Home Recording Studio Guide: Part II: Common Studio Terms

We've all heard them. Every different type of profession has Jargon (slang). In professional recording, it's not different. If you want to be a producer, you have to learn all the terms and know how to talk like a producer. One comforting fact is that our Jargon actually means something, so you'll want to play close attention to the meaning as well as the word. The most commonly used Jargon refers to the various processes that you can place on a recording to make it shine. We'll start there.

Equalization (EQ):

If you remember anything about EQ remember this. It works just like your EQ in your car. Likely, you have at least a bass control and a treble control in your car for turning these two up and down as you listen to your music. EQ is as simple as that, but with more "bands". When dealing with EQ a band is just any range of frequencies. For example, if you have a bass and treble control in your car, you have a "2 band EQ" . One band is the low end (bass) and one is the high end (treble). a 5 band EQ would have a few more options for you as you'd be able to control the mid range as well.

EQ is used for three things. Bringing things forward in the mix, burying things, and making it pop. Let's say that you recorded a song, but you feel like the cymbals are a little dull (lacking in high end, no sparkle). You can effectively use EQ to boost the high end slightly and make them crash a little harder, and "shine". Maybe the bass is a "muddy" (lacking definition), you can effectively raise the choice low frequency to bring that bass up and make it stand out a bit more. EQ is also used for mastering and can be applied to the whole track, but this is usually reserved for trained professionals because after it's done, it can't be undone.

Dynamics Processing (Compression):

Dynamics Processing or Compression is used when you have a track that "breathes" too much. This means that the lous parts of the song are much too loud and the quiet parts are much too quiet. If you're ever recorded before and you have a rocking guitar riff with distortion and hard drums, then go to a clean, soft section and you have to turn up your volume to compensate for the loss in power, you'll use compression to fix this. Be careful though! Misusing compression can violently change your mix and rob it of it's authenticity if you compress it too hard. You want to leave some breathing room to capture the music in it's natural state. This should only be used to correct mistakes, not as a shining effect.

Reverb:

There are many, many more processes and effects you can place on a recoding. I just chose Reverb as a shining example because it's so misused by so many producers. Reverb is something you put on a track to give it "depth". It's not an echo because an echo repeat. Reverb is like when you shout in a room with nothin in it. The soundwaves will reflect off of the walls and cause the sound to become "deep". When soundwaves reflect, we producers call the "reflections"! If you want to hear Reverb (and a lot of it), pop in any CD or record from the 80s, such as Van Halen, Motley Crue, Journey, etc. Listen to the drums and get a feel for the power the reverb can add to a track. DO NOT overuse it though. If overused, it will drain the punch out of your mix!

Check out more of my articles for Part III.