A big mixing desk have a lot of channels that you can record and/or mix through. Usually these channels have a preamp, an EQ and sometimes a dynamics section (I.E. a compressor). A channel strip is basically one channel that could’ve been pulled out of a mixer. Home recording have had a great impact on what kind of recording gear is available today. Many of us only need one or two channels to record at once, and possibly a nice compressor to even the levels as we do it. With that said, channel strips are probably more popular and common than ever before. So instead of buying a separate compressor, mic preamp and EQ, the channel strip allows you to have it all in one box.

Phantom power (or +48 V) is the description of a certain powering commonly needed for condenser microphones but are sometimes used for other equipment as well. It is common to see on both mixers and audio interfaces these days.

Before buying a condenser microphone, make sure that you have the phantom power to supply it with.

A de-esser (or DeEsser) is a dynamics tools for dealing with high frequency sibilants, such as s-sounds, thus the name. When recording the human voice some sounds can be especially troublesome, this includes s, p and t. The de-esser is basically a compressor that’s sensitive to higher frequency sounds like “esses”.

A limiter is basically a compressor that works at high ratios. There is no set rule as to what the ratio needs to be for it to stop being a compressor and start being a limiter. Some suggest 10:1, other 20:1, and others something else altogether. The high compression ratio is often combined with a fast attack to stop any sound getting past the set threshold. This is often useful for stopping clipping to occur. When the limiter is set to behave this way (i.e. stop the entire signal from reaching a set threshold) it is usually referred to as a “brick wall limiter”.

Ducking is an effect often used by DJs and in all kinds of broadcasting. It’s often achieved by the use of side-chain compression. Side-chaining is when you use the dynamic levels of one source to control the compression of your signal. It’s best described in example, for instance, it’s common to use this for the bass and kick drum. Compressing (thus lowering the levels) the bass when the kick drum enters to have them both fit together.

Reverb is a term used for describing the simulated effect of a sound taking place in a room. A lot of people confuse this with echo, or a more common type used in audio production – delay. The difference could be described like this: An echo or delay is a reproduction of a sound, while a reverb emulates the actual room, that is, the sound actually bouncing against all those walls back and forth several times. Think about it, if you’re standing in a church and yelling at the top of your lungs (do try this!) you will not only hear the echo of your voice, you will hear that it actually takes place in a building like that because that is what a church sounds like.

Fading in or fading out are essentially increasing or lowering the volume gradually. While it can be done by just using the volume control, it is handled differently in most modern audio editors. Most often you decide how long the fade should be (i.e. how long it should take for it to reach the full volume), and in some cases also the fade curve. The curve decides the behavior of the fade, for instance if it perhaps should reach a high volume quickly and fade in the last bit slowly or vice versa.

A crossfade is a fade between two signals (“pieces of audio” if you will) that fades out from one and into the other. It can be used for cool transitions form one signal to another, but it is also very common to use as a editing tools for cleaning up noise.