L.A. SPEAK

Selected recording engineer lingo:

let’s carve this turkey: v . to get started. “ L e t’s carve this turkey or we’ll be here all night.”

magnetic heaven: n . where erased tapes go.

producer’s button: n . a dummy control that doesn’t do anything except feed the producer’s need to fiddle with the buttons. “We let him work the producer’s button until he swore he heard a difference.”

putting it on the hype speakers: v . playing a mix on big speakers in order to impress somebody. “ Put it on the hype speakers. That lawyer from A&M;’s in the studio.”

red-light fever: n . messing up under pressure. “He plays great at rehearsal, but the second we hit it, he gets red-light fever. “

slam: v . loud-sounding mix, from basketball term. “That mix really slams-- it takes the top of your head off.”

slapback: n . a type of tape delay that produces a crisp echo typical of early Elvis ‘50s rockabilly records.

studio tan: n . Frank Zappa-originated term for a pale complexion that results from too many hours working inside.

tech party: n . when two or more technicians gather to repair broken equipment. “Last night there was so much downtime it turned into a tech party. “

thinning it out: v . taking the bottom (bass) end out of the sound.

tweak: n. an overly technical producer. “That New Age guy’s a real tweak; we spent hours on the sound and it was still terrible.”

wet: n . a mix with too much reverb. “That vocal’s so wet it’s swimming. Take out the reverb and dry it up.”