Search tips from the search page are pretty helpful.
This issue has also been discussed on these forums here as well. Putting quotes around a phrase is probably the most effective one. Searching for
microphone preamps will give you results of every post with the word microphone, every post with the word preamps, and any post with the phrase microphone preamps. Searching for
"microphone preamps" will return only those posts with the phrase microphone preamps. Without the quotes longer phrases with common words such as "the" or "for" return ridiculous amounts of results.
Using the + modifier will return all posts that contain all of the words with the plus modifier in front. For instance, searching for
+samplerate +error will return all posts that contain
both words, but not necessarily consecutively (together). The plus modifier also works on phrases, such as
+"microphone preamp" +lightpipe
Conversely, the - modifier excludes words or phrases.
We used to have a FAQ section that someone put together, but with all of the frequent updates, and people choosing not to upgrade, with so many different software options, and with so many different hardware options it was impossible to maintain and became obsolete rather quickly.