SQA National 5 Music Tech Concepts Revision

Cardiod

Picks up sound from the front of the mic and rejects noise from the back.

Omni Directional

Picks up sound evenly from every direction around the mic.

Figure of 8

Picks up sound from the front and back of the mic at the same time and rejects sound from the side of the mic.

Hyper/Super - Cardiod

Only picks up sound from a really small area at the front of the mic and rejects sound from the back and sides.

Dynamic

Can handle really loud sound pressure levels. Good for use in live settings as they don’t feedback as much and don’t pick up as much background noise. Used for loud instruments and live situations.

Condenser

Really sensitive mics which are best used in a studio setting. Can pick up lots of background noise if the gain is not set correctly. Need phantom power to operate. They can be used for a wide range of settings such as recording studio vocals, overhead drum mics to capture the sound of the room and acoustic instruments such as guitars, violins etc.

Reverb

Alters the acoustic of a recording e.g. recorded in a classroom but made to sound like it was recorded in a stadium.

Capture

The way in which a sound is recorded.

Channel

The name given to the track that is being recorded.

Track

Each instrument is represented by a named track to ensure smooth workflow, e.g. kick, snare etc. 

Volume

How loud or quiet a source of sound is

Arrange Window

The window in a digital audio workstation where the recorded information is accessed. 

File Management

This refers to how all data from a recording project is stored. 

It is important that folders are labelled and all associated files are sited within that folder enabling easier location of all the tracks within a project. 

Mixing/Balance

The act and art of creating a balance of all the recorded tracks, engineering and processing where appropriate and necessary, and creating a two-track stereo-mixed version of the music.  

USB Port

Short for Universal Series Bus, a communication protocol between electronic devices. 

Record

To store a performance onto a medium so it can be played back or edited. 

Playback

To recall and play pre-recorded music. 

dB Decibels

Measurement of the amplitude of a sound wave. The greater the amplitude, the louder the volume. 

Panning

A way of engineering sounds so that certain tracks or audio can play through either speaker. You can pan an audio track to the left or to the right in the range between 0% (Centre) to 100% (Left or Right).

Rock Music

A genre of music developing through the late 1960s and 1970s which gave rise to many sub-genres. It developed from the American blues and was typified stylistically with heavy sounding distorted guitars.

Country Music

Music from the southern states of the USA developed through the1920s and encompassed both American folk music and music from the western part of the USA. Uses Banjo, Acoustic Guitars, Harmonicas and lead vocals.

Fades

You can either Fade In or Fade Out. This means that the track either slowly enters and gets gradually louder (Fade In) or gets gradually quieter towards the end (Fade Out).

Ragtime

A style of piano dance music that became popular at the end of the19th Century which helped influence Jazz. It is recognisable by the on the beat bass and chords and syncopated melody.

Gain/Trim

Used the Signal to Noise ratio i.e. is the microphone picking up enough sound in relation to how loud or soft the performer is playing/singing/speaking etc. Allows the engineer to bring each signal source to an equal level for recording purposes. 

Clipping

If the gain is set too high then clipping will occur. This is when the sound level is too intense and threshold level has been passed i.e. the signal is in the red zone.

Punk

Developed in the 1970s and was a rebellion against the poor economy and high unemployment rates. The music was loud and energetic and often carried a political message.

EQ (Equalisation)

The process used to alter the frequency of an audio track across the frequency spectrum. Frequencies can either be cut or boosted depending on the requirement of the audio track.

XLR cable

Has an end with three prongs and end with three holes. Can have different ends such as a jack lead and have a small button that you press to release the female end from whatever you have plugged into it. Most commonly used to connect microphones to amps and mixing desks.

Jack to Jack (TRS) Lead

Used mainly for connecting guitars or keyboards to amps. Was invented in the 19th century for the early telephone exchanges. Has a ¼ inch jack which is bigger than most standard connectors. They can be either mono or stereo, you can tell this by whether it has one black band or two black bands at the tip of it.

Aux Cable

A cable used to connect devices together. Most commonly used to connect a phone/device to a speaker or amplifier. Has a small ¼ inch stereo jack, like a mini version of the jack to jack cable.

Phono Cable

Can be used to connect phones or iPads to speakers. Can be used to connect older audio equipment such as keyboards or record players and are used mainly for high quality sound. Can have many different types of ends attached such as a ¼ inch jack. Distinguished by their coloured ends, usually black and red but can sometimes come in other colours.

Speak-On Cable

A heavy duty power cable with very different ends than other cables. Used mainly to connect speakers and amplifiers together. The wire is very thick as it has to handle large amounts of voltage which would sometimes cause other thinner cables to melt or overheat.

MIDI Cable

These cables allow musical instruments, such as keyboards, drum machines or samplers to communicate with each other or a computer.

Delay

Time interval that creates an echo into the sound. 

LFO

An electronic frequency that is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This is used to modulate musical equipment such as synthesizers to create audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo and phasing.

Noise Gate

A signal-activated switch.

If a signal reaches a preset threshold, it opens and allows the signal to pass through. If the threshold is not met, the gate stays shut, eliminating any lower level noise or hiss.

Chorus (effect)

An effect whereby short delays and slight modulations are added to a signal to make it sound as if there is more than one player.

It therefore applies a detuning effect, which can be detrimental to some instruments (for example the acoustic piano) but can be very effective on others (for example the electric guitar).

General MIDI

A digital language that enables devices to talk to one another in a standardised format.

Quantisation

MIDI notes can be moved either backwards or forwards, making them rhythmically accurate. They can also be 'snapped' to a specific rhythm, for example quavers or triplets.

Peak

The maximum level of any signal.

Latency

The delay between a signal going into a processor and coming back out again.

Synthesiser

This instrument has no acoustic properties, but relies on electronics to generate all its sounds. It can imitate existing instruments like piano, flute or guitar; natural sounds like ocean waves or wind; or create completely new sounds.

Gated Reverb

An effect whereby a noise gate is applied to the output of a reverb processor.

The natural decay of the reverb is therefore cut off sharply, resulting in a rather startling unfinished sound. The effect is most often used on drums and gives a powerful, if slightly obvious, sound.