Mackie glossary Manuel D’Utilisation

 

2

 

Glossary

 

This Glossary contains brief definitions of 
many of the audio and electronic terms and 
acronyms used in discussions of sound mixing 
and recording. Many of the terms have other 
meanings or nuances or very rigorous technical 
definitions, which we have sidestepped here 
because we figure you already have a lot on 
your mind. 

If you’d like to get more information, there are 
plenty of useful textbooks out there. We recom-
mend the following titles: 

 

 

by Glenn White, 

 

 by Peterson & 

Oppenheimer, 

 

 by 

Glen Ballou, 

 

 by Rudy Tru-

bitt, 

 

 by Dennis Bohn, and 

 

 by Gary Davis.

 

A

 

ACRONYM

 

An acronym for A Contrived Reduction Of 
Nomenclature Yielding Mnemonics

 

adiabatic

 

Literally, it means "not to pass through." In 
describing the high-density foam used inside 
the HR Series studio monitors, it means that 
internal reflections within the cabinet are 
absorbed by the foam. In physical terms, it 
means the mechanical energy of the sound 
wave is converted into heat energy.

 

A/D converter (ADC)

 

Analog-to-digital converter, a device that trans-
forms incoming analog signals into digital 
form.

 

AFL

 

An acronym for After Fade Listen, which is 
another way of saying post-fader solo function.

 

aliasing

 

This is a type of distortion caused during the 
analog-to-digital conversion process. If the fre-
quency of the analog signal exceeds one-half 
the sampling rate, spurious signals and harmon-
ics not present on the original signal may be 
created (see Nyquist Theorem). Careful design 
and filtering before the sampling stage can 
reduce this aliasing to a minimum.

 

assign

 

In sound mixers, assign means to switch or 
route a signal to a particular signal path or com-
bination of signal paths.

 

attenuate

 

To reduce or make quieter. 

 

aux

 

Short for Auxiliary.

 

auxiliary

 

In sound mixers, supplemental equipment or 
features that provide additional capabilities to 
the basic system. Examples of auxiliary equip-
ment include: serial processors (equalizers, 
compressors, limiters, gates) and parallel pro-
cessors (reverberation and delay). 

 

aux send

 

A mixer bus output designed to send a signal to 
an auxiliary processor or monitor system.

 

aux return

 

A mixer input (sometimes a pair of inputs) with 
limited control capabilities, intended for bring-
ing the output of an auxiliary processor or 
other line-level source into the main mix bus. 
Aux returns can sometimes be assigned to other 
buses in the mixer.