What is sample rate?
How many samples per second capture a sound, what 44.1 and 48 kHz mean, and which to use.
ReadWhat is bit depth?
How 16-bit and 24-bit differ, and why more bits means finer resolution and a lower noise floor.
ReadWhat is audio bitrate?
What kbps measures, why uncompressed audio is heavy, and which bitrate to pick for recording or streaming.
ReadSample rate vs bit depth vs bitrate
Three numbers people confuse: time resolution, amplitude resolution, and the data rate they produce.
ReadWhat is a decibel (dB)?
How dB and dBFS work, and why keeping peaks below 0 dBFS leaves the headroom that prevents clipping.
ReadWhat is gain staging?
How gain differs from volume, and why leaving headroom at every stage keeps your audio clean.
ReadWhat is audio clipping?
Why a too-loud signal squares its peaks off into harsh distortion, and how headroom prevents it.
ReadMono vs stereo audio
Mono is one centered channel, stereo is a left and right image: how each works and when to use it.
ReadWhat is reverb?
The direct sound, early reflections, and a decaying tail: how reverb creates a sense of space, and how it differs from delay.
ReadWhat is a delay effect?
Deliberate, spaced, fading echoes shaped by delay time, feedback, and mix, and why it is not the same as system latency.
ReadWhat is saturation?
How gently rounding a signal's peaks adds harmonics we hear as warmth, and why that differs from harsh clipping.
ReadWhat is an audio filter?
How high-pass and low-pass filters cut low rumble and high hiss, plus what cutoff and slope actually mean.
ReadWhat is Windows Stereo Mix?
Windows' built-in loopback that records whatever your speakers play, why it is often disabled, and a cleaner per-app alternative.
ReadLossy vs lossless audio
Why WAV and FLAC keep every sample while MP3 and AAC drop the least-audible data, and when each format is right.
ReadWhat is LUFS?
The loudness scale streaming and broadcast actually use: K-weighting, the momentary, short-term, and integrated readings, and why the numbers are negative.
ReadLUFS vs dBFS
dBFS is your tallest sample; LUFS is how loud it actually sounds. Why two clips can share a peak yet differ by many LU.
ReadWhat is true peak?
The reconstructed waveform can rise above your highest sample. What dBTP means, and why a safe ceiling sits near -1 dBTP.
ReadWhat is loudness normalization?
Why streaming plays everything back at the same loudness, turning loud masters down, and how that ended the loudness war.
ReadLUFS targets for streaming and podcasts
The practical integrated LUFS targets for music, podcasts, and broadcast, the true-peak ceiling to pair with them, and how to hit them.
ReadWhat is an LFO?
The slow oscillator behind chorus, flanger, phaser, and vibrato. What rate and depth do, and the shapes it can take.
ReadWhat is chorus?
How slightly delayed, slightly detuned copies turn one voice into an ensemble, from subtle doubling to a lush swirl.
ReadWhat is a flanger?
Where the jet-plane whoosh comes from: a short swept delay that carves a moving comb of notches into your sound.
ReadWhat is a phaser?
A few non-harmonic notches swept by allpass filters, and why its liquid swirl is not the same as a flanger.
ReadWhat is a ring modulator?
Multiply your voice by a carrier tone and get metallic, robotic, and bell-like sidebands. The math behind the sci-fi voice.
ReadVibrato vs tremolo
Vibrato wobbles pitch, tremolo wobbles volume. The difference people mix up, and which one Patchd actually gives you.
ReadCompressor attack and release
The two timing controls: how fast a compressor clamps down and lets go, where punch and pumping come from, and what to set them to.
ReadCompression ratio, threshold, and knee
Threshold sets where compression starts, ratio how hard, and the knee how gradually. The whole compression curve in one picture.
ReadWhat is a transient shaper?
Boost or cut the attack and the sustain of a sound independently, by envelope instead of by threshold. Add punch or tame a room.
ReadWhat is an expander?
The gate's gentler cousin: turn quiet bleed down without silencing it (downward), or lift loud peaks (upward).
ReadWhat is sidechain compression?
Driving a compressor from a separate detection signal: filtering out bass to stop pumping, versus ducking one source under another.
ReadVirtual audio cable vs mixer
One wire versus the board: when a bare cable is genuinely enough, and when the mixer earns its place.
ReadFormant shift vs pitch shift
One moves the note, the other moves the voice around it: why convincing characters need both dials.
ReadWhat is formant shifting?
The resonance peaks that make a voice sound big or small, and what happens when you move them.
ReadHotkey voice switching
A key per voice, a toggle back to yourself, and a clickless fade-in on every switch: the workflow that makes voices usable.
ReadWhat is a vocoder?
Carrier plus modulator: how the classic robot voice actually works, band by band.
ReadWhat is autotune?
Pitch detection, the snap to the nearest note, and why correction speed is the whole character.
ReadWhat is a virtual audio mixer?
Every sound on its own channel, with levels, effects, and routing. Here is how a software mixer works.
ReadWhat is audio routing?
Sending a source to one or more destinations, and deciding what each destination hears.
ReadWhat is a virtual audio cable?
A software wire that moves audio between apps, and why a mixer is the easier way to use one.
ReadWhat is an audio bus?
A virtual output you route a mix to, which another app picks up as a microphone.
ReadWhat is DSP?
Digital signal processing: the small building blocks that clean and shape live audio, in the order you set.
ReadWhat is an EQ?
Turning chosen frequencies up or down to shape a voice: bands, gain, and Q, in plain terms.
ReadWhat is a compressor?
How compression evens out your loud and quiet moments so your voice sits steady in the mix.
ReadWhat is noise suppression?
Removing steady background noise from under your voice, even while you keep talking.
ReadWhat is a noise gate?
A switch that mutes your channel in the gaps between words, then opens when you speak.
ReadWhat is ASIO?
The low-latency audio driver standard that lets software talk to your hardware directly.
ReadWASAPI vs ASIO
The two low-latency Windows audio paths compared: latency, exclusivity, and compatibility.
ReadWhat is audio buffer size?
How many samples the system processes at once, and the tradeoff between latency and dropouts.
ReadWhat is monitoring latency?
The delay between speaking and hearing yourself back, and how to get it low enough to ignore.
ReadEffect chain order, explained
Why the order of your effects is the signal flow, and the one worked example that proves it.
ReadEQ vs compression
One shapes what your voice sounds like, the other shapes how consistently. When to reach for which.
ReadNoise gate vs noise suppression
The same noisy mic, two different fixes: a switch on the gaps versus a filter under your voice.
ReadWhat is a de-esser?
A compressor that listens only to the sharp s sounds, and clamps just those.
ReadWhat is a limiter?
A hard ceiling nothing gets past: the last stop before clipping, and why Patchd's adds zero delay.
ReadCompressor vs limiter
Gentle shaping versus the hard ceiling: the real curves, and why a voice chain usually wants both.
ReadDe-esser vs EQ for sibilance
A static cut dulls every word; a de-esser clamps only the s, only when it spikes. When each wins.
ReadDSP vs AI voice changing
Reshape your voice instantly, or replace it with a modeled one: the honest tradeoffs of both families.
ReadVoice changer latency, explained
Where the delay actually comes from, the honest numbers, and when 245 ms matters.
ReadWhat is a voice changer?
Real-time DSP effects versus AI voice conversion, the latency tradeoffs, and how Persona does it.
ReadDeep and female voice changers, explained
Pitch moves the note, formants move the apparent size: the two dials behind every convincing voice change.
Read
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