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The Audio Production Terms You Need To Know

June 10, 2024

The Audio Production Terms You Need To Know

Looking to get started as a music producer? Here’s some key terms I’ve put together that you’ll need to know! To get an idea of how to set up equipment and get it running smoothly, check out my quick studio setup blogs here and here! As always, let me know if you have any questions as this can be somewhat overwhelming and complicated!


Recording Terms

  • Track (noun) - The location that audio is recorded to on your DAW
  • Track (verb) - The process of recording audio onto a track (noun)
  • Arm - Preparing a track to record audio
  • Solo - Isolating a track for the purpose of listening only to the audio on the track
  • Mute - Disabling the audio output of a track
  • Gain - The amount of amplification your mic’s signal is boosted or cut
  • Input - Where audio is being recieved
  • Output - Where recorded audio is going
  • Monitor (verb) - The act of listening to audio as it is being recorded
  • Phantom Power - Voltage that is sent to specific microphones to power the microphone


Feeling a bit overwhelmed? That’s totally normal! You’ll get the hang of this pretty quickly once you start building your own setup. My recommendation for you would be to briefly read this blog and then get started on your own. You can always come back to reference something here later if you don’t understand it! Let’s dive back in.

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Post Production

  • Mixing - The action of editing and putting together multiple tracks of audio into one final master track
  • Mastering - The action of polishing and editing a master track with the intent of making it radio ready quality
  • Levels - How loud audio in a specific track is
  • EQ - Equalizer. EQs allow you to turn up or down portions of the audio spectrum (lows, low mids, mids, high mids, highs)
  • Compressor - Compressors allow you to adjust the dynamic range of audio. It reins back the loudness of audio above a certain threshold
  • Reverb - Reverberation. The audio that lingers around in a space after the source audio has finished. Imagine singing in a small bathroom or the shower
  • Delay - Audio that is repeated after its source has finished
  • Bus/Group - A group of tracks. Can be with or without audio effects


Phew! Let me catch my breath real quick. You’re almost there! We just went over post production terms. These are terms that you’ll use a lot, so you’ll learn these in no time with repetition! Lastly, let’s go over the basic equipment you’ll need.

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Equipment

  • TS (1/4" Cable) - This is a standard instrument cable and sends a single channel of audio. This cable can carry audio up to 25 feet without signal degradation
  • TRS (Dual Channel 1/4" Cable) - This is a stereo instrument cable and sends two channels of audio. This cable can carry audio up to 25 feet without signal degradation.
  • XLR (Mic Cable) - This cable plugs into a microphone and carries one channel of Audio. This cable can carry audio up to 300 feet without signal degradation.
  • Interface - Converts analog audio from your microphone into digital audio which is readable by your computer and DAW
  • Monitors (Speakers) - Speakers that cover the full audio range and allow you to hear audio edits better.

I hope this was helpful for you! This blog covers most of the terms you’ll need to know as you create music. If you’d like to dive in more, here’s a list of keyboard shortcuts you can use inside Logic and Ableton. Almost every DAW has their own set of these. They’re a huge time saver!

As always, feel free to hit me up with any questions you may have. I’m here to help you succeed.

Spike

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