The Studio Files » AOTD

AOTD: 2/21/09

ConnorSmith — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:12:07 +0000

(not a true acronym, but)

Hi-Z - The “Z” is a symbol for impedance, meaning this stands for high impedance (measured in Ohms). Typically something designated as having high impedance means more than a few thousand ohms.

AOTD: 2/9/09

ConnorSmith — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:30:47 +0000

STC – Sound Transmission Coefficient

This is a number assigned to building materials to provide a means of comparing acoustical isolation properties. The higher the number, the more isolation. (For example, a CMU wall filled with sand would have a higher rating than a piece of drywall). These numbers are important to acousticians when doing things like figuring out theoretical reverb time (RT60) calculations, among numerous other applications.

AOTD: 1/30/09

ConnorSmith — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:21:07 +0000

FET – Field Effect Transistor

This is an electronic component which relies on an electric field to control the (shape, and therefore) flow of a channel. Essentially, the FET is the solid-state equivalent of a tube. the JFET (Junction Field-Effect Transistor) and MOSFET (Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor) are commonly used in audio circuits.

AOTD: 11/26/08

ConnorSmith — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:47:29 +0000

DAC – a digital to analog converter

AOTD: 11/25/08

ConnorSmith — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:09:19 +0000

MIDI – Musical Instrument Digital Interface

AOTD: 11/24/08

ConnorSmith — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:57:32 +0000

MS – Mid-Side stereo recording. This method uses two mics: (typically) one in bipolar and one in cardiod. The bipolar track is duplicated, one side flipped in polarity, and panned oppositely (the “side”). The cardiod track remains in the center (the “mid”). (There will likely be a more in-depth post on MS recording in the future)

AOTD: 11/23/08

ConnorSmith — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:06:06 +0000

CPU – central processing unit… obviously a fairly essential part of your computer :O The higher the speed, the better!

AOTD: 11/22/08

ConnorSmith — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:04:09 +0000

PCM – pulse code modulation (a method of encoding and decoding digital audio using a series of points taken from the original signal at an interval determined by the encoder) WAV and AIFF files are PCM files

AOTD: 11/21/08

ConnorSmith — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:01:43 +0000

AVI – (pronounced like the three letters, A. V. I.) Audio Video Interleaved. This is a Microsoft-based media format. (Its very similar to other audio/video formats out there, such as Apple’s .MOV)

AOTD: 11/20/08

ConnorSmith — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:12:42 +0000

LFO – Low Frequency Oscillator (usually used as some sort of modulator in a synthesizer)

AOTD: 11/19/08

ConnorSmith — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:20:41 +0000

ADAT – Alesis Digital Audio Tape (ADAT is a very popular 8-channel digital connection, also called “light pipe”)

AOTD: 11/18/08

ConnorSmith — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:54:33 +0000

AES – Audio Engineer’s Society

BNC – Bayonet Neill-Conselman connector (note: its not “British Naval Connector”)

AOTD (Acronyms of the Day) 11/17/08

ConnorSmith — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:43:08 +0000

Thought I’d start doing this, both to get me posting daily and to develop a small glossary of audio-related acronyms. My goal is to get at least one AOTD everyday.

AAC – Advanced Audio Coding (Codec)

MP3 – (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) Motion Picture Experts Group -1 Audio Layer 3