The Vocabulary Thread

[The Pezman]

It's been my experience that about half of learning about any major new field is really understanding and internalizing the concepts and terms that are used. Learning theorists like James Paul Gee agree. I've also definitely seen people defining a lot of the same terms throughout various threads.

So I thought that it would be good to create a thread where we can compile terms and words of the DAW trade, to serve as an encyclopedia for those still learning. Wikipedia's articles are often long and dense, and if they're written by people here they can be much more to the point, and link to specific examples in their own or others' work. It might even be the inspiration for a quick tutorial video or two...

To be clear, I only want this to be a repository for production/technical terminology. If someone wants to start one for music theory, music genre or music business terms, please do so.

So I suppose I'll start. My definitions will likely be incomplete (so by all means add to it), but they're simple terms and I do know what they mean.

Gain - Refers to the volume of a given track. Originated from hardware electronics, in which the term refers to the ratio of the output voltage/amperage to the input. As larger current waveforms are associated with greater volume, gain became synonymous with volume to audio mixers, even after DAWs (see below) rendered the physical association moot.

DAW - An acronym for Digital Audio Workstation, which refers to a computer program meant for the manipulation and production of music and audio files. Often, they have the ability to both record audio signals and to sequence MIDI, but sometimes only do one. Well-known DAWs include DigiDesign ProTools, Apple Logic, ImageLine FLStudio, and Propellerhead Reason.

I hope we can fill this thread up with dozens of different definitions. For the more complex ones, audio/video examples would be appreciated. I'll add them to this post as they appear, unless I think more information would be useful, in which case I'll ask for it. Other terms I'd like to see defined include:

Sequencing

MIDI

Quantize

Bit Depth

Sample Rate

VST

Compression

Bounce (to disk)

And to kick the next round off, I'd also be interested if someone to use technical terms to tell me what's going on with the music here.

[ambinate]

DAW - An acronym for Digital Audio Workstation, which refers to a computer program meant for the manipulation and production of music and audio files. Often, they have the ability to both record audio signals and to sequence MIDI, but sometimes only do one. Well-known DAWs include DigiDesign ProTools, Apple Logic, ImageLine FLStudio, and Propellerhead Reason.

I think, technically, a prerequisite for a program to be considered a DAW is the ability to record and edit audio. Programs that support MIDI but not audio don't usually count. Reason doesn't have audio capabilities, so it's not actually a DAW (I'm not counting Record since it's a separate program, I think?). I don't know if this is actually a relevant distinction anymore, but that's the way I learned it a while ago.

[Kidd Cabbage]

Gain - Refers to the volume of a given track. Originated from hardware electronics, in which the term refers to the ratio of the output voltage/amperage to the input. As larger current waveforms are associated with greater volume, gain became synonymous with volume to audio mixers, even after DAWs (see below) rendered the physical association moot.

Wrong. "Gain" is only a relative term meaning a raise in the loudness level (with attenuation being the opposite). The word you're looking for is the loudness "level."

I'm also going to point out that "volume" is a marketing term, and has no real meaning in audio.

[Gario]

I think, technically, a prerequisite for a program to be considered a DAW is the ability to record and edit audio. Programs that support MIDI but not audio don't usually count. Reason doesn't have audio capabilities, so it's not actually a DAW (I'm not counting Record since it's a separate program, I think?). I don't know if this is actually a relevant distinction anymore, but that's the way I learned it a while ago.

I don't know for sure about the details of that definition (you're probably right, though), but I understand you're right about the midi support. Generally, something that support midi sequencing is called a 'Sequencer'.

Not sure what the difference between a sequencer and a tracker is, but I know they're two different things. Perhaps it's the interface?

[Fishy]

Sequencing: Programming a series of notes to trigger samples or synthesizers. MIDI is the most common standard for sequencing.

MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface; A standardized musical data format created as a solution to the problems caused by early velocity-controlled-pitch based synthesizers and to make every musical piece of technology able to communicate. MIDI is the standard way DAWs and MIDI controllers interact. MIDI data itself produces no sound, only information about when notes start and end, articulation information and other data about the individual channels and song. The data must be passed to a sampler or synthesizer to produce the note information it contains.

Quantize: Quantization is the action of snapping data or values to its nearest integer or otherwise value. You can quantize recorded MIDI data to the nearest 1/16th note for example. Digital audio is usually quantized to 16-bit or 24-bit values while it is being sampled (recorded). As the value of digital audio is changed slightly as it is rounded to the nearest step a 'quantization error' is introduced. This error degrades the signal slightly, but usually inaudibly unless low bit depths are being used.

Bit Depth: The bit depth of digital audio is the number of bits required to numerically identify (in binary) each quantization step used to record the audio. 16-bit audio has 65336 possible quantization values for each sample. The higher the bit depth is the lower the average quantization error will be when the audio is sampled. 16-bit and 24-bit are the most commonly used bit depths in modern recording. 20-bit is pointless to record on computers as data is stored as bytes which contain 8 individual bits, meaning a 20-bit sample takes up the same storage space as a 24-bit word but sounds worse.

Sample Rate: A 'sample' in this context refers to a single value of a digital audio stream. The sample rate of audio is how many times a second there is a new audio sample being replayed or recorded. Audio data recorded with a sample rate 48kHz must be replayed at the same sample rate or it will be altered in pitch and speed. You can 're-sample' audio to a different sample rate but this inevitably degrades the signal slightly. The sample rate is also the highest frequency it is possible to store in the data. The sample rate of CD is 44.1kHz.

There you go, all the boring technical ones done. If you want me to specify anything better just ask. Just basic overviews.

EDIT: Here's my one for DAW, I've never heard anyone say that you NEED to be able to record audio for it to count as a DAW. You just need a way of processing it/editing it. All reason does is process audio samples, but i'd still count it as a DAW. I've produced music with it alone, you can't say it doesn't do what it says on the DAW tin.

DAW: Digital Audio Workstation; A DAW is any program that allows you to record and edit/process audio data, or create audio by sequencing to trigger samplers and synthesizers. Some programs specialize their workflow to recording or sequencing. Common DAWs include Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase and FL Studio.

[Arcana]

Some people will claim that a computer is in fact not a DAW at all, and that a DAW is a tool designed specifically for the purpose of making music (ex: a Korg Triton or a Roland Fantom).

Bounce refers to an audio file that you've saved to disk. When you bounce audio, you export one or more tracks to disk for later playback. Bouncing audio is analogous to pre-rendering graphics into a movie.

Bouncing is used often for saving you CPU power. By bouncing, you no longer need to render the track in real-time. In some programs, bouncing an individual track is called freezing the track.

Compression refers to one of two things. Common computer usage refers to "compressing a file" (i.e. making it smaller), of which there are two kinds of compression: lossy and lossless. Lossy compression means throwing away data to make the file smaller. Lossless referes to keeping all of the data intact but making the file smaller (usually with a delay cost).

In audio, compression refers to data, and common compression algorithms are MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, and the (lossless) FLAC.

Compression also refers to audio processing in which you limit the peaks of a signal and expands the lower levels of a signal. You use a compressor for this. Basically, a compressor limits the dynamic range of a signal. Usually, this gives an overall perception of making the sound louder.

Sequencer is a program used for entering (usually) MIDI data. I don't know if it's inherently part of the definition, but most people consider sequencers as allowing you to drag and drop MIDI data to trigger instruments, and as using some kind of piano roll.

A tracker uses a different interface, which usually revolves more around entering note data manually rather than with a visual representation. So entering a note with a tracker usually means that you type in (using a computer keyboard) the length of the note, and what the note is given a text-based representation of the song. My definition could be off but as Gario brought up the main difference between a tracker and a sequencer is the interface.

[Gario]

Ah, that makes sense, Arcana. Thanks - I think I was a little confused because most of my sequencers had a tracker built into them (when I found out Reason did not, I was very sad... alas).

[prophetik music]

DAW is also a term for the workstation where you work with digital audio itself - like, i build DAWs, and i use a DAW on my DAW.

confusing? blame sound engineers.

[big giant circles]

Reason is generally not considered a DAW.

[Fishy]

I dunno, you can still work with recordings to an extent. I've made rock stuff with it in the past loading guitar tracks into the sampler. It's not a conventional DAW though.

[Yoozer]

http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/glossary/

You're welcome.