Search

A plosive is the strong puff of air from the mouth which is generated when speaking or singing syllables with 'b's or 'p's. if a plosive blast reaches a microphone's diaphragm it can create a large unwanted low-frequency signal and distortion (see Wind-shield).

A mechanical acoustically-transparent screen placed in front of or completely enveloping a microphone to prevent moving air currents from impacting the diaphragm and generating unwanted noise. In studio use a wind-screen is typically used to prevent plosive blasts from vocals or speech reaching the mic diaphragm, and it's typically a large disc made of a two layers of mesh fabric, a perforated metal disc, or an open-cell foam disc. In location sound gathering applications a wind-shield is typically a large fabric-covered frame which completely envelopes the microphone with a volume of still 'dead air'. 

A sound generation technique used in many electronic organs and string machines involves twelve oscillators which generate each note in the highest octave of the instrument. The signal (usually a square wave) from each oscillator is then passed to circuitry which acts as a mathematical divider, producing an output which sounds an octave lower, and this process is repeated for as many octaves the instrument is required to play. In this way all notes are available all the time, and the tuning between octaves is completely locked and stable.

In the context of musical instruments, the term polyphonic refers to the number of notes that an instrument can play simultaneously. Most poly-synths can play up to 6 or 8 notes at a time, some 16 or 32, and others many more depending on the technology involved.

See Bass Reflex

High and low shelf equalisers affect the high or low frequencies, respectively, raising  or lower the level of all frequencies in the corresponding band by the same amount. Consequently, the frequency response looks a bit like a shelf above or below the rest of the audio band. Sometimes also known as bass and treble tone controls.