Page 46 - Zone Magazine Issue 021

STUDIO TIPS 008
A 2 Z OF ENGENEERING
continued....
T his issue we continue with part 2 of our A-Z of Audio Engineering. Hopefully you guys have picked up some new phrases to wow your music
friends with. This is by no means a complete A to Z but it does cover a lot of the commonly used terms you will find in the audio realm.
NQ
Normalize: To adjust the level of an audio clip by a fixed amount without effecting the dynamics of the audio.
O
Octave
The interval between two notes that is equal to twice or one half of the frequency of that note. E.g. A3 to A4
“Q”
The width of a peak or trough on a equalizer. The higher the “Q” the narrower the bandwidth, the lower the “Q” the wider the bandwidth.
Quantize
The process of taking an audio signal with timing imperfections and eliminating any issues resulting in a more precise playback time.
R
Rack Mount
The act of mounting a piece of hardware to a rack for convenient storage.
RMS
Abbreviation for Root Mean Square. RMS is the measurement of the average of an audio wave.
Overdubbing
The process where a piece of music is recorded more than once. This might be re-recording a couple of bars to correct mistakes by the musician or musicians.
P
Patch Bay
A series of audio cables which allow for the connection to and from equipment from one convenient location.
Phase Cancellation
When two signals of the same frequency cancel each other out resulting in the net reduction of the combined audio signal.