Glossary of CD Terminology I - M
Jitter
Timing aberations in the Digital Data Stream (Somewhat equivalent to wow or flutter in the Analogue Audio world)
Mastering
Mastering is the process in which the mixdown of a song is transferred to a medium from which it will be replicated, known as the "master". This process also includes the "cleaning" of the audio, tweaking the high, low, and mid signals (AKA Equalisation), and boosting the overall volume level.
MiniDisc
A recordable digital format. A small disc framed within a thin, plastic casing a little smaller than the computer 3 ½" floppy-disc. The MiniDisc is popular for creating personal mixes to be played on portable MiniDisc players. Uses a sophisticated encoding/decoding programme (ATRAC developed by DOLBY) to reduce the amount of audio data to a manageable level to fit on the recordable disc
Mixing
All of the sounds that comprise a piece of recorded music are recorded onto separate "tracks." The sound levels and signal quality (Equalisation) of these tracks are then "mixed" together so that all of the sounds compliment each other.
Mixdown
The final mixing of a recording, mixed down to the essential number of tracks (i.e.: 2 tracks, left and right, for stereo). The mixdown is used to produce the "master" recording. MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing)A lossless compression technique (no data is lost during compression). It is used for compressing DVD-Audio files.
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