Here is a small glossary of things you may have read in our Broadcasting Articles section that you may not know of.. yet.

Balanced
Refers to a professional audio lead or input that uses three wires within the cable to carry the electrical signal for a mono audio sound. Less prone to hum than unbalanced (two wires only) inputs.

Buzz
High frequency electrical noise

Distortion
Effect caused when sound is changed by overloading the input level into a mixer, amplifier etc

Frequency
Number of electrical cycles per second - equivalent to pitch in an acoustic sense - Bass sound is low in frequency - Treble sound is high in frequency

Gain
The electrical volume of a sound signal as it passes through a piece of electrical audio equipment - also known as level

Hum
Low frequency electrical noise

Mono
One sound channel only

Noise
Unwanted sound - either acoustic or electrical in nature

Phantom Power
A low voltage produced by some professional audio equipment and sent back up the microphone cable to the microphone to provide it with power - only applies to balance audio leads

Polar Patterns
The visual representation, usually in two dimensions, of the three dimensional directional characteristics of microphones - i.e. Cardoid, Omnidirectional, Bi - Directional

Popping
The sound caused by the explosive force of air expelled from the mouth during speech as it impacts against the diaphragm of a microphone

Stereo
Two sound channels - one for left and one for right

XLR Connector
A balanced, 3 pin professional connector (also known as a cannon)