Signals are fundamental building blocks in audio. They represent raw electrical data, either **digital** (binary data like 0s and 1s) or **analog** (variations in voltage). These signals are the raw materials that carry sound information. A **channel** is a pathway or special structure through which a signal travels. While a signal is simply the raw data, a channel organizes, controls, and processes the signal. Channels often include tools for adjusting volume, applying effects, or equalizing sound. In other words, a channel is like a workspace for manipulating a signal. Multiple audio channels can be merged into buses (or "busses"), which group and combine signals from different sources. In this analogy, channels are like riverbeds, and signals are the water flowing through them. Buses form where two riverbeds converge. This setup lets you manage several audio sources simultaneously. For example, all drum channels can be routed into a "drum bus" for adjusting their collective level or applying shared processing. Finally, all audio paths typically converge in the **main mix bus**, which sums every bus and channel into a single output. This final step creates the **mixdown**—what we hear as the complete mix. This process is fundamentally **addition**, combining all the signals into one cohesive output. There is certainly a lot of overlapping feel to all these terms. Just remember, **everything comes down to signal flow.**