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Line: Line level is a term used to denote the strength of an audio signal used to transmit analogue
sound information between audio components such as CD-players, DVD-players, input signals of audio
amplifiers, mixing consoles, etc. Sometimes also called AUX (auxiliary) signals.
MD: Abbreviation of Mini Disc. It is a rewriteable magneto-optical disc-based data storage device for
storage of up to 80 minutes of digitalized audio.
Micro: Abbreviation of microphone. (synonym: mike or mic) Is an acoustic to electric transducer that
converts sound into an electrical signal.
Mono: Abbreviation of monaural. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or, in the
case of headphones or multiple loudspeakers, they are fed from a common signal path, and in the case
of multiple microphones, mixed into a single signal path at some stage.
MP3: Abbreviation of MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. This is an audio encoding format. It uses a lossy
compression algorithm that is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the
audio recording, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most
listeners.
Mute: If an audio signal is muted, it is turned off or it’s volume is turned to a lower level.
Pan: Abbreviation of panoramic or panning. Panning is the spread of a monaural signal in a stereo or
multi-channel sound field. A typical pan control is constant power. At one extreme, the sound appears
in only one channel. In the middle, the sound is decreased in that channel by 3 dB, and the other
channel is brought up to the same level, so that the overall sound power level is always constant.
PCM: Abbreviation of Pulse Code Modulation is a digital representation of an analogue signal where
the magnitude of the signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, then quantized to a series of
symbols in a digital (usually binary) code.
PFL: Abbreviation of Pre Fader Listening. (synonym: cue) This is a function in an audio mixing panel to
allow the user of the mixing panel to listen to the music (mostly via headphones) before the audience
hears the music.
Phono: Abbreviation of phonograph. Also called turntable, record player or pick-up. Is a device to play
music from vinyl records.
Potentiometer: Is an electrical device, which has a user-adjustable resistance. Usually, this is a three-
terminal resistor with a sliding contact in the center (the wiper). By moving the wiper, the resistance
changes. These changes are used to to change the characteristics of the audio signal.
Quantized: Quantization is the process of approximating a continuous range of values (or a very large
set of possible discrete values) by a relatively small set of discrete symbols or integer values.
RCA (cinch, tulip): Is a type of electrical connector that is commonly used in the audio/video market.
The name "RCA" derives from the Radio Corporation of America, which introduced the design by the
early 1940s to allow phonograph players to be connected to amplifiers. Now these connectors are used
for connections between amplifiers, CD-players, phono-turntables, etc.
For analogue audio you need 2
of these connectors for a stereo signal. For digital audio (S/P DIF) only one connector is needed for a
stereo signal. The connectors are colour coded: Left or mono -> White, Right -> Red, S/P DIF ->
Orange.
Rec (recording): Sound recording is the electrical inscription of sound waves, usually used for the voice
or for music. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analogue recording and digital
recording
.