Glossary
Home Studio: A studio built in a home or smaller space, generally low to mid end equipment.
Commercial Studio: A studio professionally built in a building or larger space, generally mid to high end equipment.
DAW: Digital Audio Workstation: computer-based recording software.
Axial: Two sound waves that travel in opposite directions moving parallel and only striking two walls. The most contributing factor to acoustical characteristics.
Tangential: four waves that reflect from four walls and move parallel to two walls. Half as strong as Axial modes.
Oblique: Eight waves reflecting off 6 surfaces. Only one-fourth the energy of axial modes.
MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface: translates musical notes into digital codes for the computer to read. If you play a C note on the keyboard, your computer will be able to identify that.
Operational structure: a logical and chronological structure of an operation of single sequences and events in processes.
Gated reverb snare hit: A snare that has a reverb unit placed on it while the reverb is being affected by a gate unit.
Reverb Effect: An audio effect that emulates reflections of a room or space.
Gate Effect: An audio effect that creates a volume threshold that any sound underneath that threshold will not be heard, whereas audio above that threshold will be allowed through to be heard.
Modal information/resonance: the exaggerated peaks and troughs in the frequency content (The axial, tangential, and oblique modes information)
Lo-fi: Low Fidelity: low quality audio)
Side-chain: Referring to the hardware unit needing to linked via patch cables to the mixing desk, this would require a separate patch bay (A hub of ins and outs for different pieces of equipment) and its own channel strip (a single track channel on a mixing desk - https://tutsplus.s3.amazonaws.com/tutspremium/audio-music/022_understand_mixer/images/strip-large.jpg)
Noise Floor: A bed of signal noise that is created from all of the noise sources being summed together; this noise is generally unwanted.
Multi-effects: A hardware or software unit that has multiple different type of audio effects built within it.
CPU: Its brain, its receives and executes instructions.
RAM: Temporary data storage space.
Hard Drive: Permanent data storage space.
Print Effects: When done tweaking the effect, you record it so it does not take up any CPU power.
Timbre: The unique characteristics of a sound source. Musical instrument or hardware effect.
SPL: Sound Pressure level, is a way to measure to pressure levels of within room, using decibels (dB)
Direct sounds: When the sound source goes directly to the listener.
Reflected Sounds: when the sound source reflects off a surface and then goes to the listener, causing it to arrive slightly later than the direct sound.
Mix: The balance of the songs musical elements
Room Modes: another term for modal resonances
Frequency Content: 20Hz to 20kHz, the full human hearing range
Helmholtz absorber: A low frequency absorber, it is described as a resonator absorber due to its similarities with a bottle and its resonant frequency found by blowing at the mouth of the bottle.
Time Stretching: Adjusting the length of an audio track, making it either faster or slower.
Cutting/slicing: an editing technique, cutting an audio track in half if the second half was not good enough.
Non-destructive: Can be undone if wanted to, not stuck with if it was done by accident. For example: cutting a track in half.
Sound Proofing/isolation: Helps reduce the volume within the studio leaking outside.
Acoustic Treatment: Absorbers being used to reduce reflection, and other acoustical elements to help the room sound more professional.
Ethnographic Study: Exploring an area from its point of view. Example, researching studio session by partaking in the studio sessions.
Creatively: Being imaginative and just going with the flow.
Correctively: Being precise and being exact about adjusting something.
Repatch: Rearrange the plugged in cables in the patch bay
Noise Criteria: Maximum noise levels of each frequency band.
Signal to Noise Ratio: The measured gap between the noise of the equipment and the signal of it.
Noise Pollution: generally human activity or environmental noise from daily life.
Harmonic distortion: the harmonics distort the waveform, can be used by electronic systems.
Compressor: An Effects unit, reduces the volume of the sound’s loudest bits and raises the volume of the sound’s quietest bits.
Audio Interface: A medium for microphones, headphones, and jack cables to be plugged into that then send the signal to a computer.
Automate: Have a parameter adjust automatically
Parameters: an option on an effects unit, for example: the delay option on a reverb unit.
Recall: Resetting everything back to the way it was during the last session. Microphone placement, instrument placement, mixing desk etc.
Colour: Another word for characteristics, or timbre.
Reroute: Change what is plugged into what.
Tactile: A sense of touch.
Earth (Earthing): It is used to protect you from electric shock.
Schumann Frequencies: Principal background resonances in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 3 Hz through 60 Hz.
Analogue: Signals or information generated by a physical element like a voltage.
Digital: signals or information generated by binary, 0 and 1s.
Control Room: The main operating space in the studio, where the mixing desk sits.
Live Room: Where you band/ artist performs their song.
Loudness War: it is the trend of music becoming increasing loud over the generations starting back in the 1940s with radio and vinyl.
Dynamic Range: How quiet and loud a song is.
Dynamic Punch: The initial loud hit, for example: the start of a chorus.
DI, Direct Interface: A box that allows you to plug in your instrument straight into your mixer without needing an amp.
Guide vocal: a rough vocal take so the band and vocalist to follow while recording.
Takes: recording attempts.
Bleeding: another instrument coming through on a different instrument’s recording. For example: guitar bleeding through onto a vocal track.
Rock Wool: absorption material.
“8 Channel”: referring to how many channels they want to use on a mixing desk. Channels being the individuals strips.
Input: Where the signal goes in, for example: a guitar cable being plugged into an amp.
Output: where the signal goes out, for example: the hole on the guitar where the guitar cable plugs into.
Sequence: An automated or pre-arranged drum pattern that is then played with the song.
Red Net: ethernet audio interface.
High end (frequency): Higher ends of the frequency spectrum, 10kHz & above.
Low end (frequency): lower ends of the frequency spectrum, 200Hz & below.
Processing: Applying effects and editing audio.
Side-chain (Musical/ production technique): Using a compressor to activate whenever the kick drums hits, and apply this to an instrument to add a pumping effect)
Masking: A technique to help reduce conflicting frequencies of different instruments.
Harmonic envelopes: Different kinds of frequency characteristics. For example: bass guitars being primary low end focused and a cymbal being primary high end focused.
Absorption Coefficients: How effective the material or absorber is at absorbing the sound. 0 is reflective, 1.0 is complete absorption.
Peaks: The raised points in the frequency content
Troughs: the lowered points in the frequency content
Decibels (dB): The measurement used for how loud sound is.
Fundamental Frequencies: The first modal resonances.
Multiple Harmonic Frequency: When modal resonances stack in different multiples. For example. If the length is 10m but the width 2m, then the fifth width modal resonance with stacked with the fundamental length modal resonance.
Mass loaded Vinyl: Is a sound barrier material that is made up of two different materials, vinyl and a high mass element.
“Warm” referring to the way the audio sounds, usually around 125Hz to 250Hz area.
Master: The final post-production of a song, making it ready for a wide arrange of different playback devices.
Visual Mixer: using your eyes instead of your ears.
Latency: The computer making the audio or effects lag behind, making things go out of sync.
Preamp: An amplifier usually used for microphones; it converts weak electronic signals into being strong enough to be audible.
Tape Machine: A recording device that records audio onto magnetic tape.
Outboard: External processing effect units.
VST: Virtual Studio Technology; A software audio plugin
Draw: Left clicking the notes you want the vst to play in the midi track. Instead of playing when yourself.
Octave: A higher or lower pitched version of the same note, for example a C note, to play the octave below would be another C note. Usually to as C3 (Middle octave), C2 (one octave lower)
XLR Cable: External Line Return, a standard audio cable for microphones.
Reamping: Running a bass or guitar signal that has already been recorded through a amplifier to be recorded with that amps timbre.
Pad: A feature on mixing desks and microphones that will reduce the input of the microphone, generally by 20dB. Best for when the signal from the instrument is too loud for the microphone.
Gain: The amount of input signal the microphone is given to raise the volume of the instrument recorded. A metaphor could it is like a door, a high gain is near fully opened door that can let anything in, a low gain is near closed so not much can come in.
Polar Patterns: Different recording patterns microphones have, whatever the pattern is how the microphone will pick up signal.
Polar Pattern; Cardioid: A front facing directional polar pattern, in the shape of a ball with a pinched end. It captures the front (90 Degrees), left side (0 Degrees), and right side (180 Degrees) of the face of the microphone.