Audio Production Mid-Term

Front 1

Reflection

Back 1

A sound that is reflected off of a surface.

Front 2

Absorption

Back 2

The absorption of sound is the process by which sound energy is diminished when passing through a medium or when striking a surface.

Front 3

Diffusion

Back 3

The scattering of sound waves to a uniform intensity.

Front 4

Acoustics

Back 4

From the Greek akouein: to hear. The science of sound wave behavior, specifically the generation, transmission, reception and effects of sounds.

Front 5

Binaural

Back 5

A binaural recording is made using two omni-directional microphones placed in the ear canals of an anatomically accurate dummy head, such that all the normal spatial attributes and 3 dimensionality of the human head are present when the recording is made.

Front 6

Diffraction

Back 6

The bending of sound waves as they pass around objects and the spreading of waves through openings that are approximately the same as the wavelength of the waves.

Front 7

Direct Sound

Back 7

Sound waves that reach the listener before reflecting off any surface.

Front 8

Echo

Back 8

Sound reflections delayed by at least 35 ms (milliseconds) that are perceived as discreet repetitions of the direct sound.

Front 9

Haas Effect

Back 9

Describes the human psychoacoustic phenomena of correctly identifying the direction of a sound source heard in both ears but arriving at different times. The direct sound from any source first enters the ear closest to the source, then the ear farthest away. The Haas Effect tells us that humans localize a sound source based upon the first arriving sound, if the subsequent arrivals are within 25-35 milliseconds.

Front 10

Psychoacoustics

Back 10

The scientific study of the human perception of and response to sound.

Front 11

Resonance

Back 11

Transmitting a vibration from one body to another when the frequency of the first body is almost exactly the same as the natural frequency of the second. For example, a musical tone produced by sympathetic vibration.

Front 12

Reverberation

Back 12

Multiple blended, random reflections of a sound wave after the sound source has ceased vibrating.

Front 13

Crossover Frequency

Back 13

The simplest passive crossover network (two-way speaker system) consists of only two components: a capacitor connecting to the high frequency driver and an inductor (aka a coil) connecting to the low frequency driver. A capacitor is an electronic component that passes high frequencies (the passband) and blocks low frequencies (the stopband); an inductor does just the opposite: it passes low frequencies and blocks high frequencies.

Front 14

Two-way System

Back 14

The loudspeaker system divides the frequencies at around 1,500 to 2,000 Hz. The lower frequencies go to the woofer and the higher frequencies go to the tweeter.

Front 15

Three-way

Back 15

A type of speaker system composed of three ranges of speakers, specifically a woofer, midrange, and tweeter. The frequencies are roughly divided at 400 – 500 between the woofer and mid-range and 3,500 – 5,000Hz between the mid-range and tweeter.

Front 16

Dynamic Range

Back 16

The loudest point minus the quietest point equals the dynamic range. Measured in decibels (dB). It is the range of sound intensity a system can reproduce without compressing or distorting the signal.

Front 17

Far-field Monitoring

Back 17

Heard from a distance, they are designed to provide the highest quality sound reproduction.

Front 18

Near-field Monitoring

Back 18

Direct monitoring of sounds. Heard up close, they are positioned to greatly reduce any early reflections from the studio walls.

Front 19

Fader

Back 19

Regulates the loudness level of each channel on a console.

Front 20

Phantom Power

Back 20

DC Power source carried via the microphone cable from the hardware recorder, mixer or interface to the microphone. It’s usually 48volts.

Front 21

Channel Strips

Back 21

Controls the input and output along with the processing of a signal.

Front 22

Trim

Back 22

Gain control for input into a system. It boosts low-level sources.

Front 23

Pad

Back 23

Reduces the power of a signal into a system. Reduces loud sounds.

Front 24

Impedance

Back 24

The amount of opposition a device has to an audio signal. In technical terms, the combined effect of capacitance, inductance, and resistance on a signal. It is the AC equivalent of resistance in a DC circuit.

Front 25

Potentiometer (Pot)

Back 25

A variable resistor, which controls the volume level.

Front 26

Phase

Back 26

The time relationship between two or more sound waves at a given point in their cycles.

Front 27

Equalization (EQ)

Back 27

The process of adding and subtracting gain to various frequencies to correct or enhance the sound.
. Basically this means adding or cutting the amount of bass, treble and mid-range tones to optimize the sound.

Front 28

Sends

Back 28

A send is a separate send on either a mixer, recording interface, or recording software that allows a separate signal of an individual channel to be sent to a separate output.

Front 29

Insert

Back 29

An access point built into the mixing console, allowing the user to add external devices into the signal flow between the preamplifier and the mix bus. Common usages include gating, compressing, equalizing and for reverb effects that are specific to that channel or group.

Front 30

Talkback

Back 30

Permits the control room to speak to the studio performers via a console microphone.

Front 31

Patch Bay

Back 31

A central terminal that allow for the routing of sound through patching cords.

Front 32

Quantization

Back 32

The number of bits taken per sample. As samples are taken, these voltages are converted into discrete quantities and assigned values or bits.
The more bits, the better the dynamic range.

Front 33

Graphic Equalizer

Back 33

Fixed frequency bands used to increase or decrease a specific range of frequency levels. This range is determined by the filter design of the individual bands, set by the factory. These bands are set on pre-determined center-points ("fixed frequencies"). All you can do is adjust their gain. They are referred to as "graphic" because the vertical sliders give a "graphic" representation of the adjusted audio spectrum.

Front 34

Parametric Equalizer

Back 34

It permits the user to set the cut/boost of a given band, the center frequency and the bandwidth of that band. A band may be as narrow as, 1/6-octave, to as wide as 3 octaves. The center frequency of the band is tunable over a wide range, as well. Parametrics excel at "honing in" on a problem frequency band and minimizing it.

Front 35

Shelving

Back 35

Increases or decreases selected high or low frequencies equally by a fixed amount.

Front 36

Bandwidth

Back 36

The range of frequencies on either side of the center frequency that are also affected by increasing or decreasing of equalization.

Front 37

Q

Back 37

The measure of bandwidth of frequencies the equalizer affects.

Front 38

Plug-ins

Back 38

Software based signal processing tools

Front 39

Filter

Back 39

A device that attenuates certain bands of frequencies.

Front 40

High-Pass Filter

Back 40

An electric circuit that passes high frequencies but blocks low ones by acting as a large-impedance to those frequencies.

Front 41

Low-Pass Filter

Back 41

An electric circuit designed to pass only low frequencies and act as a high-impedance to frequencies out of the filters pass band.

Front 42

Dry and Wet

Back 42

Dry means a signal is free from processing and wet means that it has processing or effects added to it.

Front 43

Delay (digital delay)

Back 43

This is a TIME-BASED EFFECT and is recognized as an echo sound. Typical parameters include delay time (how long a sound is held) and the number of repeats desired. This is not to be confused with reverb though they often are used together.

Front 44

Flanging

Back 44

Electronically produced combining of the original signal with a short time-delayed replica.

Front 45

Compression (Audio)

Back 45

Technically compression refers to adding gain or volume to soft areas and reducing loud areas. In practice this is often combined with Limiting, which puts a cap or limit on louder peaks and swells. The proper use of compression can enhance and even out the audibility of a track.

Front 46

Attack Time

Back 46

The length of time it takes the compressor to start compressing once a signal has reached the threshold for it to start working.

Front 47

Release Time

Back 47

The length of time it takes the compressor to stop working once the signal has fallen below the threshold.

Front 48

Peak

Back 48

Maximum level of output. It is the peak value, the highest voltage that the waveform will ever reach.

Front 49

RMS (Root Mean Squared)

Back 49

Is the effective value of the total waveform. It is the continuous power or voltage in a signal. This is the one our ears hear best.

Front 50

Limiting (Limiter)

Back 50

The process of placing a limit on the maximum volume of an audio track or signal. The very loudest points will be brought back into check. Often this is combined with Compression. "Soft" limiting is more natural with less audible side effects (best for voice). “Hard” limiting is more rapid and dramatic and best suited for percussion-type instruments.

Front 51

De-esser

Back 51

A fast acting compressor that reduces high frequencies on such sounds as s, z, ch and sh.

Front 52

Pitch Shifter

Back 52

It uses the removal or addition of samples, time compression and time expansion to change the pitch of a signal. Digitally this is done by using algorithms.

Front 53

Condenser Mic (Capacitance Mic)

Back 53

Most common mic style for recording voice. Requires phantom power or battery due to its low volume output. Use voltage variation to create a signal.

Front 54

Dynamic Mic

Back 54

It does not require phantom power. Uses magnetic variations to create a signal.

Front 55

Frequency

Back 55

The number of cycles/second in the audio wave, measured in Hertz (Hz) or kHz. Heard by our ears as pitch. Higher Frequencies = higher pitch. The human ear can hear a range from 20Hz - 20khz.

Front 56

Normalization

Back 56

Process of increasing overall audio volume.

Front 57

Proximity Effect

Back 57

The increase of bass frequencies as a directional microphone comes closer to the sound source.

Front 58

Three-to-One Rule

Back 58

For every unit of distance away from the sound source, your mics should be at least three units apart. For instance, if your mics are 1 foot from the source they should be 3 feet apart. This will keep you out of phase problems when close micing. Phase problems will cause cancelling out of frequencies or entire spectrum of frequencies.

Front 59

Signal to Noise Ratio

Back 59

Is a measurement comparing the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as the ratio of desired signal power to the noise power. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise.

Front 60

.wav

Back 60

Short for Waveform Audio Format. A Microsoft/IBM audio file format standard. This is a lossless, uncompressed format.

Front 61

XLR

Back 61

A lockable connector, available with various numbers of pins. The most common XLR in audio work is the standard 3-pin XLR.