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Daisy Chain

An arrangement of sharing a common data signal between multiple devices. A ‘daisy chain’ is created by connecting the appropriate output (or through) port of one device to the input of the next. This configuration is often used for connecting multiple MIDI instruments together: the MIDI Out of the master device is connected to the MIDI In of the first slave, then the MIDI Thru of the first slave is connected to the MIDI In of the second slave, and so on... A similar arrangement is often used to share a master word clock sample synchronising signal between digital devices.

Damping

The control of a resonant device. In the context of reverberation, damping refers to the rate at which the reverberant energy is absorbed by the various surfaces in the environment. In the context of a loudspeaker it relates to the cabinet design and internal acoustic absorbers.

DAT

An abbreviation of Digital Audio Tape, but often used to refer to DAT recorders (more correctly known as R-DAT because they use a rotating head similar to a video recorder). Digital recorders using fixed or stationary heads (such as DCC) are known as S-DAT machines.

dB/Octave

A means of measuring the slope or steepness of a filter. The gentlest audio filter is typically 6dB/Octave (also called a first-order slope). Higher values indicate sharper filter slopes. 24dB/octave (fourth order) is the steepest normally found in analogue audio applications.

DCA

Digitally Controlled Amplifier. The digital equivalent of a VCA often found in digital synthesisers and mixing consoles.

DCC

A stationary-head digital recorder format developed by Philips, using a bespoke cassette medium similar in size and format to Compact Cassettes. It used an MPEG data reduction system to reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored.

DDL

An abbreviation of Digital Delay Line, used to create simple delay-based audio effects.

DDP

Disc Description Protocol. A data description format used for specifying the content of optical discs including CD, and used almost universally now for the delivery of disc masters to duplication houses. A DDP file contains four elements: the Audio image (.DAT); the DDP identifier (DDPID), the DDP Stream Descriptor (DDPMS); and a subcode descriptor (PQDESCR). Often an extra text file is also included with track titles and timing data. Many DAWs and audio editing programs can now create DDP files.

Decay

The progressive reduction in amplitude of a sound or electrical signal over time, eg. The reverb decay of a room. In the context of an ADSR envelope shaper, the Decay phase starts as soon as the Attack phase has reached its maximum level.

Decca Tree

A form of ‘spaced microphone’ arrangement in which three microphone capsules (usually, but not always, with omnidirectional polar patterns) are placed in a large triangular array roughly two metres wide, with the central microphone one metre further forward. Sounds approaching from different directions arrive at each capsule at different times and with slightly different levels, and these timing and level differences are used to convey the directional information in the recording. The timing differences between channels can result in unwanted colouration if they are combined to produce a mono mix.

Defragment

The process of rearranging the files on a hard disk so that all the files are as contiguous as possible, and that the remaining free space is also contiguous.

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