Three Words

1. EQ - This is an abbreviation for "equalization", which essentially means changing the decibel level of specific frequencies within a sound source. This is used for a wide variety of purposes that range from enhancing the quality of a sound, making a sound more present in a mix, or lowering the chances of feedback in reinforced audio. It is a term that is used often in such an offhand way that it feels like a term that you have to be "in" on to know and it is used quite often which means that one has to be careful in using it so that everyone in the room understands what they are talking about.

2. Boost/Cut - These terms pertain usually specifically to EQing. They described raising or lowering the decibel level of frequencies within a sound. While these terms make sense in their usage, you could use any other way to describe the same action. Still, these particular words are what people in the field use to describe this process.

3. Aux - This is short for "auxiliary", usually the auxiliary input into an amplifier of some sort such as plugging your phone into car speakers. In many cases, sometimes humorously, I have heard it being used as a verb ("Are you trying to aux?"). It is also a term that is used on almost any mixer or in any sound system.


Producer - I wrote about this term last semester, but I still feel the same way about it. This term holds way too much weight to me. In my mind it means many different things to many different people. I feel like some people when they hear the word "producer" think of a DJ, or of a person sitting in their bedroom in front of a computer, or of a ghost-writer. While these are not all false definitions of a modern-day music producer, the term means so much more to me. I think of a producer as being a composer, recording engineer, musician, technician, psychologist. A lot of people as me if I am studying in school to be a producer. While many of the definitions of a producer in my mind match what some of my interests are and what I am studying in school sometimes, the question makes me uncomfortable and I tend to redefine the term to whoever is asking. It is both a too broad and too limiting term at the same time.