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Music Tech Final
Vocabulary and Concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 16 MIDI Channels | The number of channels available to you in a MIDI connection. Provides the use of multiple MIDI controllers |
| Active Speaker | Loudspeaker with an internal amplifier |
| Amplifier | An electric device that boots sound to a level strong enough to move a speaker at the desires sound level |
| Analog | A continuous signal, could be a wave form or steady electronic voltage variation |
| Audio File Editor | Where you trim and edit audio wave information |
| Audio Interface | Generally, a device which converts analog electrical signals to digital data that a computer can understand, and vice versa; often connected via USB cable |
| Automation | A technique that is used to make a process such as volume, pan, echo, reverb, or tempo change automatically over a set period of time |
| Bouncing Tracks | The process of turning the product created in a DAW to a mixed down mp3 or WAV file |
| BPM | Beats per minute, how a metronome measures steady beat |
| Cardioid Pattern | Heart shaped microphone pick-up pattern that rejects sound from behind |
| Condenser Microphone | A high-quality, more expensive, sensitive microphone for critical sound pickup of the entire frequency spectrum. Microphone which uses either a battery or phantom power to supply electricity to a capacitor with a metal diaphragm |
| CPU | Central processing unit of a computer. The brain where most calculations take place |
| DAW | Digital audio workstation, a computer software program used for recording, editing, and producing audio files, GarageBand, Logic |
| Digital | Discrete steps, the measurement of a parameter in equal steps to be stored in computer language |
| Dynamic Microphone | Microphone which uses a coil of wire wrapped around a magnet. Known for being cheap, rugged, and affordable. It does not cover the complete frequency spectrum |
| Equalizer | The tool used in order to boost or attenuate (cut) specific frequencies within a sound |
| Equalizer | A device for adjusting the relative strengths of different audio frequencies. Used to boost or cut specific frequencies within a sound |
| Form | Organization of large musical ideas |
| General MIDI Standard | A subset of the MIDI spec that standardizes instrument names, patch locations, MIDI channel assignments, and drum kit note assignments between various synthesizer manufacturers |
| Hammond B3 Organ | Electric organ first manufactured in 1935. It utilized organ keyboards and a Leslie Rotating Speaker to produce sounds. Sound is manipulated by sliding draw bars. Famous in churches and baseball fields. |
| Harmony | The combination of multiple notes used to support the melodic line. Creates fullness, texture, color, or emotion |
| Layered Music | The process of starting with a single musical idea or loop and gradually adding additional sounds or tracks one at a time |
| Les Paul | Popular guitarist/songwriter who created the solid body electric guitar and pioneered the multitrack recording process |
| Loop Library | Where loops are installed and indexed for use in composition |
| Marquee Tool | A plus symbol shaped tool used for highlighting audio wave file information |
| Melody | The main idea of a song, created using one note at a time |
| Metronome | A tool used in music to mark time as a consistent steady click |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the language computers and hardware use to transfer musical information |
| MIDI Clock | A timing code that is used to synchronize sequencers and drum machines |
| MIDI Controller Messages | The use of tools and such as MIDI volume, modulation wheel, and sustain pedal |
| MIDI Instrument Controller | The MIDI woodwind, percussion, and violin controller. |
| MIDI Interface | A device that adds a MIDI in, out, and sometimes thru port to a desktop computer. Commonly used between the MIDI instrument and the computer to translate the MIDI signal for the computer |
| MIDI Port | A MIDI software connection representing a MIDI in, out, or thru |
| MIDI Thru Box | Device which splits the MIDI out signal of a master instrument or sequencer to avoid lengthy daisy chaining |
| Mixing Board | An electronic board that can connect 4 to 72 different signals. It is used for combining and changing levels of various instruments and voices to create a desired sound |
| Monophonic | An instrument that can produce only one sound at a time. Used to create a melodic line |
| Moog Synthesizer | It was the first synthesizer to use a piano-style keyboard |
| Musique Concrete | French classical music in which the composer works directly with sounds recorded on magnetic tape, not with musical notation and performers |
| Mute Button | Disables the audio output of the track |
| Pan | The separation of an audio signal between left or right audio channels |
| Passive Speaker | A loud speaker that requires an external amplifier to work |
| Patch | A specific sound on a synthesizer. The collection of processes required to generate a single sound from a synthesizer |
| Pencil Tool | Allows for the entry of MIDI data using the computer mouse |
| Phantom Power | Often seen on audio equipment as +48V. Provides the fixed charge for a condenser microphone |
| Piano Roll | The screen which allows you to edit the time, location, length, and velocity of an entered MIDI note |
| Playhead | Marks your project's current position in the timeline or the browser. It appears as a gray vertical line with a triangle at the top that is fixed in place unless you move it or the song is playing |
| Polyphonic | An instrument that can produce many sounds at the same time. Used to create a harmonic line |
| Pre-amp | A device used to provide amplification to the microphone so that the mixing board or audio interface can manipulate/sample the signal efficiently |
| RCA Mark I Synthesizer | The first attempt by Columbia-Princeton Studios to create a synthesizer in 1959. It employed paper tape with specific holes punched in it in order to trigger sounds. |
| Rhythm | How music moves in relation to time. Beat, pulse, or groove |
| Robert Moog | Developed the keyboard based analog synthesizer in the early 1960's |
| Sampling | Creating a MIDI controlled instrument from live recorded sounds |
| Sequencer | A device that enables a person to assemble a sound file track by track. Allows for the recording and arranging of MIDI data |
| Sequencer Arrange Window | The piano roll. This allows for the arrangement of individual MIDI notes within the timing grid |
| Solo Button | Click to play only that track. Mutes all of the other tracks |
| Sound Library | Where you select individual patches or instruments |
| Standard MIDI File (SMF) | The standardized file format that allows different sequencers or computer programs to share MIDI data with each other |
| Teleharmonium | Invented by Thaddeus Cahill. It weighed 200 tons and cost $200,000 to make in 1987. It was the first use of the term "synthesizing" to create musical sound |
| Theremin | An early electronic instrument named after its inventor that creates sound from the motion (in the air) of the players hands |
| Track | Separate layers of audio used to record sources individually |
| Transport Panel | Contains the buttons for navigating through the song (rewind, play, fast forward) |
| TR Cable | Two pin cable that is used for guitars and other instruments. Good for 20' |
| TRS Cable | Three pin cable commonly used to connect balanced equipment, speakers, and headphones. Good for 100' |
| Wendy Carlos | Late 20th and 21st century American composer, technician, and arranger using Moog synthesizers for film soundtracks and the albums The Well-Tempered Synthesizer and Switched-On Bach |
| XLR Cable | The cable used for microphones or high quality balanced equipment such as audio mixers. Good for 200' |
| Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer | The first affordable and portable synthesizer which used modern circuitry |
Created by:
grygrvin
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