EARLY AUDIO TERMS:07

1.Board: a piece of equipment that allows you to mix sounds from various sources (microphones, CD players, computers, tape

players, etc.) (also known as an audio mixer or audio console)
2.Mixer: (another term for board and console)
3.Console: (another term for board and mixer)
4.Pot: the knob or slider (fader) that controls how much sound goes from one piece of equipment into the board.
5.Pot up: using the pot to increase the amount of sound going from one piece of equipment into the board.
6.Pot down: using the pot to decrease the amount of sound going from one piece of equipment into the board.
7.Toggle switch: a button or switch that turns the pot on or off.
8.Master: controls the amount of sound going into the ENTIRE board.
9.Monitor: allows you to hear what is going out of the board (for live radio, what is going out over the air.)
10.Cue: allows you to hear something “off air.” You can preview or audition something , but it will not be heard on air.
11.“CUEing Up”: getting something ready to be played on the air (like cueing up a tape).
12.Cue Volume: a button or knob that controls how loud you hear what you are previewing (cueing up).
13.Remote: a broadcast that originates away from the main studio.
14.VU Meter: measures how much sound is going into the board.
15.“Peak in the Red”: Perfect modulation (perfect sound)….The VU Meter goes in the red only occasionally, at the highest

point of sound. It does not stay in the red.

16.Overmodulation: Too much sound going into the board; the VU Meter is likely in the red too much. The engineer should pot down.
17.Distortion: bad sound caused by overmodulation…
18.Segue: (Pronounced Segg-Way): a transition from one song to another in which the first song ends abruptly (cold) and the second

song begins just as abruptly. There is no fading at the end of the first song or at the beginning of the second song.
19.Cross Fade: a transition from one song to another in which the engineer fades the first song down as he/she is fading the second

song up. There is a slight overlap of sound in the transition from the first song to the second song.
20.Program log: a legal document used to keep track of all that goes out over the air.
21.Announcer: a person who talks on the air during a radio show (show host, deejay, etc).
22.Engineer: a person who runs the equipment; the person who is running the board (known as “on the board.”)
23.Spot: a prepared message like a commercial, a public service announcement, a promo, etc. (can be live or produced).
24.PSA: Public Service Announcement; a public, not-for-profit message which gives the audience important information or

persaudes the audience to take important action (don’t drink and drive, don’t smoke, how to prevent heart disease, aids prevention, safe sex, etc.)
25.Community Datebook: a public, not-for-profit message about a local event, usually for a good cause.
26.Kill date: The last possible day to use something on the air (spot, datebook, script, news story, etc.)
27.Ad-lib: unscripted speech…..In radio, these are often planned even though they are not scripted.
28.Live read: Something that is read on the air; it is not recorded ahead of time.
29.Station I-D: Anything done on-air to let the audience know to what station it is listening (anything that identifies the station).
30.Legal Station I—D: According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) all stations must do a legal I-D at the top of

every hour. According to the FCC, a legal I-D must consist of the station’s call letters and the location of its

transmitter. That means, for our school radio station, an FCC legal I-D is: “W—W—P—H, Princeton Junction”

AUDIO TERMS LIST---207

  1. Combo Operator: radio staff member that engineers (board op) AND talks on air.
  1. Promo: a spot that advertises something about the station on which it is being played.
  1. Set: a group of songs (2 or more).
  1. Stop set: a group of spots (2 or more).
  1. Bumper: a short piece of production that identifies the station in some way AND is played when you go from a song to a spot OR from a spot to a song. It is one way to avoid “crashing.”
  1. Sweeper: a short piece of production that identifies the station in some way AND is played when you go from one song to another song. It is one way to transition from song to song. (other ways: talk, segue, crossfade, etc.)
  1. Crash: When an engineer goes directly from a song to a spot with nothing in-between OR from a spot to a song with nothing in-between. AVOID DOING THIS !!!! (Instead transition with a bumper or by talking and I-Ding the station in some way.
  1. Music Bed: A segment of instrumental music (not a whole song) used to speak over….
  1. Talk Over: When an announcer “speaks over a music bed.” (The music is under the talking….)
  1. Talk Up: When an announcer (DJ) speaks over the instrumental INTRO to a song.
  1. Talk Up That Hits The Post: When the talk up lasts until the first lyric. The DJ stops talking just as

the lyrics kick in.

  1. Intro (for a song) (also known as the “IN”): The instrumental beginning to a song…(written as a time; if there is no intro, then the time is :00; if the intro is twelve seconds then it is written as :12; etc.
  1. Outro (for a song) (also knows as the “OUT”): How a song ends….Written as either FADE(song on its own gets lower and lower as it ends) or COLD(song ends abruptly, just as loud as the rest of the song.
  1. Back Time: When the engineer looks at the clock and looks at the log and mathematically figures out how to fit everything in his/her show….how long to talk, how long the songs can be, etc.
  1. Back Announce: After playing a “set” (group of songs), the DJ tells the audience the titles and artists for each song that was played in the set.
  1. Stand by: The engineer says this to get everyone quiet and ready before a microphone is turned on.
  1. Sound bite: a segment of produced or recorded sound (usually voice)
  1. Actuality: A news term for a sound bite that is ONLY the voice of a NEWSMAKER (person in the actual news)
  1. Voicer: A news term for a news report that is ONLY the voice of a news reporter.
  1. Wrapper: A news term for a report that is a combination of the Voice of the reporter AND the voice of a NEWSMAKER (person in the actual news). Usually, you hear the reporter, then the newsmaker and then the reporter again.
  1. OUTRO (to a sound bite, NOT to a song):
  1. Lead: The first sentence of a broadcast news story. It usually gets attention and leads to a fact. It sets up the listener for the important facts to come. At 107.9—FM, we do not use names or numbers in the lead. We do not use past tense in the lead. We look for a local, current angle. We try to tell the audience what is going on NOW OR IN THE FUTURE.
  1. Unidirectional Microphone: picks up sound from ONE DIRECTION.
  2. Bi-Directional Microphone: picks up sound from two directions (good for 2-person interviews)
  3. Omni-directional microphone: picks up sound from many or all directions (good for background sound.)
  4. Lavalier Microphone: small microphone that hangs around neck or can be attached to lapel (shirt, etc.)
  5. Copy: Anything written to be “read on the air” or “read in production” (news copy, commercial copy, etc.)
  6. Copy Writer: A person that writes “copy” (usually refers to commercial copy)