Glossary
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N
Nominal level
The operating level at which a device is designed to operate. For exam-
ple, the nominal level of a professional audio device is usually +4dBu,
while the nominal level of a microphone is typically -60 dBv. To connect
these devices together we need a third device to make their nominal lev-
els compatible, in this case a mic pre.
O
Ohm (Ω)
Unit used in the measurement of resistance and impedance. Often used
with prefixes to indicate large values, such as “k” (kilo) which equals 1000;
for example, 5 kΩ means five thousand ohms (or 5 kilo ohms) . Similarly,
“M” (mega) is used to indicate 1,000,000; so 10 MΩ means 10 million
ohms (or 10 megaohms).
Optical SPDIF
A standard for digitally connecting two devices together. Optical SPDIF
sends and receives two channels of audio, using a TOSLINK optical cable.
Over
Occurs when a signal exceeds the headroom of a system, potentially caus-
ing unpleasant distortion.
P
Panner
Allows you to determine where a sound is heard in the soundfield. The
panners in MIOConsole3d are context sensitive, meaning they change
depending on how many channels are in the bus you are sending to:
• Mono bus: No panner
• Stereo or LCR bus: Pan knob
• Quad to 7.1 bus: “X-Y” surround panner
Phantom power
A DC voltage applied to a microphone input used to power a condenser
microphone or DI box. Phantom power is most commonly 48 volts, and
should not be turned on if a line level device is connected to the input.
Phase
Describes the position of one sound wave relative to another, or in relation
to time. Let's look at phase between two signals. In the first example, the
two signals have the same phase:
