2023.09.10 – 0983 – The Diction-ary of Voice - D Part 1

DAW - Short for ‘Digital Audio Workstation’ (or ‘Workspace’), said variously D.A.W and DAW (as in ‘door’). The software you use to record, edit, mix and play back your audio. Either a computer which is dedicated to audio only, or a complete multitrack recording system (software) such as Protools, Cubase or Logic. Other examples include Audacity, Hindenburg and Adobe

dB - abbreviation for ‘decibel’, pronounced “dee-bee”

Dead air – silence

Dead cat - a type of mic wind-screen that has long synthetic hairs surrounding it and makes a long microphone look like a dead cat (!)

Deadroll - sound or music that begins inaudibly at a specific time in a mix – so that it will come to its natural end at a specific time through the use of ‘backtiming’

Decibel – a measurement of the volume of sound, abbreviated to ‘dB’. In the digital audio world, it refers to decibels relative to full scale (dBFS), where ‘0dBFS’ represents the maximum possible digital level, and so measurements in digital audio production are generally represented in negative values (say ‘-9 dB’).

De-emphasize – to produce a less emphatic, dramatic read

De-essing – to reduce sibilance caused by high-frequency ‘s’ sounds. A ‘de-esser’ is a plug-in to the DAW that automatically controls sibilance in recordings

Demo - a recording of your professional voice work given to prospective clients as an example of your voice and variety. Demo as in a ‘demonstration’ of what you can do. A ‘demo reel’ or ‘demo tape’ is an audio portfolio of examples of a voice artist’s work

Dialect – a regional variation of a language with a particular accent. So, the English language may be spoken with a Cockney accent

Diaphragm – the muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity and which is the main muscle used in breathing

Diaphragm - the part of microphone that is affected by sound waves and turned it into electrical signals to be recorded or enhanced. See ‘Dynamic’ and ‘Condenser’.

Diction (or ‘enunciation’) – the way you talk: your enunciation and the types of verbiage (words and phrases) you use.

Digital – recording/processing with a computer in which audio signals are broken into numerical values

Digital Analog Converter - DAC. Hardware that turns an analogue signal into numerical values, and vice versa. Anything that connects a microphone to any type of computer has a DAC, including Digital Audio Recorder and microphones

Dip or Duck — to fade sound underneath a track or other audio that is at a higher volume

Director – the person responsible for deciding how a programme is run while it is on air, or in charge of a recording project. The director may oversee or themselves be the writer producer or audio engineer

Distortion – when sound has been recorded at too high a level making it difficult to comprehend

Double Ender - see “tape sync”

Dramatic pause – whenanticipation or tension is created by a pause within a script

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