WTF
What the f*ck is an audio oscillator?
What makes a synthesizer sound like a... synthesizer? Why it's an oscillator, of course! The audio oscillator produces a waveform that can be amplified and shaped with various other audio processors.
Read more →What the f*ck is a Baxandall EQ?
You’ve probably seen plugins, guitar amps, or stereos that replicate a Baxandall circuit, or maybe you’ve heard of the popular Dangerous BAX mastering equalizer. Peter Baxandall designed the Baxandall tone circuit or EQ in 1950, and they were then implemented into millions of audio systems around the world.
Read more →What the f*ck is oversampling?
Plugins have been drastically increasing in quality over the last 10 years. We are at the point now where we have some very innovative developers creating some truly remarkable sounding plugins. Not just digital emulations of classic analog gear but also new types of processors that wouldn’t be possible in the real physical world.
Read more →What the f*ck is a power conditioner?
We’ve all seen them. Those black units at the top of just about every single rack of gear. Sometimes they even have cool lights that pop out and an outlet on the front so your buddy can easily charge his e-cig. But what do power conditioners really do and when is it worth it or beneficial for you to buy one for your studio?
Read more →What the f*ck is dither?
I’m sure there are plenty of incredibly talented engineers that produce exceptional sounding music that doesn't know the first thing about dither. Dither isn’t going to make or break you, and even the most technical engineers will tell you that when working in 24-bit fixed point, the majority of people aren’t going to hear a difference.
Read more →What the f*ck is audio clipping?
I’ve been interested in learning more about audio clipping for quite some time, but it wasn’t until recently that I was able to get my hands on a dedicated clipper plugin. I remember years ago hearing about mastering engineers clipping their converters for an extra 1-2 dB of gain. That made complete sense, but I’d never found a reason that this would be applicable in any of my productions.
Read more →What the f*ck is Linear Phase EQ?
A minimum phase EQ is just another name for your standard, everyday equalizer. Your Neve 1073, API 550, your Pultec EQP-1A. All of these equalizers experience phase shifts due to the latency created by changing the amplitude of specific frequency bands. This latency or delay of the frequencies causes what's known as a phase smear.
Read more →What the f*ck is 32 bit floating?
I, like, I’m assuming a portion of the people reading this have heard of 32 bit floating but are still unsure about exactly what it is. What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? When I asked a friend of mine, who is also an experienced engineer about 32 bit floating point, he told me he didn't know and had never used it.
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