Musical Terms & Glossary

Some A 2 Z Musical Terms & Glossary!


• A&R (Artist and Repertoire) - Record label employees who are in charge of finding and signing new bands.

• AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) - Also called MPEG-2 AAC or MPEG-2 NBC, this audio codec is the logical continuation of the MP3 codec. Due to advances in the technology, AAC files encoded at a 96 kbps bit rate sound slightly better than MP3s encoded at 128 kbps.

• ADC (analog-to-digital converter) - This type of converter changes an analog electrical signal into a digital signal made of 1s and 0s.

• AIFF An uncompressed Macintosh audio file. WAV files occupy an incredible amount of disk space, thus the need for compressed formats, such as MP3s.

• ASCAP (The American Society Of Composers, Authors & Publishers) - An organization that collects royalties for its members (artists, bands, and music publishers) when their music gets played on the radio, the Web, or in public. Find out more here ASCAP weblink!

• Audio Compression - audio compression works by setting a limit for how loud sound can get while raising low parts of a song. Basically, the lowest and highest volume levels of a song get closer together.

• Audio Player - A program that turns the 1s and 0s in an audio file into an audio signal.

• Bandwidth - The size of the "pipe" that brings information to and from computers over the Internet. Low bandwidth includes rates of 28 kbps and 56 kbps, while high-bandwidth (broadband) connections deliver more information at a faster pace, making full-screen video, for example, possible.

• Bit Rate - in essence, a measure of how many bits describes each sound in an audio file. A low bit rate means lower quality and a smaller file size, while a high bit rate means better quality and larger files. The standard bit rate is 128 kbps.

• BMI (Broadcast Music Inc) - An organization that collects royalties for its members (artists, bands, and music publishers) when their music gets played on the radio, the Web, or in public. Find out more here BMI weblink!
• BPI(The British Phonographic Industry) - Is the British record industry's trade association. Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four 'major' record companies (Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group). Find out more here BPI weblink!

• Buffering - The process by which streaming audio and video saves data in advance of playing it. Programs such as RealPlayer or Windows Media Player will download a part of the video or audio stream before starting to play, then continue the downloading as the stream plays. If the playing catches up to the end of the buffer, the stream will pause while further buffering occurs.

• CD Burning - The process of using a CD-R/RW drive and burning software to put data or audio onto a CD.

• CD-R Disc - A read-only CD that cannot be rewritten. A normal CD player can read a CD-R that the burning software specified as an Audio CD when the disc was created.

• CD-RW Disc - A CD that can be erased and rewritten. It can't be read by normal CD players, but it works great for burning compressed music for computer playback.

• CD-R/RW Drive - A drive capable of writing to CD-R and CD-RW discs.

• CDA - The format of audio on a standard RedBook CD; can be extracted to your hard drive by a ripper into WAV (Windows) or AIFF (Macintosh) files.

• Codec - A codec is an algorithm for compressing and decompressing audio and video files without losing a significant amount of information. Once a file has been compressed by a codec like MP3 or RealAudio, it is smaller and easier to transmit across the Web, and still sounds fairly true to the original.

• DAC (digital-to-analog converter) - A circuit that turns the digital 1s and 0s representing a sound to an analog waveform (which, in turn, is usually amplified and turned into audible sound).

• DAT (Digital Audio Tape) - A small cassette that records and plays back audio digitally, at CD quality and better.

• dB (Decibel) - A unit used to measure relative levels of electrical voltages, of powers or sounds.

• DSP (Digital Signal Processing) - The (usually real-time) processing of an audio signal in such a way that it sounds different from the original. Examples include: bass boost; 3D simulation; and Rock, Jazz, and Classical presets.

• Encoder - Software that turns uncompressed WAV (Windows) or AIFF files into compressed files, using a CODEC such as MP3 or RealAudio.

• EQ (Equalization) - A filter for audio that increases or decreases volume at certain frequencies, so that treble, bass, or midrange sounds can be amplified or quieted. Most audio devices and playback software contain some EQ options.

• Frequency - How many cycles of a waveform occurring in one second. = once per second cycle has a frequency of 1Hz.

• General MIDI - Compatibility with GM Format song files and program, number, sounds and control MIDI information.

• ID3 - The tag embedded in MP3s that tells your MP3 file what song, artists, and album it comes from. These tags can be edited.

• ISO 9660 - A standard format, for burning CD-Rs and CD-RWs. In the ISO 9660 format, directories and filenames get chopped to eight letters.

• Joliet - A standard format for burning CD-Rs and CD-RWs, created as an extension to ISO 9660 by Microsoft as part of Windows 95. In the Joliet format, long filenames are preserved.

• Jukebox - A multipurpose audio program that usually incorporates an audio player, a ripper, an encoder, and a file organizer.

• Line-In (line-level input) - An audio input that records from line-level sources such as CD players, home stereos, sound cards, tape decks, headphone outputs, or powered microphones.

• Line-Out - This output sends an audio signal to its intended destination. You might use a line out to send an audio signal from a portable device to a receiver or from a receiver to a recording device or from a portable device to a pair of powered speakers.

• M3U - When you create a playlist in audio playback software such as Winamp, the playlist file contains the extension M3U. Clicking an M3U file will bring up all of the songs in the playlist in your default audio player.

• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) - MIDI is a protocol that allows electronic musical instruments to talk to each other and to computers.

• Mono - One channel of audio. When you listen to something in mono, the exact same sound comes out of the left and right speakers or headphones. Since mono tracks contain half the information of an equivalent stereo file, they are half the size.

• MP2 - A compressed MPEG1 sound file used before MP3 that is larger than the now favored MP3 format.

• MP3 - A sound file that has been compressed through MP3 encoding, making the files smaller and easier to send across the Internet.

• MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) - MPEG is a standard for compressing sound and movie files into an attractive format for downloading--or even streaming--across the Internet. The MPEG-1 standard streams video and sound data at 150 kilobytes per second.

• Normalize - A process that adjusts the volume of a sound recording so that it plays back at a consistent volume.

• PFL (Pre-Fade Listen) - Used within a mixer to allow the operator. To listen on a selected signal, no matter where the fader is controlling the signal.

• Phantom Power - Found on a mixing console or modules, with a 48v DC supply. For capacitor microphones to go through the balanced mic cable signal.

• Playlist - A sequential list of songs that can include CD audio, MP3s, WMAs, or any other kind of audio file. Playlists can be randomized to create a mix and saved to hard drives and CD-Rs.

• PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) - Is a London-based UK music licensing company which licenses recorded music and music videos for public performance, broadcast and new media use. Find out more here PPL weblink!

• PRS-MCPS Alliance - PRS (Performing Right Society) & MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society) are a joint UK collecting society that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. PRS and MCPS entered into an alliance in 1997. Find out more here PRS - MCPS weblink!

• Quantize - Even musicians with an amazing sense of rhythm don't always get the intervals between notes or beats exactly right. Quantizing MIDI music aligns the music exactly to the tempo and time signature that you specify.

• RedBook CD - A CD filled with uncompressed audio in the CDA format used by CD burning software in the audio mode; also, the type of CD you buy in stores.

• Ripper - Software that digitally yanks tunes from your CDs and turns them into files on your computer (WAV files in Windows, AIFF files on a Mac).

• Sampling Rate - The precision with which a digital file describes the analog sound it represents. Basically, a lower rate produces files that sound worse and take up less drive space than those with a higher rate. CDs have a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, and DAT machines have a sampling rate of 48 kHz. MiniDisc player/recorders with a built-in sampling rate converter can handle both rates.

• signal-to-noise ratio - A measure of the strength of the audio signal in comparison to that of the background noise. Essentially, a low signal-to-noise ratio means that the device or file has lots of hiss and static, while a high rating means clear-sounding audio.

• Sound Card - A piece of circuitry you can add to your computer that allows it to play and record sound. Sound cards have outputs on the back in a variety of formats that enables sound to travel to headphones, speakers, stereos, MiniDisc players, and so on. Typically, sound cards accept and emit analog signals, but some specialized sound cards handle digital input and output.

• S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) - A standard format used for transferring data between two digital audio devices over (more commonly) a standard RCA cable or (less commonly) an optical cable.

• Stereo - Two channels of audio. When you listen to something in stereo, different sounds come out of the left and right speakers or headphones. Since stereo tracks contain twice the information of an equivalent mono file, they are twice the size.

• TOSLINK - A type of digital connection that uses optical signals to send a signal flawlessly, without losing any information. It's used for connecting MiniDisc players to stereos and certain sound cards.

• VQF - A compression algorithm developed by Yamaha that is similar to MP3 yet occupies less hard drive space.

• VST plug-in - VST plug-ins are a standardized type of effects plug-in, used in conjunction with digital multitracking software. The major benefit of using VST plug-ins is that they can be applied to audio in real time, the way hardware audio effects can be.

• WAV - An uncompressed Windows audio file. WAV files occupy an incredible amount of disk space, thus the need for compressed formats, such as MP3.

• WMA - The Windows Media Player format, which (according to independent testing) sounds as good as MP3 at half the bit rate (and therefore half the file size).

• XLR - A connector with 3 pins or holes to carry balanced audio signals. Most commonly used on microphone cables.

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