Waveform and duration
A waveform shows how the signal changes over time. Taller shapes indicate larger signal levels, but the picture alone does not tell you whether the recording sounds good.
The selection’s start and end define the time range. Zooming changes how much detail you see; it does not speed up the recording or alter its volume.
Format, sample rate and bitrate
The format determines how audio is stored. Sample rate describes how often the sound is sampled. For compressed formats such as MP3, bitrate helps determine the file size and retained detail.
Keep settings suited to the source and its next use. A larger number cannot recover detail the original never contained.
Mono and stereo
Mono uses one channel; stereo uses left and right channels. Check both sides before changing a recording’s layout. For a simple trim, the source’s existing layout is often the appropriate starting point.