A-Z of Music Technology concepts

2

2, 3 or 4 beats in the bar

6

60s pop

A

A tempo, Accelerando, Accented, Accompanied, Acoustic, Acoustic guitar, Acoustic horn, ADSR envelope, Alto, Ambience, Anacrusis, Analogue, Apps, Arco, Arpeggio, Arrange window, Arrangement, Ascending, Atonal, Audio/MIDI interface, Auxiliary input/output, Auxiliary send/return

B

Backing vocals, Backup copy, Baritone, Bass, Bass guitar, Beat, Beat matching, Binary, Blowing, Blues, Boost, Bowing, BPM (beats per minute), Brass, Bridge/link passage, Broken chord

C

Capture, Cassette, CD, Celtic rock, Change of key, Channel, Chord, Chord change, Chorus (effect), Chromatic, Click track, Clipping, Close mic'd, Cluster, Coda, Compression, Compressor, Copy, cut and paste, Counter melody, Country, Crescendo, Cross rhythm, Crossfade, Cut, Cut-off frequency, Cyclical

D

dB (decibels), Delay, Descending, Digital, Digital processor, Diminuendo, Disco, Distortion, Distortion/overload, DJ decks/mixer, Drop in/out, Drum fill, Drum kit, Dry

E

Effects (FX), Effects pedals, Electric guitar, Electronic, Electronic drum kit, Electronic organ, Electronica/dance music, Electroacoustic, Equalisation (EQ), Equaliser (EQ), Expander, Expansion, Export

F

Fade in, Fade out, Fader, Faster, Feedback, File compression, File management, Filter, Final mix, Flanger, Format, Frequency, Frequency response

G

Gain, Gated reverb, General MIDI, Glissando, Glitch, Gramophone, Guide vocal, Guitar pickup

H

Harmonics, Harmoniser, Harmony, High pass filter, Hip hop, Homophonic, Hum

I

Imitation, Impedance, Import, Improvisation, Indie, Input, Insert point, Instrumental break, Interval, Intro/outro, Inversion, Inverted pedal, Irregular time signatures

J

Jazz, Jazz funk, Juke box

L

Latency, Lead vocal, Leap/Leaping, LFO, Limiter, Line level, Locators, Low pass filter

M

Major, Markers, Mezzo soprano, Microphone, Microphone level, Middle eight, MIDI, Minidisc, Minor, Mix, Modulation, Modulation controller, Monophonic, MP3 players, Multi-effects processor, Multi-track recording, Musical, Mute, Muted

N

New wave, Noise gate, Normalising

O

Octave, Off the beat, On the beat, Organ, Ostinato, Output, Overdub

P

Panning, Parameters, Patch, Pause, Peak, Pedal, Percussion, Performance software, Phaser, Phrase marks, Piano (instrument), Pitch bend, Pitch shift, Pizzicato, Playback, Player piano, Playlist, Plucking, Plug-ins, Polar patterns, Polyphony/polyphonic, Popping and blasting, Portamento, Post-fade, Pre-fade, Proximity effect, Punch in/out, Punk

Q

Q, Quantisation

R

Radio, Ragtime, Rallentando, Rapping, Record, Reel-to-reel, Reggae, Relative major/minor, Repetition, Reverb, Riff, Ritardando, Rock, Rock 'n' roll, Roll

S

Sample, Sample editor, Sample frequency, Sampler, Save, Scale, Scat singing, Scottish, Semitone, Sequence, Sequenced data, Sequencer, Session log, Shelving EQ, Sibilance, Signal path, Signal-to-noise ratio, Simulator, Skiffle, Slower, Solo, Soprano, Soul music, Sound card, Spillage/leakage, Staccato, Step/stepwise, Stereo LPs, Stereo master, Stereophonic, Streaming audio, Striking, Strings, Strophic, Strumming, Submix, Swing, Syncopation, Synchronisation, Synth pop, Synthesiser

T

Take, Tempo, Tenor, Ternary, Threshold, Through-composed, Time changes, Time compression/expansion, Time domain effects, Tone, Tone control, Toolbox, Track, Track object, Transport bar/controls, Transpose, Tremolo/vibrato, Triggering, Trim

U

Unaccompanied, Unison, USB port

V

Vamp, Velocity, Verse and chorus, Vinyl records, Virtual instrument tracks, Virtual instruments, Vocal enhancer, Voice, Volume

W

Walking bass, .wav/.aiff files, Wah-wah, Wax cylinder, Wet, Whole-tone scale, Woodwind, World Music