A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

- A -

Active/Inactive Microphones - Scientific definitions aside, active microphones generally sound better than inactive ones, but they generally cost more. They also require the use of either a battery or phantom power while inactive mics need only be plugged into the mic cord in order to work. In most playing situations, the subtle improvement in sound quality from an active mic isn't worth the extra cost and hassle. One possible exception is the headset mic. Put simply, inactive headset mics just plain stink. Active headset mics put out a much stronger signal and feed back much less.

Amplifier (Power amp, Head) - It's the part of the sound system that actually magnifies or "amplifies" the sound. In other words, it makes stuff louder.

Attenuator (Pot) - The electronic dohickey under the knobs that increases or reduces the strength of the signal running through it. When these get old and dirty, they can make popping noises or rumbles in your PA (As in "my pots are dirty").

Absorption - Short for the term Acoustical Absorption (quality of a surface or substance to take in, not reflect, a sound wave).

AC - An abbreviation of the term Alternating Current (electric current which flows back and forth in a circuit; all studio signals running through audio lines are AC).

Acoustic / Acoustical - Having to do with sound that can be heard by the ears.

Acoustic Amplifier - The portion of the instrument which makes the vibrating source move more air or move air more efficiently; this makes the sound of the instrument louder. Examples of acoustic amplifiers include: 1) The body of an acoustic guitar, 2) The sounding board of a piano, 3) The bell of a horn and 4) The shell of a drum.

Acoustic Echo Chamber - A room designed with very hard, non-parallel surfaces and equipped with a speaker and microphone; dry signals from the console are fed to the speaker and the microphone will have a reverberation of these signals that can be mixed in with the dry signals at the console.

Acoustical Absorption - The quality of a surface or substance to take in the sound wave and not reflect it or pass it through, or an instance of this.

A/D - An abbreviation of Analog to Digital Conversion (the conversion of a quantity that has continuous changes into numbers that approximate those changes), or Analog to Digital Converter.

ADAT - A trademark of Alesis Corporation designating its modular digital multitrack recording system released in early 1993.

ADSR - The letters A, D, S &R are the first letters of: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. These are the various elements of volume changes in the sounding of a keyboard instrument.

AES - An abbreviation of Audio Engineering Society.

AES/EBU Professional Interface - A standard for sending and receiving digital audio adopted by the Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcast Union.

Aliasing - A sampler mis-recognizing a signal sent to it that is at a frequency higher than the Nyquist Frequency. Upon playback, the system will provide a signal at an incorrect frequency (called an alias frequency). Aliasing is a kind of distortion.

Alternating Current - Electric current which flows back and forth in a circuit.

Ambience - The portion of the sound that comes from the surrounding environment rather than directly from the sound source.

Ambient Field - A term with the same meaning as the term Reverberant Field (the area away from the sound source where the reverberation is louder than the direct sound).

Ambient Micing - Placing a microphone in the reverberant field (where the reverberation is louder than the direct sound) so as to do a separate recording of the ambience or to allow the recording engineer to change the mix of direct to reverberant sound in recording.

Amp - 1) An abbreviation of the term Amplifier (A device which increases the level of an electrical signal. 2) An abbreviation of Ampere (the unit of current). 3) An abbreviation of amplitude (the height of a waveform above or below the zero line).

Ampere - The unit of current, abbreviated Amp.

Amplification - An increasing of signal strength.

Amplifier - A device which increases the amplitude (level) of an electrical signal (making it louder).

Amplitude - The height of a waveform above or below the zero line.

Analog (Analogue) - Representative, continuous changes that relate to another quantity that has a continuous change.

Analog Recording - A recording of the continuous changes of an audio waveform.

Analog To Digital Converter - The device which does the conversion of a quantity that has continuous changes (usually of voltage) into numbers that approximate those changes.

Assign - To choose to which place an output is going to be sent.

Assistant Engineer - A less elevated version of the term Second Engineer. Experienced seconds often place microphones, operate tape machines, break down equipment at the session end and keep the paperwork for the session.

Atom - The smallest particle which makes up a specific substance. It's composed of a center around which electrons revolve.

Attack - The rate the sound begins and increases in volume.

Attenuation - A making smaller: reduction of electrical or acoustic signal strength.

Audio - Most often referring to electrical signals resulting from the sound pressure wave being converted into electrical energy.

Automatic Gain Control (Automatic Volume Control) - A compressor with a very long release time used to keep the volume of the audio very constant.

Automation - In consoles, a feature that lets the engineer program control changes (such as fader level) so that upon playback of the multitrack recording these changes happen automatically.

Aux Send - Short for the term Auxiliary Send (a control to adjust the level of the signal sent from the console input channel to the auxiliary equipment through the aux buss.

Auxiliary Equipment - Effects devices separate from but working with the recording console.

Axis - A line around which a device operates. Example: In a microphone, this would be an imaginary line coming out from the front of the microphone in the direction of motion of the diaphragm.