GLOSSARY
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Tach/Tachometer – A device that puts out pulses as the tape moves in a tape deck.
Tach Roller – An idler, or rotating tape guide, that drives the Tach mechanism.
Tach Signal – The pulses from the tach caused by the tape moving on the tape deck.
Tails Out – A way of winding tape so that the end of the last recorded selection is at the outside of the reel.
Take – The recording that is done between one start and the following stop of a tape recorder.
Take Notation – Writing down the takes of the tune being recorded on a take sheet or on the track log with comments.
Take Sheet – A sheet used to note how many takes were made on each tune with comments.
Take-Up Motor – A motor, which drives the take-up turntable fast during the fast modes and slowly during the play mode, to take-up, the tape driven by the capstan.
Take-Up Reel –The reel that the tape is wound onto in the play mode.
Take-Up Tension – The force applied by the take-up reel motor of a tape machine during the play mode so that the tape is evenly wound on to the take-up reel.
Take-Up Turntable – The round disc platter which holds the take-up reel and reel lock and which is driven by the take up motor.
Talk Box – A guitar effects unit that allows a voice to modulate or control a guitar signal by a vocalist talking with a tube in his/her mouth.
Talkback – The system which allows the engineer to talk into a microphone in the control room and have his voice come over the studio monitors and/or headphones so he can talk to the musicians.
Tangency – The centering of the gap in the angle formed by the tape as it bends around the head.
Tap – A connection in a coil of a transformer.
Tape –Magnetic Tape consisting of a plastic strip to which magnetic materials, usually iron oxide particles, are adhered so that the magnetic impulses put out by the record head are stored.
Tape Cartridge –- A loop of recording tape wound onto a hub and enclosed in a plastic shell often used in broadcasting to record short segments of audio, such as commercials.
Tape Delay – A delay signal that is obtained by the time difference between the record and reproduce head in a tape machine.
Tape Guide – Any stationary or rotating device, which directs the tape past the heads or from one reel to the other on a tape machine.
Tape Hiss – The noise of recorded tape.
Tape Loop – A length of tape with the ends spliced together so that the recording will continuously play.
Tape Machine – A machine for the recording and/or playback of tape.
Tape Operator – A Second (Assistant) engineer who loads, unloads tape on the machines, operates the tape machines and keeps track of the paperwork showing what is recorded on what reel.
Tape Recorder – A machine for the recording and playback of tape.
Tape Switch – A switch which activates the Playback Mode of a console's monitor section; this connects the monitor inputs to the tape-machine outputs, allowing a quick playback of the multitrack master.
Tapeless Studio –A digital recording system/workstation that includes console-type controls (faders, equalizer controls, signal processing controls) and records onto a digital storage medium such as hard disc or optical disc.
Telephone Filter – A filter used to simulate the sound in telephones by removing signals at frequencies below 300 Hz and above 3500 Hz.
Tempo – The rate at which the music moves measured in Beats Per Minute (how many steady even pulses there are in the music per minute).
Tempo Mapping – Programming a sequencer to follow the tempo variations of a recorded performance.
Tension – The force applied by the reel motors of a tape machine during play mode so that the tape is evenly wound on to the take up reel (take up tension) and so that the tape is held against the heads (hold back tension from the supply reel).
Tension Switch – A switch that reduces torque to the reel motors for small reels and allows full torque for larger reels.
Terminal – A point of connection between two wires including a device on the end of a wire or cable that allows attachment and the accepting point on a case of the equipment. Also refers to a computer keyboard and monitor that allows access and entry of information into or from a computer.
Terminate – To have an amplifier feed a resistance - usually a resistor - that matches the output impedance of the amplifier.
Test Lacquer – A term with the same meaning as Reference Lacquer, a recording disc that is an aluminum disc coated with a lacquer coating where grooves moving according to the audio waveforms have been cut into it by a disc recording machine and that can be played and inspected before the final lacquer master is cut.
Test Oscillator – A device that generates audio waveforms at various frequencies for testing purposes.
Test Pressing – One of a few initial phonograph record copies pressed from the first stamper made, which is listened to and visually inspected to approve the quality before production copies are made in volume.
Test Tape – 1) A less formal name for Alignment Calibration Tape (a test tape with tones of various frequencies all precisely recorded at a specified magnetic recording level used for tape machine alignment). 2) One of a few initial tapes made with high-speed duplication, and is listened to for approving the quality before production copies are made in volume.
Test Tones – 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.
THD – Total Harmonic Distortion.
Thin Sound – A quality of sound of not having all frequencies present especially a deficiency in low frequencies.
Three Track – A multitrack tape machine that had three tracks (usually on half-inch wide tape).
Three Track Stereo – A stereo recording or reproduction where there are three separate tracks (left, center and right) and designed to be reproduced with three speakers.
Three To One Rule – The rule states that the distance between microphones must be at least three times the distance that either microphone is to its sound source.
Three Way Speaker – A speaker system that has separate speakers to reproduce the bass, mid-range and treble frequencies.
Threshold – The level at which a dynamics processing unit will begin to change gain.
Threshold Control – A control on a dynamics processing device that adjusts the threshold level - the level at which a dynamics processing unit will begin to change gain.
Threshold of Hearing – The sound pressure level at which people can hear only 50 percent of the time.
Throat –The small opening in a horn or in a driver through which the sound pressure wave
passes from the driver to the horn.
Throw – In speakers and in microphones, the amount of movement that the diaphragm can make (without restriction) to produce or pickup the sound wave.
Thru Box – A unit with one MIDI In Port and several MIDI Out Ports; each MIDI Out Port has the same signal as the MIDI In Port but with a delay of the signal (usually about 4 ms).
Thru Port – A connector that puts out a MIDI signal that is the same as the Input MIDI signal.
Tie Lines - Cables with connectors at both ends, usually run through walls or floors, so that a signal can be sent or picked up from some remote location.
Tight Sound /Hyped" Sound – The sound obtained by close-micing, well isolated instruments.
Timbre –-What makes an instrument sound like that instrument and not another, even though the other instrument may be playing the same pitch.
Time Base – The number of pulses/advances per beat in a simple clock signal.
Time Code – Short for SMPTE Time Code, a standardized timing and sync signal specified by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
Time Code Generator - A unit that generates SMPTE time code signals.
Time Compression/Expansion – The speeding up or slowing down of an audio recording without pitch change.
Time Constant – In a circuit that has reactance, the time it takes for the current or voltage to substantially stabilize in the circuit when the voltage or current is changing.
Timing Clock – An even pulse signal used for sync.) Same as MIDI Clock (time data in the MIDI signal that advances one step each 1/24 of a beat and can be used to sync two sequencers together).
Timing Tape – Plastic leader tape with marks every 7.5 inches used to edit silence between selections.
Toms - The small drums (as little as 10 inch diameter) that mount on racks above the foot drum and the large drums (as big as 20 inch diameter) that sit on metal feet on the floor to the right of the (right-handed) drummer.
Tone – 1) One of several single-frequency signals at the beginning of a tape reel at the magnetic reference level that will be used to record the program. 2) Any single-frequency signal or sound. 3) The sound quality of an instrument's sound relative to the amount of energy present at different frequencies. 4) In some synthesizers, a term meaning the audio signal that will be put out by the unit which would be similar to the sound of an instrument.
Tone Arm – The pivoting arm mounted to the base of a turntable to hold the phono cartridge and allow it to advance across the phonograph record during playback.
Tone Generator – 1) A device, which puts out test tones at various frequencies to align a tape machine or for other testing purposes. 2) The circuits in a synthesizer that make the audio signal that is put out by the unit and which would be similar to the sound of an instrument.
Tonguing – Controlling the start of a note in a brass or woodwind instrument with the tongue.
Torque-Limit Switch - A switch that reduces torque (rotational force) to the reel motors for small reels and allows full torque for larger reels.
Track – 1) One audio recording made on a portion of the width of a multitrack tape. 2) One set of control commands in a sequencer recorded in a similar manner to an audio track and often controlling one synthesizer over one MIDI channel. 3) A term with the same meaning as the term Band Track (the part of a song without the lead vocal or without the lead and background vocals). 4) A section of the magnetic surface of a disc consisting of a circular band at a fixed distance from the center.
Track Log/Track Assignment Sheet –A sheet of paper kept with a multitrack tape which tells which instrument was recorded on each track.
Track Signal – The signal sent to or coming back from one track of a multitrack tape recorder.
Tracking – Recording the individual tracks of a multitrack recording.
Tracking Error – The difference in movement of a playback stylus across the face of a phonograph record compared with the cutting stylus on the disc recording machine.
Trailing Edge – The edge of the gap last contacted by the tape, which is the place on the record head where the recording actually takes place.
Transcription – A disc recording, usually on a 16 inch lacquer, of a radio program.
Transducer – A device which converts energy from one medium to another.
Transfer Curve – A graph of the energy supplied verses the energy stored by a storage medium which is often magnetic tape.
Transformer – An electrical device that has two coils that are magnetically coupled.
Transformer Matrix – A device which uses transformers to take two audio channel inputs and change them to a sum signal, a mix of the signals on the two channels, and a difference signal (the mixture of the two signals with one channel phase reversed so that any signal exactly the same in both channels will be cancelled.
Transient – The initial high-energy peak at the beginning of a waveform, such as one caused by the percussive action of a pick or hammer hitting the string.
Transient Response – Response to signals whose amplitudes rise very quickly, such as drum beats and waveforms from percussive instruments.
Transmit – In MIDI, to send a MIDI command to another device.
Transpose – The act of changing the musical key of an entire piece of music by an interval.
Trap – A filter designed to reject audio signals at certain frequencies.
Trash Can – A place in a computer program where digital information can temporarily be stored before it is discarded.
Transport – The portion of a tape machine, which moves the tape from the supply reel, past the heads, to the take-up reel.
Transport Controls –- The tape machine controls to activate or stop tape movements.
Treble Frequencies – The higher audio frequencies.
Tremolo – An even, repeated change in volume of a musical tone.
Triangular Wave – A waveform that looks triangular.
Trigger – The signal or the action of sending a signal to control the start of an event. Also refers to a device, which puts out a signal to control the start of an event, including a device that puts out such a signal when struck.
Trim/Trim Control – A device that reduces the signal strength in an amplifier, often over a restricted range.
Trim Status – Solid State Logic's console-automation mode that operates as follows: When a slide is at its trim point, the gain variations, fader movements, last programmed in the computer will be in effect. When the slide is moved from the trim point, gain or loss is added to or subtracted from the program.
Troubleshooting - In audio equipment servicing, the act of locating the source of the trouble in a malfunctioning device or system.
Truncation - The editing of a sample playback so that just the desired portion of the sample is played by moving the start and end point of the sample playback.
Tube – A shortening of the term Vacuum Tube, an amplifying device that has elements to send and control current through a vacuum in a glass or metal tube.
Tuned - Regarding a circuit or device, which is most sensitive to a certain frequency.
Tuned Cavity – A cavity that due to its physical dimensions will resonate at a particular frequency, reinforcing the energy at certain frequencies of vibration.
Tuned Pipe Instrument – An instrument that uses a pipe of certain dimensions as a sound generator.
Tuning Fork – A metal fork with two prongs that tend to vibrate and put out a fairly pure tone of one frequency.
Turntable – A device to support and rotate a phonograph record during playback. Also refers to one of the round disc platters that holds a reel and reel lock and is driven by a reel motor.
Turnover Frequency – Has the same meaning as Cut-Off Frequency, the highest or lowest frequency in the pass band of a filter.
TV Interference – The induction (generation of current by magnetic lines of force cutting a conductor of RF signals broadcast by television stations into audio lines causing hum and buzz.
Tweak – A slang term for calibration, or a setting of all operating controls and adjustments for optimum performance of a device, especially precise calibration.
Tweeter – A speaker designed to reproduce the higher frequencies only.
Two Way Speaker – A speaker system with separate speakers to reproduce the lower frequencies (woofer) and to reproduce the higher frequencies (tweeter).
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