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

- C -

Cancellation - A shortening of the term Phase Cancellation (the energy of one waveform significantly decreasing the energy of another waveform because of phase relationships at or close to 180 degrees).

Capacitor - An electronic device that is composed of two plates separated by an insulator.

Capacitance - The property of being able to oppose a change in voltage or store an electrical charge.

Capsule - 1) The variable capacitor section of a condenser microphone. 2) In other types of microphones, the part of the microphone that includes the diaphragm and the active element.

Cardioid Pattern - A microphone pick up pattern, which has maximum pick up from the front, less pick up from the sides, and least pick up from the back of the diaphragm.

Cascade - To set and interconnect two mixers so that the stereo mixing buss(es) of the first mixer feeds the stereo buss(es) of a second mixer.

CD - An abbreviation of the term Compact Disc (a small optical disk with digital audio recorded on it).

CD-ROM - An abbreviation of the term Compact Disc, Read Only Memory (A Compact Disc used to store digital data, such as large programs, that can be read by a computer).

Center Frequency - The frequency of the audio signal that is boosted or attenuated most by an equalizer with a peak equalization curve.

Central Processing Unit - 1) The main "brain" chip of a computer that performs the calculations and execution of instructions. 2) The main housing of a computer that contains the "brain" chip as opposed to other pieces of the computer system such as keyboards, monitors, etc.

Chamber - 1) An Echo Chamber (a room designed with very hard, non-parallel surfaces equipped with a speaker and microphone so that when dry signals from the console are fed to the speaker, the microphone will have a reverberation of these signals that can be mixed in with the dry signals at the console). 2) A program in a delay/reverb effects device that simulates the sound of an Echo Chamber.

Chase - The automatic adjusting of the speed of a recorder (or sequencer) to be time with another recorder.

Channel - 1) In multitrack tape machines, this term means the same thing as the term Track (one audio recording made on a portion of the width of a multitrack tape). 2) A single path that an audio signal travels or can travel through a device from an input to an output.

Charge - The electrical energy of electrons.   The energy is in the form of a force that is considered negative and repels other like forces (other electrons) and attracts oppposite (positive) forces.

Chip - 1) A slang term with the same meaning as the term IC (a miniature circuit of many components that is in small, sealed housing with prongs to connect it into equipment). 2) The thread cut away from the master lacquer to make the groove, while disc recording.

Chord - Three or more musical pitches sung or played together.

Chorus - 1) The part of The song that is repeated and has the same music and lyrics each time; the chorus will usually give the point of the song. 2) A musical singing group that has many singers. 3) A delay effect that simulates a vocal chorus by adding several delays with a mild amount of feedback and a medium amount of depth. 4) A similar effect created in some synthesizers by detuning (reducing the pitch of, slightly) and mixing it with the signal that has regular tuning and with a slight delay.

Chorusing - 1) A term meaning the same thing as Chorus (Definition 3 or 4). 2) In some delay effects devices, a term used to mean the term Depth (the amount of change in the controlled signal by the control signal).

Circuit - 1) One complete path of electric current. 2) Similar to definition 1, but including all paths and components to accomplish one function in a device.

Clicking - Pressing and immediately releasing the switch on a computer's mouse.

Clip - The action of deforming a waveform during overload.

Clock Signal - The signal put out by a circuit that generates steady even pulses or steady codes used for synchronization.

Close Micing - A technique of placing a microphone close to the sound source (within one foot) in order to pick up mainly the direct sound and to avoid picking up leakage or ambience.

Coax - Two-conductor cable consisting of one conductor surrounded by a shield.

Coincident Microphones (Coincident Pair) - Two microphones whose heads are placed as lose as possible to each other so that the path length from any sound source to either microphone is for all practical purposes, the same.

Comb Filter - 1) The frequency response achieved by mixing a direct signal with a delayed signal of equal strength especially at short delays. Diagram  2) Loosely used to also describe effects that can be achieved with comb filtering as part of the processing.

Compact Disc - A small optical disk with digital audio recorded on it.

Compact Disc, Interactive - A Compact Disc, usually containing audio, video, and text, which the user can interact with in that the display or playback changes after the user performs some action.

Compact Disc, Read Only Memory - A Compact Disc used to store digital data, such as large programs, that can be read by a computer.

Compact Disc Recordable- A blank Compact Disc that can be recorded on one time.

Compander - 1) A two section device that is used in noise reduction systems. The first section compresses the audio signal, before it is recorded, and the second section, expands the signal after recording. 2) In Yamaha brand digital consoles, a signal processing function that applies both compression and expansion to the same signal.

Compression Ratio - How many dB the input signal has to rise above the threshold for every one dB more output of a compressor or limiter.

Compressor - A signal processing device that does not allow as much fluctuation in the level of the signal above a certain adjustable or fixed level.

Condenser - An older term meaning the same thing as Capacitor (an electronic device which is composed of two plates separated by an insulator and can store charge) but sill in common use when referring to a microphone's active element.

Condenser Microphone - A microphone which converts sound pressure changes into changes of capacitance.   The capacitance changes are then converted into electrical voltage variations (an audio signal).

Console - A set of controls and their housing, which control all signals necessary for recording and mixing.

Consumer Format (Consumer DIF) - A standard adopted by IEC for sending and receiving digital audio based on The AES Professional Interface.

Contact Microphone - A device that senses vibrations and puts out an audio signal proportional to the vibrations.

Controller - 1) In MIDI, a device that generates a MIDI signal to control synthesizers, sound modules or sample playback units. 2) A remote control unit for a multitrack tape machine which controls transport functions as well as monitor selection switching functions and record ready/safe status of each track. 3) Any device generating a control voltage or signal fed to another device's control input.

Corner Frequency - Same as Cut-Off Frequency (the highest or lowest frequency in the pass band of a filter). (NOUN]

CPU - Abbreviation of Central Processing Unit (The main "brain" chip of a computer or the main housing of a computer that contains the "brain^" chip).

Critical Distance - The point a distance away from the sound source where the direct sound and the reverberant sound are equal in volume.

Crossover (Crossover Network) - A set of filters that "split" the audio signal into two or more bands (two or more signals, each of which have only some of the frequencies present).

Crossover Frequency - 1) The frequency that is the outer limit of one of the bands of a crossover. 2) In the Lexicon 480L delay/reverberation effects unit, the frequency at which the bass frequency reverb time is in effect rather than the mid frequency reverb time.

Crosstalk - Leakage of an audio signal into a channel that iris not intended to be in, from an adjacent or nearby channel.

Cue - 1) The signal fed back to the musicians through headphones. 2) To set the tape or disc so that the intended selection will immediately play when the tape machine or player is started.3) A location point entered into a computer controlling the playback or recording of a track or tape. 4) In MCI brand tape machines, a term meaning the same thing as Sync Playback (where the record head is used as a playback head for those tracks already recorded).

Cue Send Control - A control that will adjust the amount of signal sent to a cue buss from a console channel.

Current - The amount of electron charge passing a point in a conductor per unit of time.

Cut - 1) One selection (one song) on a pre4ecorded music format. 2) A term with the same meaning as Mute (to turn off a channel or a signal). 3) To reduce gain of a particular band of frequencies (with an equalizer). 4) To not pass a particular band of frequencies (said of a filter)

Cut-Off Frequency (Turnover Frequency) - 1) The highest or lowest frequency in the pass band of a filter. 2) The highest or lowest frequency passed by an audio device (the cut-off frequency is usually considered to be the first frequency to be 3 dB lower than a reference frequency in the middle of the bandwidth of the device)

Cut-off Rate (Slope)- The number of dB that a filter reduces the signal for each octave its frequency past the filter's cut-off frequency (outside of the pass band).

Cycle - 1) An alternation of a waveform which begins at a point, passes through the zero line, and ends at a point with the same value and moving in the same direction as the starting point. 2) On a Solid State Logic Console, a command to have the console computer control the tape machine to play and replay a certain section of the tape.

Cycles Per Second - A unit used in the measure of frequency, equivalent to Hertz. Cycles Per Second is an outdated term replaced by Hertz in 1948.

Cyclic Redundancy Checking Code - An digital error detection code used in digital recording.

Cable, 1/4 inch - An unbalanced cable most often used for instruments and patch cords. Commonly referred to as "guitar cords".

Cable, TRS - A less common balanced cable that has 3 different contacts on its 1/4 inch connectors. Most headphone jacks are a good example of a TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) connector. These are sometimes used instead of the more common XLR connection.

Cable, XLR - A balanced cable used for low impedance microphones and sometimes for connections between some parts of the PA. Commonly referred to as a "mic cord".

Channels - These are divided into two separate categories. Input channels are those channels coming into the soundboard such as microphones and direct lines. Output channels are those leaving the board such as monitor and main outputs.

Chorus - Common type of effect that makes sounds fuller and thicker.

Clean - Describes a distortion free sound with few effects.

Compressor - Effect used to squash the sound together. Used properly, it can take the edge off or your sound. Used improperly, it can take the life right out of your system and make it sound like an MTV mix.

Crisp - Describes a good clean high midrange sound. It can be good or bad depending on the look on the face of the guy who said it.

Crossover, Active - A rack mountable unit used to separate frequencies leaving the soundboard into high's, mids, and lows with different outputs for each.

Crossover, Passive - Used inside of full range speaker cabinets to separate highs, mids, and lows and send them to their respective speakers within the each cabinet. These are not as efficient as active crossovers because they require all frequencies to draw from the same source of amplification.

Cord (Speaker, Mic, Instrument) - Used to connect a sound system together. Each type of cord is made for a specific purpose and should not be used in place of another type of cord, not even if they look alike. Also see "cable"