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Acoustics
The behaviour of sound and its study. The acoustics of a room depend on its size
and shape and the amount and position of sound-absorbing and reflecting material.
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.
Amplifier (Power amp, Head)
Its the part of the sound system that actually magnifies or amplifies the sound.
In other words, it makes stuff louder.
Bi-Amplification
1) A way of optimizing the efficiency of a speaker system by separately amplifying
the High Frequency (HF) and Low Frequency (LF) portions of the sound signal and
sending them down two pairs of cables to the speaker. Multipin Speakon connectors
have been developed to do this.
2)The process of having of having low-frequency speakers and high-frequency
speakers driven by separate amplifiers.
Chorus
Common type of effect that makes sounds fuller and thicker.
Compressor
1) 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.
2) A piece of sound processing equipment that ensures all wanted signals are
suitably placed between the noise and distortion levels of the recording medium. It
evens out the unwanted changes in volume you get with close-miking, and in doing
so, adds punch to the sound mix. A Limiter is used to stop a signal from exceeding
a preset limit. Beyond this limit, the signal level will not increase, no matter how

loud the input becomes. A Limiter is often used to protect speaker systems (and
human ears) by preventing a system from becoming too loud.
Harmonics
Integer multiples of a fundamental frequency, the fundamental itself being the first
harmonic, its first overtone the second harmonic, etc. Attributing to instruments,
voices, etc. their distinctive timbre.
Keynote Number
A number assigned to each key of a synthesizer or controller keyboard that is
transmitted in the MIDI signal.
Master Fader
1) The fader which controls the main output(s) of the console during mixdown.
2) In some consoles, faders which control the outputs to the multitrack tape
recorder during recording.
3) Occasionally used to mean a VCA master (one slide that controls the control
voltage sent to several VCA faders).
Parametric EQ
An equalizer in which all of the parameters of equalization can be adjusted to any
amount including: a) center frequency; b) the amount of boost or cut in gain; and
c) the bandwidth
Sample
1) In digital recording, to measure the level of a waveform at a given instant.
2) To record a short segment of audio for the purpose of playback later.
3) The short recording (made per definition 2).
Send
A control and buss to feed signals from the console channels to some outboard
device such as a reverberation effects unit.
Width
Another term for Depth (the amount of change in the controlled signal by the
control signal).