100 professional words

1. craft: an activity involving skill in making things by hand

2. freelance: working for different companies at different times
rather than being permanently employed by one company
3. in-house: someone whos part of a company
4. in the trenches: To have been through a lot
5. genesis: the origin or mode of formation of something
6. to round out: make something bigger or better
7. impeccable: in accordance with the highest standards of propriety; faultless
8. promulgate: to make (an idea, belief, etc.) known to many people
9. vibrant: full of energy and enthusiasm
10. gear up: to get ready
11. rapport: a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups
concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.
12. full breadth: full range
13. undergird: to secure
14. incisive: intelligently analytical and clear-thinking
15.acoustic: an acoustic musical instrument does not use electronic
equipment to make its sound louder
16.atonal: atonal music is not written or played in any one key (=a set of
notes)
17. bluesy: bluesy music has the slow sad sound of blues, which
developed from the songs of black slaves in the southern US
18. discordant: discordant music sounds strange because it contains
discords
19. flat: singing or playing musical notes that are slightly lower than they
should be
20. harmonic: relating to the way that musical notes are combined to
create chords
21. indie: indie films and music are produced and sold by small
independent companies
22. instrumental: instrumental music is played by instruments only rather
than being sung
23. leftfield: used for describing styles of modern electronica (=music
produced using electronic instruments) that are unusual and not very popular
24. lo-fi: used for describing electronic music that is produced in a small
private recording studio without spending much money
25. off-key: music or singing that is off-key does not sound good because
the notes are slightly wrong
26. orchestral: connected with, written for, or played by an orchestra
27. philharmonic: a philharmonic orchestra performs classical music
28. pizzicato: if you play a violin or other stringed instrument pizzicato, you
play it by pulling the strings with your fingers instead of using the bow
29. polyphone: a polyphonic ringtone is a sound that a mobile phone
makes when it rings that consists of several notes played together so that it
sounds like music
30. progressive: used for describing music that tries new or unusual ideas,
sometimes making it difficult to listen to
31. session: a session musician is paid to play with a band or singer
making a record in a studio
32. sharp: a semitone higher than the musical note that should be played
or sung

33. staccato: staccato notes are played or sung so that each note is
clearly separate
34. tonal: relating to music written in a particular key
35. unaccompanied: an unaccompanied singer or musician sings or plays
alone, without any other instruments or voices
36. unplugged: used for describing music played without electric
instruments by a musician who usually plays an electric instrument
37. up-tempo: up-tempo music has a fast beat
38. accent: an emphasis or punch at the beginning of a musical sound
39. bar/measure: an emphasis or punch at the beginning of a musical
sound
40. beat/pulse: Regular pattern within a bar or measure
41. chord: When two or more notes or pitches are sounded
simultaneously a chord is created
42. downbeat: The first beat in a measure as conducted by the leader of
an ensemble is called the downbeat
43. ensemble: A group of musicians playing together like an orchestra or
a string quartet
44. fanfare: A musical work used as an announcement, often played by
the brass section of the orchestra or a single instrumentalist like a trumpet
45. movement: A large unit within a symphony or concerto. It usually is
comprised of many themes or musical ideas
46. notes: Symbols to represent sounds or pitches and duration of those
sounds.
47. octave: The interval between two musical notes, the upper one of
which has twice the pitch of the lower one.
48. pitch: The frequency* of a note determining how high or low it sounds
(* frequency in this context is the number of complete oscillations per
second of energy as sound in the form of sound-waves).
49. resolution: A group of chords can create harmonic tension. When this
tension is released with a calm chord, or a chord without tension, it is
resolved and is thus called a resolution.
50. scale: An ordered succession of adjacent pitches, arranged in a
sequence of whole steps and half steps, for example the major or minor
scales. A specific scale is defined by its characteristic interval pattern and by
its most prominent pitch, known as its tonic.
51. Achievement: A system installed by Microsoft which awards
the Xbox 360 player with virtual trophies when performing certain
feats in games.
52.
AI (Artificial Intelligence): This term is descriptive of
how smart CPU-controlled characters behave in a game.
53.
Analog control: Unlike digital control, which simply
registers as "on" or "off", analog control is highly sensitive and
takes into account to what degree the button or joystick is pushed.
It provides much greater precision, and in many 3D games it lets
use the same joystick to walk or run.
54.
Anime: Japanese cartoon drawing style typified by
short characters with large eyes. In video games, this style in most
common in RPGs, especially those released in the 90s.
55.
Anti-Aliasing: A programming technique (or hardware
capability) that automatically smoothes jaggy edges, and is often
used for making low-resolution images look more attractive.
56.
Bit: In the early 90's, this term was often used (and
misused) to measure the technical capabilities of a console. For

example, the NES was 8-bit because its CPU could process 8 bits of
information at a time.
57.
Boss: In many video games (especially fighters), each
stage ends with an encounter with a creature or robot that is
typically much larger and tougher than the normal enemies.
58.
CPU: Technically it stands for Central Processing Unit,
but in the context of video games it's a general term used to
describe the elements of the game controlled by the computer
program and not by the player.
59.
Camp:: Technique often used in first-person shooters,
the player will hide in a corner or hard-to-see spot, taking out
opponents from there.
60.
Cheats: Special codes that allow you bypass the
normal limitations of a game. Typical cheats allow you to gain extra
lives, become invincible, access different stages, give players big
heads, etc
61.
Combo: In many fighting games this is a string of
moves that can be executed in rapid succession.
62.
Console: A system dedicated to playing video games.
This does not include PCs or hand-helds.
63.
Easter Eggs: Undocumented objects or features hidden
inside of video games.
64.
FPS: First Person Shooter. Examples are Doom,
Bioshock, and Call of Duty.
65.
fatality: In certain fighting games this is a gruesome
act inflicted on your opponent after defeating him.
66.
Frame-Rate: A term that describes the smoothness of
motion in a game.
67.
RPG: See Role Playing Game.
68.
Respawn: A term oftened associated with first-person
shooters, describes the act of returning to the field of play after
being killed.
69.
Third-Person: Unlike first-person, this point of view
lets you see the character you are controlling.
70.
absolute grid mode an editing mode in a DAW that allows
movement and alignment of clips to specific points along a grid with userdefined increments.
71. absolute pitch the ability to identify or reproduce a musical note
without using a reference pitch.
72. absorb to take in a sound wave rather than passing it through or
reflecting it.
73. acoustic barrier a material or a design that impedes the transfer
orpropagation of sound.
74. acoustic impedance the measure of the opposition that a system
presents to acoustic flow from asound pressure applied to the system,
somewhat analogous to electrical impedance.
75. acoustic piano a term to describe a regular piano that produces
sound using the purely natural acoustics of felt-covered hammers hitting steel
wire strings, as opposed to an electric piano, an electronic piano, or a digital
piano, which use electronics to produce their sound.
76. after fade listen (AFL) a signal taken after the main channel fader on
consoles and mixers. This signal point allows the operator to listen after the
main fader level.

77. aftertouch MIDI data sent from a keyboard when pressure is applied
to a key after it has been struck and is being held down or sustained.
78. allpass filter a signal processing filter designed to change the phase
relationship between variousfrequencies, but keep the level of all frequencies
essentially equal. Sometimes spelled as the less-preferred all-pass filter.
79. alto clef the symbol on a music staff indicating that the third line from
the bottom of a staff represents the pitch of middle C.
80. ambience (1) The sound that comes from the surrounding
environment as opposed to coming directly from the sound source.
81. amplitude the magnitude of change in the oscillation of a
wave(especially sound waves or radio waves).
82. arpeggio (1) The notes of a chord played in succession rather than
simultaneously, either descending or ascending. (2) A chord played or sung in
such a manner.
83. arrange to adapt a written piece of music for a particular style of
performance by voices or instruments. Arranging involves adding different
compositional techniques, such as reharmonization, modulation, changing
intros or endings, and alternate transitions.
84. audiobook the recording of the reading of a book, typically a novel,
but non-fiction and technical books are also available.
85. audio channel a channel or path in a device through which an audio
signal can be routed. It can be a single channel, two channels (such as used
with a stereo signal), or multiple channels (such as used with multitrack
recording and playback). Sometimes called an audio track.
86. audiophile a person who is enthusiastic about high quality sound
reproduction.
87. audio units (AU) a plug-in format developed by Apple for Core Audio
in Mac OS X. Audio units provide for full two-way communication between the
host application and the plug-ins.
88. headphones devices that can be worn on the head that cover or
surround the ears with small speakers or sound transducers that convey
audio sound waves, for the purpose of monitoring or recreational listening.
89. headroom (1) The the difference between the highestpeak level of a
signal and the maximum signal level possible without distortion (overload).
90. high end (1) Slang for expensive or high quality. (2) The upper range
of the audio spectrum, typically 5,000 Hz and above. It is sometimes further
divided into high end (5 kHz to 10 kHz) and extreme high end (10 kHz to 20
kHz).
91. high-pass filter a device that passes signals above a
certainfrequency (the cutoff frequency) and reduces the signal of frequencies
below that. Sometimes spelled highpass filter.
92. inaudible (1) Not loud enough to be heard. (2) Below the threshold
of hearing.
93. in-ear monitor (IEM) a set of earphones used by musicians and
audio engineers for on-stage and recording studio purposes instead of the
usual floormonitors.
94. input (1) The jack or port into which a device receives a signal. (2)
The signal received by a device. (3) To receive a signal by a device.
95. oscillator (1) A device or circuit a circuit that produces a regular
alternating output of current,voltage, or sound at a specific frequency as

determined by the characteristics of the circuit components. (2) A tone

generator.
96. output (1) The connector from which a device sends a signal or
feeds another device. (2) The signal that a device sends out. (3) The amount
of current, voltage, or power that a device delivers, such as 100-watt output of
a power amplifier or a 12-volt power supply.
97. overtone any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies may or
may not be integral multiples of the fundamental frequency, but usually are. A
harmonic is always an exact multiple. However, they are numbered differently
with the fundamental being the first harmonic, but the first overtone is
equivalent to the second harmonic.
98. latency the delay between the input and the output of an audio
signal due to the time it takes a computer to process the signal, plug-ins, and
other processes, as well as using other hardware.
99. layering the playing or recording of several similar musical parts
over one another, either at the same time or separately.
100.
level (1) The strength of an audio signal, as indicated by its
amplitude or voltage.