# Using Piezo

Get started with details on the main Piezo controls, as well as information on recording formats and editing audio!

### Piezo's Main Window

Piezo's main window

Piezo's main window contains all of its essential controls to make recording audio a snap. When you open Piezo, you'll see this window. The VU meters at the top show audio activity: when the needles move, audio is being received from the selected source. Best of all, the decibel scale on the meters is calibrated and accurate!

Below the VU meters is the Source selector, used to choose the application or device from which to record audio. Once the desired source is selected, clicking the Record button allows Piezo to record audio from the source.

When you're recording, you'll see the Record button illuminate, along with the VU meters. When you're done, click the Record button again to end your recording. Depending on your preferences, the recording may be automatically shown. If not, click the magnifying glass to reveal it.

You can adjust your recording settings from the settings popover. Click the file name or the settings button to reveal the recording settings popover.

### Recording Settings Popover

Piezo's Recording Settings

From this popover, you can change the filename of the recording you make, add a comment to the file's metadata tag, and change the recording format.

### Audio Play-thru

By default, Piezo allows audio to play-thru from application audio sources, but mutes audio device sources to prevent feedback loops from occurring. Using the Play-thru toggle found in Piezo's Record menu, however, it's possible to manually modify this behavior. Adjust this to silence the play-thru of applications, or to hear the audio from input devices.

### About Recording Formats

Piezo's Recording Formats

Piezo offers several options for recording. The names provide a basic guide for when each format should be used, but here's a bit more information:

AAC file format: The AAC audio format offers the best quality at a given bitrate. However, while widely supported, it is not as well-supported as MP3. Because of this, it's listed under "For personal use".

MP3 file format: The MP3 audio format has good quality levels, but not as good as AAC for the same bitrate. However, it's nearly universal - just about every audio player in the world supports MP3. As such, it's listed under the "For Internet distribution" heading.

Bitrate: The bitrate is shown after the file format (For instance Music (high quality) is "AAC 128 kbps Stereo"). This number gives you an idea the quality level, as well as the amount of disk space the recording will use. Higher bitrates will give you higher quality recordings, but also use more disk space will be used. A simple estimate is that a 128 kbps file uses approximately 1 MB of disk space per minute.