Brooks RM 909 reviews Beats Per Minute BPM

The number of steady even pulses in music occurring in one minute and there fore defining the tempo of the song.

Fidelity
The recording or reproduction quality.

Brooks HI FI projectors Crossover Frequency
1) The frequency that is the outer limit of one of the bands of a crossover.
2) In the Lexicon 480L delay/reverberation effects unit, the frequency at which the bass frequency reverb time is in effect rather than the mid frequency reverb time.

Edit
A switch that does different things depending on the operational mode that the machine is in:
1) If a computer-controlled transport is in "Stop," pushing the "Edit" switch deactivates the computer-controlled tension system and allows the reels to be moved by hand to find the exact spot desired on the tape.
2) If the machine is in "Play", the "Edit" switch makes the take-up reel cease taking up the tape and it falls to the floor.
3) If the machine is in a fast-wind mode, the tape lifters are defeated so the tape is in contact with the reproduce head and the engineer can hear where the selections begin and end.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews DC
Abbreviation for direct current.

Bar
A term meaning the same thing as the term Measure (the grouping of a number of beats in music, most-often four beats).

AC
1) Abbreviation for alternating current.
2) An abbreviation of the term Alternating Current (electric current which flows back and forth in a circuit; all studio signals running through audio lines are AC).

Headroom
1) The level difference (in dB) between normal operating level and clipping level in an amplifier or audio device.
2) A similar level difference between normal tape operating level and the level where the distortion would be 3%.
3) The difference, in decibels, between the peak and RMS levels in program material.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Input Overload

Sending too high of a signal level into a device so that the first amplifier of the device overloads.

Inductance
The property of an electric circuit by which a varying current in it produces a varying magnetic field that introduces voltages in the same circuit or in a nearby circuit. It is measured in henrys.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews Ground Loop
A double grounding of a line or electronic device at two different "ground" points of differing voltage.

Limiter
A device which reduces gain when the input voltage exceeds a certain level.

Brooks HI FI projectors Capacitance
That property of a capacitor which determines how much charge can be stored in it for a given potential difference between its terminals, measured in farads, by the ratio of the charge stored to the potential difference.

Amplifier
A device which increases the amplitude (level) of an electrical signal (making it louder).

Bass Roll Off
An electrical network built into some microphones to reduce the amount of output at bass frequencies when close-micing.

Cut-Off Frequency (Turnover Frequency)
1) The highest or lowest frequency in the pass band of a filter.
2) The highest or lowest frequency passed by an audio device (the cut-off frequency is usually considered to be the first frequency to be 3 dB lower than a reference frequency in the middle of the bandwidth of the device)

Brooks RM 909 Initialize

To prepare a digital storage medium (like a floppy disk) so that it will accept and store digital information bits.

Ground
In electronics, a place (terminal) that has zero volts.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews Boom Stand
A microphone stand equipped with a telescoping support arm to hold the microphone.

Cardioid Pattern
A microphone pick up pattern, which has maximum pick up from the front, less pick up from the sides, and least pick up from the back of the diaphragm.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Chamber
1) An Echo Chamber (a room designed with very hard, non-parallel surfaces equipped with a speaker and microphone so that when dry signals from the console are fed to the speaker, the microphone will have a reverberation of these signals that can be mixed in with the dry signals at the console).
2) A program in a delay/reverb effects device that simulates the sound of an Echo Chamber.

Fader
A control to control the gain of a channel on the console, thereby determining the level of the signal in that channel.

Frequency
Practically speaking, high frequency means high pitch and low frequency means low pitch.

Line Out (Line Output)
Any output that sends out a line level signal, such as the output of a console that feeds a recorder.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Level

The amount of signal strength; the amplitude, especially the average amplitude.

Humbucker
Pickups that are coupled together to get a certain sound.

Brooks RM 909 A/D
An abbreviation of Analog to Digital Conversion (the conversion of a quantity that has continuous changes into numbers that approximate those changes), or Analog to Digital Converter.

Ambience
The portion of the sound that comes from the surrounding environment rather than directly from the sound source.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Kick (Kick Drum)
Another term for Bass Drum.

Dynamic Mic
Robust type of microphone which picks up the sound on a diaphragm connected to a coil of wire which moves within a magnet. An alternating current is induced into the wire which provides the electrical output. Most dynamic mics have low output impedance of 200 Ohms. See Condenser Mic.

Byte
A grouping of eight information bits.

Full Step
A change in pitch that occurs when moving up or down two piano keys

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Amplitude

The height of a waveform above or below the zero line.

Compact Disc, Interactive CDI
A Compact Disc, usually containing audio, video, and text, which the user can interact with in that the display or playback changes after the user performs some action.

Brooks HI FI projectors Icon
A visual picture or symbol on a computer screen that represents a file, program or disc that can be used.

Error Correct
Exact replacement of lost information bits in digital audio.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews Howlback
British term for the term Feedback (the pickup of the signal out of a channel by the input of the channel or the howling sound that this produces).

Bar
A term meaning the same thing as the term Measure (the grouping of a number of beats in music, most-often four beats).

Attenuation
A making smaller: reduction of electrical or acoustic signal strength.

Digital Recording
1) ADAM : (Akai Digital Audio Multitrack). 12 track recording onto Video 8 tape. 16 bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz sampling rate.
2) DAT (Digital Audio Tape) Cassette-like system which has much higher quality than standard audio cassettes. Widely used in gathering sound effects, for news gathering, and for playback of music.
3) DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) Rival to DAT which also plays standard audio cassettes.
4) MiniDisc : Uses computer disk technology, rather than tape. A laser heats an area of magnetic disk which is then written to by a magnetic head. When cooled, the magnetic information is read from the disk by laser. Tracks can be named, and are instant start. Very theatre-friendly system.
5) Direct to Disk : Uses the hard disk present in most PCs as the recording medium.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Balls

1) The depth and thickness of a sound, usually on the bottom end of the EQ (as in "needs more balls"). 2) The strength of the voice on the mic (as in "check it like you have some balls").

Lift
1) To boost gain of audio at a particular band of frequencies with an equalizer.
2) An elevation device in the star trek series of TV programs.

Brooks HI FI projectors Electret Mic
A condenser microphone where the capacitor plates are given a charge during manufacture which they retain, therefore requiring no external power supply.

Amplitude
The extreme range of a signal. Usually measured from the average to the extreme.

Brooks RM 909 Front Loaded
A speaker cabinet where the speaker faces out toward the front.

Harmonics
Integer multiples of a fundamental frequency, the fundamental itself being the first harmonic, its first overtone the second harmonic, etc. Attributing to instruments, voices, etc. their distinctive timbre.

Equalization
1) The process of adjusting the tonal quality of a sound. A graphic equalizer provides adjustment for a wide range of frequency bands, and is normally inserted in the signal path after the mixing desk, before the amplifier. See Feedback.
2) Any time the amplitude of audio signals at specific set of frequencies are increased or decreased more than the signals at other audio frequencies.

Blending
1) A condition where two signals mix together to form one sound or to give the sound of one sound source or one performance.
2) Mixing the left and right signal together slightly which makes the instruments sound closer to the center of the performance stage. 3) A method of panning during mixing where instruments are not panned extremely left or right.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Keying Input (Key Input)

An input on a dynamics processing device to control the device by an external audio signal.

Lead
The musical instrument that plays the melody of the tune, including the vocal.

Brooks HI FI projectors Insert
1) A punch in of the all of the tracks being recorded in a recording session.
2) On Solid State Logic consoles, placing an outboard piece of gear in the channel by patching and activating a switch.

Kilo
A prefix meaning 1000.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews Close Micing
A technique of placing a microphone close to the sound source (within one foot) in order to pick up mainly the direct sound and to avoid picking up leakage or ambience.

Electromagnetic Field
Magnetic energy put out because of current travelling through a conductor.

ADSR
The letters A, D, S &R are the first letters of: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. These are the various elements of volume changes in the sounding of a keyboard instrument.

High Impedance
Impedance of 5000 or more ohms.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews Humbucker

Pickups that are coupled together to get a certain sound.

Instrument Out Direct
Feeding the output of an electric instrument (like an electric guitar) to the recording console or tape recorder without using a microphone.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Byte
A grouping of eight information bits.

Line Out (Output, Send)
Where a signal leaves the board or component.

Brooks RM 909 Joystick
1) A quad pan pot which distributes what percentage of on signal is sent to each of 4 outputs.
2) A control that is separately controlling two functions at one time.

Lead
The musical instrument that plays the melody of the tune, including the vocal.

Error Message
A prompt on a computer screen telling the operator that an error has occurred.

Hum
The 60 Hz power line current accidentally induced or fed into electronic equipment.

Brooks RM 909 Echo Chamber

1) A room designed with very hard, non-parallel surfaces and equipped with a speaker and microphone.
2) Any artificial or electronic device that simulates the reverberation created in a room.

Cycle
1) An alternation of a waveform which begins at a point, passes through the zero line, and ends at a point with the same value and moving in the same direction as the starting point.
2) On a Solid State Logic Console, a command to have the console computer control the tape machine to play and replay a certain section of the tape.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Condenser
An older term meaning the same thing as Capacitor (an electronic device which is composed of two plates separated by an insulator and can store charge) but sill in common use when referring to a microphone's active element.

Ambience
The portion of the sound that comes from the surrounding environment rather than directly from the sound source.

Brooks HI FI projectors Error Concealment
Putting replacement information bits into a digital audio signal to replace lost bits when the digital recording or processing system cannot verify whether the lost bits were l's or 0's but can make a good guess by comparing the known bits that were close in position to the lost bits.

Foot (Foot Drum)
Another name for Bass Drum (the largest drum in the Drum Kit which puts out bass frequencies and is played with a foot pedal).

Group
1) A number of channels or faders that can be controlled by one Master VCA slide.
2) A shortening of the term Recording Group (a buss or the signal present on a buss).

ADAT
A trademark of Alesis Corporation designating its modular digital multitrack recording system released in early 1993.

Brooks Hi Fi reviews First Generation

A descriptive term meaning original (as opposed to a copy).

Instrument Out Direct
Feeding the output of an electric instrument (like an electric guitar) to the recording console or tape recorder without using a microphone.

Brooks HI FI projectors High Frequencies
The audio frequencies from 6000 Hz and above.

Bank
1) A collection of sound patches (data as to the sequence and operating parameters of the synthesizer generators and modifiers) in memory.
2) A group of sound modules as a unit.

Brooks RM 909 Foot (Foot Drum)
Another name for Bass Drum (the largest drum in the Drum Kit which puts out bass frequencies and is played with a foot pedal).

Charge
The electrical energy of electrons. The energy is in the form of a force that is considered negative and repels other like forces (other electrons) and attracts opposite (positive) forces.

Bi
A prefix meaning two.

In-Line Console
A console with modules that have controls for all console sections in one long strip.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Equalization

1) The process of adjusting the tonal quality of a sound. A graphic equalizer provides adjustment for a wide range of frequency bands, and is normally inserted in the signal path after the mixing desk, before the amplifier. See Feedback.
2) Any time the amplitude of audio signals at specific set of frequencies are increased or decreased more than the signals at other audio frequencies.

ADAT
A trademark of Alesis Corporation designating its modular digital multitrack recording system released in early 1993.

Brooks HI FI projectors LFO
Low-Frequency Oscillator (an oscillator that puts out an AC signal between .1 Hz and 10Hz used for a control signal).

Electromagnetic Induction or Pick Up
The generation of electrical signal in a conductor moving in a magnetic field or being close to a changing magnetic field.

Brooks RM 909 Crisp
Describes a good clean high midrange sound. It can be good or bad depending on the look on the face of the guy who said it.

Equalizer (Parametric, Graphic)
This is used to filter out and adjust specific frequencies in the PA. This is the part of the PA where you have the most control over the band's overall sound. It is also the number one weapon against feedback.

Instrument Amplifier
A device that has a power amplifier and speaker in a case (or in separate cases) to reproduce the signal put out by an electric instrument (such as an electric guitar) and to allow the instrument to be heard.

Lead
The musical instrument that plays the melody of the tune, including the vocal.

Brooks HI FI projectors Full Range

Describes a sound which covers all audible frequency ranges. As in "full range speaker cabinets."

Attenuation
A making smaller: reduction of electrical or acoustic signal strength.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Inverse Square Law
Simply stated, the fact that in an un-obstructed area (like an open field) the sound pressure level will drop to half-pressure (-6 dB) every time the distance to the sound source is doubled.

Contact Microphone
A device that senses vibrations and puts out an audio signal proportional to the vibrations.

Brooks RM 909 reviews Attenuator (Pot)
The electronic dohickey under the knobs that increases or reduces the strength of the signal running through it. When these get old and dirty, they can make popping noises or rumbles in your PA (As in "my pots are dirty").
Assign Tochoose to which place an output is going to be sent.

Electricity
Electrical current (the amount of electron charge passing a point in a conductor per unit of time) or voltage (the force pushing electrons to obtain electrical current).

Half Step
A pitch difference of the amount that is present between adjacent keys on a piano.

Cable, XLR
A balanced cable used for low impedance microphones and sometimes for connections between some parts of the PA. Commonly referred to as a "mic cord".

Brooks Hi Fi reviews In

Short For "in the circuit," in other words "active."

Cancellation
A shortening of the term Phase Cancellation (the energy of one waveform significantly decreasing the energy of another waveform because of phase relationships at or close to 180 degrees).

Brooks HI FI projectors Foot Switch
A switch placed on the floor and pressed by a musician to do various functions.

Active/Inactive Microphones
Scientific definitions aside, active microphones generally sound better than inactive ones, but they generally cost more. They also require the use of either a battery or phantom power while inactive mics need only be plugged into the mic cord in order to work. In most playing situations, the subtle improvement in sound quality from an active mic isn't worth the extra cost and hassle. One possible exception it the headset mic. Put simply, inactive headset mics just plain suck. Active headset mics put out a much stronger signal and feed back much less.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Amplification
An increasing of signal strength.

Grouping
1) Controlling the gain of several individual channels with a Group Fader.
2) The mixing together of several individual audio signals to send a mixed signal out of the console to record a track on a multitrack tape machine.

Echo Send Control
A control to send the signal from the input module to the echo chamber or effects device via the echo buss.

Equalization
1) The process of adjusting the tonal quality of a sound. A graphic equalizer provides adjustment for a wide range of frequency bands, and is normally inserted in the signal path after the mixing desk, before the amplifier. See Feedback.
2) Any time the amplitude of audio signals at specific set of frequencies are increased or decreased more than the signals at other audio frequencies.

Brooks Hi Fi speakers Guitar Processor

A unit that will add effects to a direct guitar signal, including a simulated instrument amplifier sound and (often) delay and reverb effects.

Frequency Shift Key / FSK
The full name for FSK (A simple clock signal that can be used to run a sequencer in time with an audio tape).

Brooks RM 909 reviews Electronics
1) On a tape machine, the housing for and the channel circuitry which processes the signal to be fed to the heads, provide bias, and playback.
2) The branch of science dealing with the behaviour of electrons/charges in vacuums, gases, semiconductors and special conductors.

Amplifier (Power amp, Head)
It's the part of the sound system that actually magnifies or "amplifies" the sound. In other words, it makes stuff louder.

Brooks RM 909 Corner Frequency
Same as Cut-Off Frequency (the highest or lowest frequency in the pass band of a filter). (NOUN)

Jack
1) Anywhere you plug something in.
2) Segmented audio connector. Mono Jacks have two connections �" tip and sleeve, and are unbalanced. Stereo jacks have three connections �" tip, ring and sleeve. B-type jacks (also known as Bantam jacks) were originally designed for use in telephone exchanges and provide a high quality (and expensive) connection in jackfields. A-type jacks are cheaper and more common, but more fragile. A type jacks are available in 2 sizes : quarter inch and eighth inch.
3) A connector mounted on the case of a device or on a panel.

Decibel (dB)
1) Relative measurement for the volume (loudness) of sound. Also used to measure the difference between two voltages, or two currents. See Zero dB.
2) A numerical expression of the relative loudness of a sound. The difference in decibels between two
sounds is ten times the common logarithm of the ratio of their power levels.

Feedback Control
The control on a delay line or delay effects device that controls the amount of feedback.