An effects unit that enables a musician to modulate the sound of his/her instrument via a tube placed into the mouth. Historically, talk boxes have been used as an effect for guitars, but they can be used to modify other instruments, as well.
A microphone in the control room carried on a separate circuit from the recorded channels, allowing the engineer to communicate with the musicians in the live room or sound booths through the monitoring system.
A signal processing technique for creating artificial delay or echoes by manipulating time delays with analog tape machines. This technique began by routing the signal to a separate tape recorder and mixing the delayed response back in with the signal; it then evolved to the use of dedicated machines that could adjust the length of the delay by adjusting the distance between the record and playback heads. Today, most tape delay effects in the studio are simulated digitally through plug-ins in a DAW.
Any stationary or rotating device which directs the tape past the heads on a tape machine, or from one reel to the other.
The natural high-frequency noise that occurs on analog tape due to the magnetic particles from which the tape is made. Tape hiss constitutes most of the noise floor that occurs in analog recording, and can be reduced by using tape constructed of finer magnetic particles. (See also “Noise Floor.”)
A length of tape with the ends spliced together so that the recording will play continuously.
The increase in amplitude of signals, in a tape machine’s electronics, at the high frequencies as a tape is recorded to keep high-frequency signals recorded above the tape hiss.
A filter used to simulate the audio heard through a telephone receiver by removing signals at frequencies below 300 Hz and above 3500 Hz.
The rate at which the music moves, measured in Beats Per Minute (BPM).
The act of programming a sequencer or DAW to follow the tempo variations of a recorded performance. Unlike beat mapping or beatmatching, both of which effectively adjust the recording to fit a set tempo, tempo mapping adjusts the tempo of the project (especially the MIDI instruments) to match the natural tempo nuances of the recorded material. (See also “Beat Mapping,” “Beatmatching.”)
1) A point of connection between two wires, including the plug on the end of a cable, and the jack on a piece of equipment. 2) Refers to the keyboard and monitor of a computer that enable the user to enter information and to access data.
A device that generates audio waveforms at various frequencies for testing purposes.
One of a few initial vinyl record copies pressed from the first stamper made, which is listened to and visually inspected to approve the quality before more copies are pressed.
1) A recording of several single-frequency tones at the beginning of a tape reel at the magnetic reference level that will be used to record the program. 2) Artificially generated tones that are used to calibrate an audio system.
See “Total Harmonic Distortion.”
