Glossary

Bank

A switchable page of controller assignments, so one physical encoder can address several parameters.Ableton · Controllers

Bit depth

How finely each sample's amplitude is stored. A 24-bit recording workflow provides generous level range, which makes conservative recording levels practical.Recording

Cent

One hundredth of a semitone. Audibility depends on the source, register, duration and surrounding sounds.Sound Design

Collect All and Save

The Live command that copies every referenced sample into the project folder. The one step that decides whether a set opens on another machine.Ableton · Production

Endless encoder

A rotary control with no fixed start or end position. It can reduce value jumps when the controller mode and software mapping are configured for it.Controllers

Formant

The resonance that gives a source its character. Transposing a sample too far moves it, which is why a repitched voice sounds artificial.Sound Design

Freezing

Rendering a track to audio in place so its plug-ins stop consuming CPU, while remaining reversible.Production

Gain staging

Setting level at every stage so nothing clips and nothing sits so low that noise becomes audible later.Recording

Headroom

The distance between the loudest part of a signal and the point at which it clips.Recording

LUFS

Loudness Units relative to Full Scale, used to describe programme loudness. Delivery specifications and platforms may set their own targets or normalisation behaviour.Music for Media

Master rights

The rights in a specific recording, as distinct from the rights in the underlying composition. Both are usually needed.Music for Media

Max for Live

The visual programming environment bundled with Live Suite, used to build devices that run inside a Live set.Ableton

Pre-delay

The gap between a dry signal and the first reflections of a reverb. Long enough keeps the transient clear; too long and the effect detaches.Production

Proximity effect

The bass lift that appears as a directional microphone moves closer to a source. A tone control, once you know it is there.Recording

Room mode

A standing wave at a frequency whose wavelength fits a dimension of the room, making some notes far louder in some positions.Recording

Round-robin

Cycling through several recordings of the same note so repeats do not sound identical. Random selection can repeat; cyclic selection cannot.Sound Design

Sample rate

How many times per second the waveform is measured. Playing a file at the wrong rate shifts both its pitch and its length.Recording · Sound Design

Stem

A submix of one element or group delivered separately, so it can be rebalanced downstream without a remix.Music for Media

Sync licence

Permission to synchronise a composition with moving images. Separate from the right to use a particular recording of it.Music for Media

Time-stretching

Changing a sample's length without changing its pitch. It costs artefacts, which is the trade resampling avoids.Sound Design

Underscore

A version mixed to sit beneath dialogue, usually with the melodic lead reduced or removed.Music for Media

Velocity layer

A separate recording used across a range of playing strengths, so dynamics change timbre rather than only volume.Sound Design

Zero crossing

The point where a waveform passes through silence. Cutting there avoids the click a mid-waveform edit produces.Sound Design

A term is added here when it appears in a guide and would otherwise need explaining twice. Suggestions are welcome viacontact.