| 3:1 rule | A microphone placement rule that recommends that when mixing multiple microphones to the same channel, the distance between microphones should be at least three times the distance from each microp... |
| a-b | A listening comparison between two distinct audio sources, whose levels have been matched. the comparison is done by rapidly switching from one to another. you can use this technique to reference ... |
| accent microphone | Also referred to as `spot microphone`, a closely-placed mic that is ultimately mixed with a distantly-placed mic to improve the tonal balance, as a special effect, or to add presence. |
| access jacks | Two separate jacks or one tip-ring-sleeve jack on a mixing board that allow the signal to be routed from the input channel, to an effects device or signal processor, and back into the input channe... |
| ad/da converters | Ad converters convert analog audio signals to digital; da converters convert digital audio back to analog. |
| adsr | An acronym for attack, decay, sustain, and release, the four stages of a standard envelope generator. |
| aes/ebu | Professional digital audio standard developed jointly by the audio engineering society (aes) and the european broadcast union (ebu). the standard describes a format for transmitting stereo digital... |
| ambiance microphone | A mic placed at a distance from the sound source in order to pickup room ambience. |
| arpeggiate | To play the notes of a chord one after another instead of at the same time. |
| atonal | The absence of all tonality in music; the term originally came about to describe the music of schoenberg. |
| auto punch | The process of automating punch in and punch out on a digital recorder, sequencer or tape recorder. typically, the exact times (down to the hundredth of a second) of punch in and out may be entere... |
| automated mixing | Using a computer or computer-enhanced mixer to remember mixer settings, mute switchings and fader movements, so that a mix can be duplicated, edited or refined in multiple stages. |
| auxiliary bus | Also known as `effects bus` or `aux bus`, the bus that feeds signal processors, monitor mixes, or effects devices. |
| auxiliary send | Also known as `effects send` or `aux send`, the control on a mixer that determines the level of channel signal sent to a signal processor, such as a reverb or chorus unit. |
| back-timing | A recording technique of cueing up a musical background to a voice track so that the music ends simultaneously with the voice-over. |
| ballsy | A track or mix with emphasized low frequencies, at about 200-250 khz. also, an acoustic or electric guitar with a good low-midrange frequency response. |
| basic tracks | Recorded tracks of rhythm instruments (bass, rhythm guitar, drums, keyboards). |
| bass trap | An assembly whose function is to absorb low-frequency sound waves. |
| bassy | A track or mix with emphasized low frequencies, at about 200-250 khz. |
| bi-amplification | Also known as `bi-amping`, driving a woofer and tweeter with different power amplifiers. a crossover is typically connected ahead of these power amplifiers. |
| bi-directional communications | The ability of a keyboard, sound module or drum machine to send and receive midi messages simultaneously from a computer or other device. |
| bi-directional microphone | Also called a `cosine microphone` or `figure-eight microphone` due to the shape of its polar pattern, a microphone whose pickup pattern is sensitive to sound arriving at the front and behind the m... |
| binaural recording | A two-channel recording made with an omnidirectional microphone in each ear of a human or a simulated head for playback over headphones. the object is to represent sound as closely as possible at ... |
| blanketed | A track or mix with weak highs; muffled as though a blanket was covering the loud speakers. |
| blumlein array | A stereo miking technique where two coincident bi-directional mics are angled 90 degrees apart (45 degrees to the left and right of center). |
| bouncing tracks | When two or more separate tracks are mixed onto an empty track. the submixed tracks can then be erased, freeing them up for new music. |
| boundary microphone | A mic designed to be used on a hard, reflective surface. the mic is mounted as close to the surface as possible so that direct and reflected sounds arrive at the microphone diaphragm in phase at a... |
| breathy | Flute, clarinet, or sax recordings with audible breath sounds. also, sounds with a good response the upper midrange and high frequencies. |
| bulk tape eraser | A large electromagnet used to erase a whole reel of recording tape or an entire cassette at once. |
| bus trim | Located in the output section of a mixing console, a control that provides variable gain of a bus, used in conjunction with the bus master for fine adjustment. |
| chase lock | A synchronization system for audio equipment.. |
| chesty | A track in which the vocalist sounds as if his chest was very large, due to an emphasis in the low-frequency response around 125 to 300 hz. |
| chops | Ability to play an instrument. to have great chops is to be technically or stylistically profient on a musical instrument. |
| click track | Audio `clicks` recorded on one track of a multitrack recorder, to indicate the tempo of the music on the tape. clicks can be translated by certain devices into midi sync to control a sequencer, or... |
| close miking | A recording or sound reinforcement technique whereby the mikes are placed close to vocalists and to instruments or amplifier speakers. close miking yields a great deal of presence and detail for t... |
| coincident pair | Two separate mikes placed so that the microphone diaphragms occupy approximately the same point in space. the are mounted one directly above the other, and angled apart. |
| comb-filter effect | The frequency response caused by combining a sound with its delayed duplicate. the frequency response displays a series of peaks and dips caused by phase interference. the peaks and dips look like... |
| combining amplifier | An amplifier in which the outputs of two or more signal paths are mixed together, to feed a single track of tape or hard-disk recorder. |
| complex wave | A sound wave with more than one frequency component. |
| condenser microphone | Also known as `cardioid microphone, a mike that works on the principle of variable capacitance to generate an electrical signal. |
| contact pickup | A transducer that contacts a guitar or other musical instrument and converts its vibrations into an electrical signal. |
| continuous controller | A type of midi message intended to control dynamics (volume, modulation, etc.) or continually changing aspects of a performance. continuous controllers allow enhanced musical expression for keyboa... |
| crossover frequency | The single frequency at which both filters of a crossover network are down 3db. |
| cue mixer | A submixer in a mixer input module that takes signals from cue sends as inputs and mixes them into a composite signal that can be used to drive headphones in the studio. |
| cue sheet | Typically used during the mixdown stage, a chronological list of mixer control adjustments and fader movements needed at various points in the recorded tracks. the list may have tape-counter or el... |
| cue system | A monitor system that allows musicians to hear themselves and previously recorded tracks through headphones. |
| daw | An acronym for digital audio workstation, a stand-alone system of hardware and software which will allow the recording, playback, editing, and storage of digital audio. |
| decoded tape | A tape that is expanded after having been compressed/coded by a noise reduction system, such as dolby. the tape will have normal dynamic range. |
| de-esser | A signal processor that removes musically excessive sibilant sounds ("sh" and "s" sounds) by compressing the high frequencies around 5-10khz. |
| design center | The portion of fader travel (usually marked), about 10-15db from the top, where console gain is distributed for optimum headroom and signal-to-noise ratio. as a starting point in gain staging, eac... |
| designation strip | A strip of paper taped near console faders to indicate the instrument that each that each fader controls. |
| direct box | A device used for connecting an amplified instrument directly to a mixer mike input. the function of the direct box is to convert a high-impedance unbalanced audio signal to a low-impedance balanc... |
| direct injection | - Also known as `di`, the process of recording with a direct box.
- Diesel engine injection system in which the fuel is injected directly into the engine cy under, rather than into a pr...
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| directivity factor | For a loudspeaker, a measurement of how much the speaker focuses sound in a given direction. directivity is measured by taking the ratio of the average sound level in a circle around the speaker t... |
| distant miking | Also known as ambient miking, a microphone placement technique where one or more mikes are located at a distance of at least several feet from the speakers or performers. distant miking allows a g... |
| dolby tone | A reference tone recorded at the start of a dolby-encoded tape, mainly for alignment purposes. |
| drop frame | In video production, a mode of smpte timecode which causes the timecode to match a regular clock. once every minute, except for the tenth minute, frame numbers 00 and 01 are dropped. |
| drop in/out | Alos known as `punch in/out`, a feature of a tape or hard-disk recorder that permits insertion of a corrected musical part into a previously recorded track by going into and out of record mode at ... |
| drum machine | A device (stand-alone or within a synthesizer) capable of producing drum-like sounds or digital recordings of real drum sounds. |
| dsp board | An acronym for digital signal processing board, which may encompass both audio and video processing, that manipulates signals internally within a custom chip in the digital domain. |
| earth ground | A connection to the physical ground or `earth`. this connection can be made either to a cold water pipe or a special copper rod driven into the soil. |
| echo chamber | A hard-surfaced room or enclosed space containing a microphone placed at a distance from a loudspeaker. when sound is played through the speaker, the mic will pick up reverberation from the room.<... |
| echo return | Also known as `echo receive` or `effects return`, a control on the mixing console that adjusts the amount of signal received from an echo unit or reverb unit. the echo return signal is combined wi... |
| echo send | Also known as `effects send`, similar to an auxiliary send, the control on a mixer that determines the level of channel signal sent to a dedicated echo unit or reverb device. |
| editing block | A metal block that secures the magnetic tape to assure accurate splicing/editing cuts. |
| editor/librarians | Computer programs specializing in synthesizer sound editing and patch organization. the librarian retrieves sound parameter data from synthesizers, and the editor permits the altering of sounds in... |
| effects buss | A buss that feeds external or internal (to the mixing board) effects devices and signal processors. |
| effects mixer | A submixer in a mixing console that combines signals from effects sends and directs the mixed signal to the input of another effects device. |
| eia rating | A specification of microphone sensitivity that states the microphone output level in dbm into a matched load for a given sound pressure level or spl. the formula is spl + db (eia rating) = dbm out... |
| electret condenser microphone | A type of condenser mic where the electrostatic field of the capacitor in generated by an electret, a substance which permanently stores an electrostatic charge. |
| electrostatic interference | The undesired presence of an electrostatic hum field in signal conductors. |
| encoded tape | A tape having a signal compressed by noise reduction. |
| envelope generator | Also known as a `contour generator`, a device, circuit, or software algorithm that generates an adsr envelope. |
| fletcher-munson effect | The psycho acoustical phenomenon in which the subjective frequency response of the human ear changes with the audio level. the result of this effect is that a sound played at a lower relative volu... |
| flutter echoes | A rapid series of echoes occurring between two parallel walls. |
| fluxivity | The measure of the flux density of a magnetic recording tape, per unit of track width. |
| fly-wheeling | A feature of a sync box that allows it continue to generating reliable midi sync even when a bad sync stripe is being read from tape. |
