Beat This definition is not “beat” we normally think of with the rhythmic speed at which a song is played. Another definition of beat is related to acoustics. In music acoustics, a beat is the interference pattern between two sounds (wavelengths or sine waves) of slightly…
Microphones are ubiquitous. Chances are you’re reading this on a device that has at least one, either built-in or attached. How do they work? What types of microphones are used in music performance and recording? What are their key differences?…
Room Mode A room mode is a frequency that resonates due to reflection from the surfaces in a room. Essentially, if the length between surfaces (or the sum of lengths between surfaces) is a multiple of a particular frequency, then…
Musical Notation Musical notation is a visual representation of music and how it should be performed. Modern or standard musical notation makes use of many symbols, too many to list here. For more information see this Wikipedia article. Common Time Common time…
Synthesizer: A synthesizer is a machine or software program which is used to create “synthetic” sounds, or “synths”. These sounds can mimic “real” sounds (like a trumpet) or can be completely synthetic, as in a lot of electronic music. Sampler: A…
Gain: An adjustment to the input signal amplitude made before sending the signal through to the rest of the component. This helps to establish a strong enough signal for the rest of the component to manipulate properly. For example, the…
Agile: A musical direction meaning to play “swiftly” regarding tempo. In this context, it is pronounced “ah-jee’-lay”. Common Time: An alternative name for “four-four” (4/4) time. It can be indicated by the letter “C” in the time signature of sheet music. (The…
Suspended (sus) chords: Chords which replace the third with either the perfect fourth or the major second. Because these chords do not play the third in the scale, they are neither truly major nor minor. Ninth chords: A ninth chord, for example C9,…
Swing Feel: As opposed to “straight time”, giving a rhythm a swing feel most commonly implies lengthening of the first half of a beat and shortening the second half. So where a straight count of eighth notes in 4/4 time…
At our latest “music lunch”, we again discussed some vocabulary words. We have also discussed creating a special “glossary” section of the blog that we can use for reference. For now, however, we are keeping track of them through simple…
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