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mixer
An electronic device used to combine various
audio signals into a common output. Different
from a blender, which combines various fruits
into a common libation.
monaural
Literally, pertaining to or having the use of
only one ear. In sound work, monaural has to do
with a signal which, for purposes of communi-
cating audio information, has been confined to a
single channel. One microphone is a mono
pickup; many microphones mixed to one chan-
nel is a mono mix; a mono signal played through
two speakers is still mono, since it only carries
one channel of information. Several monaural
sources, however, can be panned into a stereo
(or at least two-channel, if you are going to be
picky) mix. Monaural sound reinforcement is
common for environments where stereo sound
reinforcement would provide an uneven repro-
duction to the listener.
monitor
In sound reinforcement, monitor speakers (or
monitor headphones or in-the-ear monitors) are
those speakers used by the performers to hear
themselves. Monitor speakers are also called
foldback speakers. In recording, the monitor
speakers are those used by the production staff to
listen to the recording as it progresses. In zoology,
the monitor lizard is the lizard that observes the
production staff as the recording progresses.
Keep the lizard out of the mixer.
mono
Short for monaural.
mult
Probably short for multiple. In audio work,
a mult is a parallel connection in a patch bay
or a connection made with patch cords to
feed an output to more than one input. A “Y”
cable is a type of mult connection. Also a
verb, as in “Why did you mult the flanger into
every input in the board?”
noise
Whatever you don’t want to hear. Could be
hum, buzz or hiss; could be crosstalk or digital
hash or your neighbor’s stereo; could be white
noise or pink noise or brown noise; or it could
be your mother-in-law reliving the day she had
her gallstone removed.
noise floor
The residual level of noise in any system. In
a well designed mixer, the noise floor will be a
quiet hiss, which is the thermal noise gener-
ated by bouncing electrons in the transistor
junctions. The lower the noise floor and the
higher the headroom, the more usable
dynamic range a system has.
pan, pan pot
Short for panoramic potentiometer. A pan
pot is used to position (or even move back and
forth) a monaural sound source in a stereo
mixing field by adjusting the source’s volume
between the left and right channels. Our
brains sense stereo position by hearing this dif-
ference in loudness when the sound strikes
each ear, taking into account time delay, spec-
trum, ambient reverberation and other cues.
parametric EQ
A “fully” parametric EQ is an extremely
powerful equalizer that allows smooth, con-
tinuous control of each of the three primary
EQ parameters (frequency, gain, and band-
width) in each section independently. “Semi”
parametric EQs allow control of fewer param-
eters, usually frequency and gain (i.e., they
have a fixed bandwidth, but variable center
frequency and gain).
peaking
The opposite of dipping, of course. A peak
is an EQ curve that looks like a hill, or a
peak. Peaking with an equalizer amplifies a
band of frequencies.
PFL
An acronym for Pre Fade Listen. Broadcast-
ers would call it cueing. Sound folks call it being
able to solo a channel with the fader down.
phantom power
A system of providing electrical power for
condenser microphones (and some electronic
pickup devices) from the sound mixer. The
system is called phantom because the power
is carried on standard microphone audio
wiring in a way that is “invisible” to ordinary
dynamic microphones. Mackie mixers use
st48 volt DC power, switchable on or
off. Most quality condenser microphones are
designed to use +48 VDC phantom power.
Check the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Generally, phantom power is safe to use with
non-condenser microphones as well, especially
dynamic microphones. However, unbalanced
microphones, some electronic equipment (such
as some wireless microphone receivers) can
short out the phantom power and be severely
damaged. Check the manufacturer’s recom-
mendations and be careful!
