Ch6: Audio

45-rpm disc

a record format that had high-quality sound but held only about 4 minutes of music per side; 1940s

Analog recording

an electromechanical method of recording in which a sound is translated into analogous electrical signals that are then applied to a recording medium

British invasion

the British take on classic American rock ‘n’ roll, blues, and R&B that transformed rock ‘n’ roll and became internationally popular in the 1960s

Compact cassette tape

an analog magnetic tape recording format; 1963

Compact disc (CD)

a digital recording medium that can hold approximately 70 minutes of digitally recorded music; 1980s

Concept album

an album by a solo artist or group that contains related songs on a common theme or story, rather than a collection of unrelated hits or covers

Country music

a genre that evolved out of Irish and Scottish folk music, Mississippi blues, and Christian gospel music and grew in the 1950s and 1960s with the Nashville sound

Cover

a song recorded by someone other than the original artist

Digital recording

a method of recording sound that involves storing music in a computer-readable format known as binary information

Disco

the name of the heavily produced dance club music of the 1970s; defined the look and feel of 1970s pop culture, fashion, and film

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

the federal agency charged with regulating telecommunications, including radio and television broadcasting

Format radio

a style of radio programming designed to appeal to a narrow, specific audience

Girl groups

musical groups composed of several women singers who harmonize together

Golden age of radio

a period from the late 1920s until the 1940s during which radio was the dominant medium for home entertainment

Gramophone

a machine invented by Emile Berliner that could play prerecorded sound on flat discs rather than cylinders

HD radio

a technology that provides listeners with CD-quality sound and the choice of multiple channels of programming

High fidelity (h-fi)

a combination of technologies that allowed recordings to reproduce music more accurately, with higher high notes and deeper bass, than was possible with previous recording technologies

Hip-hop

a cultural movement that originated in the 1970s and 1980s that features four main elements, including MCing, DJing, B-boying, and graffiti art

Long-playing record (LP)

a record format that could reproduce 23 minutes of high-quality music on each side of a record; 1948

MP3

AKA moving picture experts group audio layer 3; a standard for compressing music from CDs or other digital recordings into computer files that can be easily exchanged on the internet

Network

a company that provides common programming to a large group of broadcast stations

Non-notated music

music such as a folk song or jazz solo that does not exist in written form

Phonograph

an early sound-recording machine invented by Thomas Edison in which recorded material was played back on a cylinder

Podcast

an audio program produced as an MP3 compressed music file that can be listened to online at the listener’s convenience or downloaded to a computer or an MP3 player

Producers

the people who put together the right mix of songs, songwriters, technicians, and performs to create an album

Race records

a term used by the recording industry prior to 1949 to refer to recordings by popular Black artists

Radio Music Box memo

David Sarnoff’s 1915 plan that outlined how radio could be used as a popular mass medium

Rap music

a genre that arose out of the hip-hop culture in NYC in the 1970s and 1980s; emerged from clubs where DJs played and remixed different records and sounds and then spoke over the top

Rock ‘n’ roll

a style of music popularized on radio that combined elements of white hillbilly music and Black rhythm and blues

Satellite radio

the radio service provided by digital signal broadcast from a communications satellite; covers a wider area than terrestrial radio and offers programming that is different from corporate-owned terrestrial stations

Shock jock

a radio personality who attracts listeners by making outrageous and offensive comments on the air

Soap operas

serialized daytime dramas targeted primarily at women

Social music

music that people play and sing for one another in the home or other social settings

Streaming audio

audio programming transmitted over the internet

Telegraph

the first system for using wires to send messages at a distance; 1844 Samuel Morse

Terrestrial radio

AM and FM broadcast radio stations

Wireless telegraph

Guglielmo Marconi’s name for his point-to-point communication tool that used radio waves to transmit messages

MCing

the spoken word or rapping over recorded music

DJing

playing recorded music from multiple sources, oftentimes overlapping

B-boying

physical movement, a style of hip-hop dancing; AKA breakdancing

Graffiti art

the visual images of the culture of hip-hop