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Question: What's the difference between sampling rate and bit depth?

Answer:

To digitally capture an audio file the source must be sampled and the sample rate refers to the number of samples that are captured per second. Bit depth refers to the resolution of the recording and determines the accuracy of the samples. Think of sampling and bit depth as a grid with the number of samples available going across the top; the higher the sampling rate, the wider your grid will be. Visualize the bit depth vertically so the higher the bit depth, the longer the grid will be. The bigger the grid that you make available when capturing your audio, the more digital data is captured and more information is available for you to work with. If you have the right audio hardware and right software, the higher sampling rate and the higher bit depth are recommended.

If you have high-end mastering software and your audio interface supports it, utilizing a higher sampling rate and bit depth are suggested because when audio effects are applied to an audio file, there are left-over bits available for effect processing rather than having bits taken from the audio file. It is for this reason that many software effect plug-ins process at a higher bit depth as they do this independently, allowing the original audio file to remain unaltered.