Audio/Video Vocabulary

Question 1

Bed

Answer 1

a term in sound production referring to the music or ambience sounds continuously playing in the background under speech or scenes

Question 2

Board

Answer 2

a tool that allows combining multiple audio sources into one signal for recording

Question 3

Clipping

Answer 3

occurs when an audio recording distorts because the sound level (volume/pressure) exceeds what the equipment can accurately capture

Question 4

Compression

Answer 4

a way of making an audio or video file smaller while trying to maintain sound quality

Question 5

Pixel

Answer 5

is to an image as a sine wave is to sound

Question 6

Compressor

Answer 6

a means of evening out the sound levels in an audio file. It can be done real-time while recording in hardware or post production via software

Question 7

Gate

Answer 7

a piece of hardware (often incorporated into a hardware compressor) that sets a minimum sound level before any sound is recorded

Question 8

Intro

Answer 8

a short audio or video clip placed at the beginning of a podcast/video cast that may have music and/or an announcement with the name of the show and episode and any other relevant information, such as sponsors

Question 9

ID3 Tag

Answer 9

a part of an MP3 file that allows data about the file to be stored, such as the title, author or artist, category and cover art

Question 10

MP3

Answer 10

a popular audio file format, commonly used for podcasts (episodes)

Question 11

Outro

Answer 11

a short audio or video clip placed at the end of a podcast/video cast

Question 12

Bi-Directional

Answer 12

a microphone that picks up sound from the front and back, but not the sides

Question 13

Buffer size

Answer 13

how much data a computer program can handle at a time. Lower buffer sizes have lower latency, but are more susceptible to crashing

Question 14

Omnidirectional Mic

Answer 14

a microphone that picks up sound from all direction

Question 15

Layering

Answer 15

recording several copies of one musical part to be performed on top of each other

Question 16

Fade

Answer 16

gradual appearance of an image, light, or sound, especially as a transition in a cinematic work, audio recording, or performance

Question 17

Crossfading

Answer 17

a fade from one audio clip or track to another

Question 18

Bit Depth

Answer 18

sample rate work together to determine the resolution of digital audio

Question 19

Crosstalk

Answer 19

unwanted transfer of signals between communication channels

Question 20

Frequency

Answer 20

describes the rate at which a sound wave vibrates, measured in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz)

Question 21

Mastering

Answer 21

the process of finalizing audio for a specific medium, such as the web or an audio CD

Question 22

MP4

Answer 22

format is actually a multimedia container that holds audio, video, images, animations and menus

Question 23

Track

Answer 23

a single stream of recorded sound with no location in a sound field