learn how to Supercharge your Career in the Music Industry:
  Join Us
A technique of feeding a single input to both channels of an amplifier, then summing them into one, thereby effectively doubling the amplifier power supplied to the signal.
A type of phase cancellation in which two identical signals or frequencies, having the same amplitude but opposite polarity, cancel one another out. Most commonly used in the context of musical instrument frequencies. EXAMPLE: a “Humbucker” guitar pickup is designed to remove or “buck” hum frequencies from the signal using this principle.
Short for System Exclusive Bulk Dump, a method of transmitting data such as the internal parameters between MIDI devices.
An audio pathway by which one or more signals, usually from different sources, are routed to a designated place. Because busses are highly connected to signal flow, they serve a broad range of purposes in audio applications. 2) A shorthand term for the signals themselves that are routed through the bus (see also “Subgroup”).
Information (data) bits in a grouping of eight. One byte = eight bits.
A group of one or more insulated conductors, optical fibers, or a combination of both within an enveloping jacket, typically for transmitting electrical signals of different types.
Cable that is ready for installation in specific applications and usually terminated with connectors.
A grouping of cables or wires used to interconnect electronic systems.
Conductive protective cover that is applied to cables.
An electronic device made of two plates separated by an insulator, designed to store electrostatic energy. The capacitor is a key component in condenser microphones, for example.
A mechanical part of a magnetic tape recorder that controls the speed of the tape as it passes across the tape heads.
Space-travel definitions aside, this is the name given to the part of a microphone that contains the diaphragm and active element, the mechanical structure that converts acoustic sound waves into electrical current.
A microphone that uses carbon granules to convert sound waves to electrical impulses. The carbon element sits between two plates; as sound waves hit the carbon granules, it generates changes in resistance between the plates, affecting the electrical signal.
A microphone pickup pattern which is most sensitive to sound coming from the front, less from the sides, and least from the back of the diaphragm. So named because the pickup pattern is in the shape of a heart (cardio).
To connect or “daisy chain” two mixers so that the stereo mixing busses of the first mixer feed into the stereo busses of the second.