Studio History
This early recording device used a cutting lathe to carve grooves into a rotating medium.
What is the Gramophone?
(Also acceptable Wax Cylinder)
Sound is a form of this type of energy.
What is mechanical energy?
This effect is the exaggerated overhyped low end when a sound source gets very close to a microphone.
What is the proximity effect?
This famously dense holiday dessert is joked about as being regifted more than it's eaten.
What is fruitcake?
This count down device is used to mark the days until Christmas and is sometimes with chocolates or tiny gifts.
What is an Advent calendar?
In 1906, this invention by Lee de Forest made amplification possible.
What is the triode vacuum tube?
Vacuum tubes were already in existence, Lee de Forest added a thin metal screen in between the anode and cathode plates, which allowed control of voltage flow, which is what made triodes capable of passing a signal
Sound is recorded onto tape using this natural phenomenon.
What is electromagnetism?
The shimmering sound of sleigh bells sits mainly in this frequency range and can appear harsh if not EQ’d incorrectly.
What is the high or treble range?
(around 6khz to 16 khz)
This treat is striped and shaped like a shepherd’s hook.
What is a Candy Cane?
This angel appeared to Mary to tell her she would give birth to Jesus.
Who is Gabriel?
In 1920, Pittsburgh was the first city to do this.
What is the first location of commercial public broadcast radio (KDKA)?
When using two or more microphones at once, each mic captures the source at slightly different times, causing this time-domain effect.
What is Phase?
When signals are out of phase or near out of phase the magnitude of volume becomes weaker. Signals in phase are reinforced!
This microphone pattern uses phase cancellation to reject sound from the sides.
What is figure-8 (or bi-directional)?
This is referred to as the gift given on the 11th Day of Christmas.
What is Eleven Pipers Piping?
This popular winter song never mentions Christmas at all, yet is the most popular of the season.
What is “Jingle Bells”?
Up until this decade, music was almost always recorded as full performances, with only rare exceptions like Sound-on-Sound overdubbing.
What is the 1960s?
In a reflective room, walls and ceilings bounce sound back and forth, creating resonances (and even nulls) known as these.
What are room modes?
The Grinch does not desire to hear all the happy noises from Whosville. It is too loud for him. What is the scientific measurement of loudness.
What are decibles (dB)?
This is the opening line to “The Christmas Song.”
What is “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”?
This popular decoration originates from a parasitic plant but is now the cause of many awkward moments when two people end up underneath it.
What is mistletoe?
Bing Crosby, famous for White Christmas, helped fund the development of this recording technology into American studios.
What is the reel-to-reel magnetic tape recorder?
After World War II, American engineer Jack Mullin brought two captured German Magnetophon tape recorders to the U.S. The machines and the funding helped launch Ampex, which reverse-engineered the Magnetophon and created the first professional American reel-to-reel tape recorders.
This measurement equals the speed of sound divided by the frequency.
λ = c/f
What is Wavelength?
When recording to Analog Tape sometimes an engineer will overhype the higher frequencies using this audio device?
What is an equalizer?
Analog Tape has a noise floor with subtle hiss, by subtley boosting the highs while recording ensures they do not need to be boosted during mix down, which can help to avoid adding any extra hiss
This plant, also known as “the Christmas flower,” is often red and shows up all around in December.
What is a poinsettia?
This song features a boy playing a simple drum rhythm as his gift to the newborn Jesus.
What is “Little Drummer Boy”?