Glossary
Sound Engineer Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential sound engineer terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key sound engineer vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in sound engineer training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Clipping
- Distortion from too-high levels.
- Compression
- Reducing dynamic range.
- DAW
- Digital audio workstation.
- EQ
- Equalization to adjust frequencies.
- Feedback
- A loop that causes squealing.
- Front of house (FOH)
- The main live mix for the audience.
- Gain staging
- Setting levels at each stage.
- Latency
- Delay in audio processing.
- Mastering
- Final polishing for release.
- Mixing
- Balancing tracks.
- Monitor mix
- Sound performers hear on stage.
- Phantom power
- Power for condenser microphones.
- Reverb
- Simulated room sound.
- Signal flow
- The path sound travels through equipment.
- Stem
- A grouped audio track.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Sound Engineer practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Sound Engineer training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.