it.
Audio Latency and Buffer Size: Reducing Delay in Your DAW
Where audio latency comes from, how to calculate it from buffer size, how ASIO, Core Audio and WASAPI differ and how to set it for recording and mixing.
Audio Noise Reduction: Gates, Spectral De-noise and Prevention
How to reduce hiss, fans and background noise in recordings: noise gates, expanders, spectral reduction and the limits to know so you don't ruin the voice.
Audio Sampling and the Nyquist Theorem: Why 44.1 and 48 kHz
What sample rate means, what the Nyquist theorem says and why 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz are enough for listening: a practical guide to digital sound basics.
Bit Depth and Dynamic Range: 16, 24 or 32-bit Float?
What bit depth means in digital audio, how much dynamic range 16 and 24 bits give you, and when recording in 32-bit float makes sense: a practical guide.
Clipping and Headroom: Setting Gain Without Distortion
Why digital clipping can't be undone, how much headroom to leave when recording and how to set your preamp gain step by step for clean, safe recordings.
Decibels in Audio: dBFS, dBu, dBV and dB SPL Without Confusion
A decibel is a ratio, not an absolute unit: what dBFS, dBu, dBV and dB SPL mean, how they relate to one another and how to actually read an audio meter.
Dynamic vs Condenser Microphones: Differences and How to Choose
How dynamic and condenser microphones work, sensitivity, noise, phantom power and proximity effect: a practical guide for recording voice and podcasts.
Gain Staging and Balance: The Foundations of a Good Mix
How to manage levels along the mix chain: gain staging, faders, buses, plug-in order and volume balance, with a practical method to get started on any mix.
50 Hz Hum and Ground Loops: Finding and Fixing the Problem
Where 50 Hz hum in audio systems comes from, how to recognize a ground loop, why balanced cables help and how to isolate the cause step by step at home.
Room Acoustic Treatment: Better Recordings at Home
Reflections, flutter echo and resonances: how to treat a home room for recording voice and podcasts with panels, fabrics and correct microphone placement.
Lossless Audio Codecs: How FLAC and ALAC Compress Losslessly
How lossless codecs like FLAC and ALAC work: prediction, residuals and compression levels, how much space you save and how to check archive integrity.
Lossy Codecs and Psychoacoustics: How MP3, AAC and Opus Work
Masking, critical bands and transforms: how the lossy codecs MP3, AAC and Opus discard what you can't hear, and which artifacts show up at low bitrates.
Loudness and LUFS: How Volume Normalization Works
What LUFS and true peak measure, why platforms normalize volume and how to prepare a podcast or a track without squashing it for no reason at all.
Microphone Polar Patterns: Cardioid, Omni and Figure-8
How to read a microphone's polar pattern: cardioid, supercardioid, omnidirectional and figure-8, with practical placement examples for a home studio.
Publishing a Podcast: Export, ID3 Metadata, Chapters and RSS
From mix to feed: export format and settings for an episode, ID3 metadata, chapters, cover art and the structure of the RSS feed read by podcast apps.
Recording a Remote Podcast: Double-Enders and Separate Tracks
How to record remote guests with good quality: separate tracks, local double-ender recording, synchronization, headphones and a plan B if things go wrong.
Reverb and Delay: How Space and Time Effects Work
Pre-delay, decay, reflections and feedback: how reverb and delay work, the difference between algorithmic and convolution, and using them on aux sends.
Stereo, Panning and Phase: Sound Image and Mono Compatibility
How panning and the stereo image work, what phase and polarity are, why a mix can vanish in mono and how to check correlation with a few simple tools.
WAV, AIFF and PCM: A Guide to Uncompressed Audio Formats
Differences between PCM, WAV, BWF, AIFF and RF64: what an uncompressed audio file really contains, size limits, metadata and which format to choose.
USB Audio Interface: Preamps, Phantom Power and Outputs
How to choose a USB audio interface: XLR and line inputs, preamp gain, 48 V phantom power, direct monitoring, outputs and drivers, with usage examples.