Glossary Listing for A

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Please browse our definitions glossary of Lighting, Audio & Production terms starting with A. It is constantly being expanded every day. If you would like to add a term to the glossary please send us an email as info@solarisnetwork.com

A.J. Staging / Stages    UK slang for Adjustable Spanner. Also know in the US as a Crescent Wrench or C-Wrench.      more...      A1 Lighting /    A1 is Lighting Industry Forum code for lamps that are origianally recommended for projection. Here are all the codes: CP: Film, Television &Photographic studio (3200K) A1: Projection T: Theatre (3000K) P2: Photoflood (3200K) K: General Purpose Flood Lighting (2850K)      more...      AB Audio / Microphones    A stereo recording technique. Two microphones of the same make and model are located next to one another in , and point in the same direction. The left mic is panned hard left on the mixer. The right mic is panned hard right. This technique has flaws, such as audio reflections from each mic which can cause comb filtering (narrow coverage). This can be some     more...      Aberration /    A flaw in a Lens that causes distorted images, especially towards the edge of the lens field. Compound lens construction and the use of small apertures can reducethese flaws. There are many types of aberrations, including chromatic, spherical, curvature of field, distortion, and elemental.     more...      Absorption Audio /    A surfaces ability to absorb sound. Absorption is rated from 0 to 1. Full absoption is 1. Full reflection is 0.      more...      Accent /    A distinguishing feature or characteristic in design, such as a feature that sets apart or complements a decorative style. Something that emphasizes or contrasts something else, like when a little color makes the qualities of an image stand out.      more...      Achromatic /    A lens arrangement designed to decrease chromatic aberration, for example: to set the same focal length for red and blue light at the focal plane. Also, a color having no chroma as in black, white and grays created by mixing black and white instead of other colors that are made of chromatic pigments.     more...      Acoustics Audio / Mixers    Acoustics is a branch of physics and is the study of sound, mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician. The application of acoustics in technology is called acoustical engineering. There is often much overlap and interaction between the interests of acousticians and acoustical engineers.      more...      Active Audio / Amplification    A active circuit works with an external power supply and usually at low power. A passive circuit operates directly on a signal using the power coming from the surrounding circuitry. This is the reason why an active crossover is, for the most part, placed before amps, containing integrated circuits (and line level signal processing). On the other hand a pas     more...      Adaptor Audio / Amplification    A connector allowing more than 2 electrical devices to be connected to a single power source. These connections are normally in parallel (each device is given the same voltage levels), but current is divided between them. Also known as a "Twofer". 3-way splitters are known as "Threefers".     more...      Address Lighting / Consoles    In computer science, a memory address is a unique identifier for a memory location at which a CPU or other device can store a piece of data for later retrieval. In modern byte-addressable computers, each address identifies a single byte of storage; data too large to be stored in a single byte may reside in multiple bytes occupying a sequence of consecutive a     more...   Buy Used Addresss for sale here    Advanced Control Network   (ACN) Lighting / Intelligent Lighting    A new protocol designed to improve upon on the exisiting known limitations of the DMX512 protocol. It was developed by the ESTA (The Entertainment Services and Technology Association). The Advanced Control Network (ACN) is intended to provide the next generation standard for the distribution of data in lighting control networks. ACN needs to do much more t     more...      Aircraft Landing Light   (ACL) Lighting / Conventional    A narrow beam PAR lamp (28 volt) that is used on aircraft and often adopted for PAR64 and PAR46 lamps. They are most commonly 4 lamps wired in series to attain the required voltage of the circuit as close to 120 volts. ACL lamps have a higher intensity, brightness and color temperature than the standard PAR lamp. ACL lamps are more expensive than standard      more...      Alternating Current   (AC) Audio / Amplification    An alternating current (AC) is an electrical current where the magnitude and direction of the current varies cyclically, as opposed to direct current, where the direction of the current stays constant. The usual waveform of an AC power circuit is a sine wave, as this results in the most efficient transmission of energy. However in certain applications diffe     more...      American National Standards Institute   (ANSI) /         more...      Amp Module Audio /    An amp module is an individual amplifier, usually rack mountable, but may also be a stand alone amplifier.     more...      Amp Processor Audio /    An amp-processor is an amplifier that has other audio processing capabilities like compression or equalization and are often used in PA systems or to amplify mics or musical instruments.      more...      Amp Racks Audio /    An amp rack is any furniture, fixture, or case where multiple amplifiers are mounted in slots or grooves, generally used in touring systems because they are easy to transport.      more...      Ampere Audio / Amplification    The ampere (symbol: A) is the SI base unit of electrical current equal to one coulomb per second. It is named after André-Marie Ampère, one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 metre apar     more...      Amphitheatre Lighting / Conventional    The name amphitheatre (alternatively amphitheater) is given to a public building of the Classical period (being particularly associated with ancient Rome) which was used for spectator sports, games and displays. Apart from function, the important outward distinction between an amphitheatre and a theatre is that an amphitheatre is round or oval in shape (whe     more...      Amplifier Audio / Amplification    The amplifier can be considered to be any device that uses a small amount of energy to control a larger amount, although the term today usually refers to an electronic amplifier. The relationship of the input to the output of an amplifier — usually expressed as a function of the input frequency — is called the transfer function of the amplifier, and the magn     more...   Buy Used Amplifiers for sale here    Amplitude Audio / Amplification    Amplitude is a nonnegative scalar measure of a wave's magnitude of oscillation, that is, magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the medium during one wave cycle. Sometimes this distance is called the "peak amplitude", distinguishing it from another concept of amplitude, used especially in electrical engineering: the root mean square (RMS) amplitude, define     more...      Analog signal Audio / Amplification    An analog or analogue signal is any variable signal continuous in both time and amplitude. It differs from a digital signal in that small fluctuations in the signal are meaningful. Analog is usually thought of in an electrical context, however mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and other systems may also use analog signals. The word "analog" implies an analo     more...      Analog to Digital Converter   (ADC) Audio / Processors and Effects    In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D, or A to D) is a device that converts continuous signals to discrete digital numbers. Typically, an ADC converts a voltage to a digital number. The digital to analog converter or DAC performs the reverse operation.      more...      Angstrom Audio / Amplification    An angstrom, angström, or ångström (symbol Å) is a unit of length. It is not an SI unit. It is accepted (although discouraged) for use with the SI. It is used sometimes used expressing the size of atoms, and lengths of chemical bonds and visible-light spectra. The ångström is named after the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874), one of the fo     more...      Arc Lamp Lighting / Intelligent Lighting    An arc lamp is a device that produces light by the sparking (or arcing, from voltaic arc or electric arc) of a high current between two carbon rod electrodes. The rods are touched and then slowly drawn apart; as the rods separate the current is "struck" and arcs across the gap in a bright, ionized path. The arc produces a temperature of several thousand degr     more...      Artnet /    A lighting control protocol that is run over ethernet. Developed by Artistic Lisence. This protocol can use up to 256 DMX512 universes. This technology can also run over wireless ethernet.     more...      Audio Audio /    Audio is the science and art of recording or reproducing sound through mechanical or electronic means. The field includes many disciplines, such as electrical engineering, acoustics, and music with design, installation and operation of sound recording and reproduction equipment as the focus.      more...      Automated Light Lighting / Intelligent Lighting    Automated Lights were originally used in 1972, but the first computer-controlled stage lighting fixtures began to gain widespread acceptance in the concert industry in the early 1980's. As the digital age progressed, the cost of these fixtures was reduced and they slowly started being used in more 'traditional' theatrical environments. Intelligent fixtures a     more...   Buy Used Automated Lights for sale here    Auxiliary Input /    A signal path that goes back to the sound console for line lever signals sent to a seperate outboard piece of equipment such as an EQ, Delay, Effect Processor, etc, via an Auxiliary Send.     more...      Auxiliary Output /    A seperate line level output from a sound console that is to be used for foldback or monitoring that does not use up another main output. Each in channel has a path to the Auxiliary bus. It is also useful to send a signal to a separate effects processor.      more...