What is a channel strip?
A channel strip is the control column for handling a single audio signal in a DAW’s mixer. In most DAWs it is displayed as a tall vertical strip, with input, effect inserts, sends, pan, fader, level meter, mute, solo, and output destination arranged from top to bottom. The items shown differ slightly by type: recorded audio, software instrument, aux, or stereo output.
How it differs from a track
A track is mainly where performance data and recorded data are managed along the timeline, while a channel strip is where you control how that sound is processed and where it is sent. Usually there is one channel strip per track, but some, such as an aux that sums several tracks or the final output strip, do not correspond to a track area at all.
The main controls
Level is set with the fader and left-right position with the pan. EQs and compressors go into insert slots, while reverb and delay are often shared using sends. The meter shows whether the signal is too loud and clipping.
Follow the signal from the top down
Most channel strips reflect the order in which the incoming signal is processed, from top to bottom. Changing the order of plugins feeds the result of one into the next, so the same effects can sound different depending on the order. Including sends and output destinations, it is important to see the strip as the path the sound travels.
What to look at first
You do not need to learn every function at once. Following four points first makes the signal flow inside the mixer easier to understand: which sound this channel is, where the fader and the pan are, which effects are loaded, and where it outputs to.
