What it actually means:
Compressed hard, kept loud and
centered in the mix
Juice
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means:
‘Oomph’, ‘hit’ element, virality
What it actually means:
Authenticity of performance and
production
Official Shimmer
Ambiguity Rating: Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Make
me Viral! What you think it means:
Xylophon-ish, small bells,
twinkling sounds
What it actually means: Original
release with properly filed
paperwork
What it actually means: High end
gain and saturation
Organic Shine
Ambiguity Rating: Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Flowy,
effortless, sarangi, flute, tabla What you think it means:
Loudness, crispness, glossy
What it actually means:
Predictable, simple, memorable
melodies and chord progressions What it actually means:
Frequency boost above 6kHz and
above
Phat Snappy
Ambiguity Rating: Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Boom
boom, huge, thumpy What you think it means: Groovy,
foot tappy, fast drums
Ambiguity Rating: What it actually means: Tasteful
saturation in lows and low mids What you think it means: Not
enough shake and thunder Pillowy What it actually means: Slow
attack and release on percussive
elements
What it actually means: Too
much resonance in lows and low
mids What you think it means: Soft,
fluffy, smooth
Jumpy
Ambiguity Rating
What you think it means:
Electronic music, disco music, 1
2 3 4 beat
What it actually means: An
upbeat performance, well curated
bassline and kick pattern
Knocky
Lively
Ambiguity Rating:
Ambiguity Rating:
What it actually means: Quick
Low end transients
What you think it means: Happy,
joyful, ‘Jai Ho’, claps Punchy
What it actually means: Open
and clear highs with a healthy
amount of mids and lows What you think it means: House
music, young music, kick heavy
LoFi
Ambiguity Rating:
Ambiguity Rating:
What it actually means: Anything
with good attack, high ratio
compression with slow attack
What you think it means: Vinyl Q
What it actually means:
Filtered highs and lows, tasteful
saturation, slight dirt and pop
glitches, forceful sampling What you think it means: A cue
to start your performance
Ambiguity Rating:
Muddy What it actually means: The
range of an equalizer band
Ambiguity Rating: Rubbery
What you think it means:
Something you don’t like the
sound of but can’t find a better
term Ambiguity Rating:
What it actually means: Too
many clashing frequencies or
instruments, lack of clarity, too
much mid information
Nasal
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Sounds
like it has a cold, too much of
1kHz
What it actually means: Resonant
frequencies are too loud, can
be anywhere on the spectrum
depending on the instrument
What you think it means:
Purring, brrrr sounds, dubstep
style bass
What it actually means: Next
to no decay or sustain on legato
notes, quick rests
Rustic
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Folk,
classic, baritone voices
What it actually means: Too
much whiskey has happened
Solo
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: My
time to shine!!, A melodic section
to increase the length of a half
written song
What it actually means: An
instrumental section that
furthers the story and vision of
the song
Sizzling
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Hot,
trendy, seductive
What it actually means:
Frequency boost above 10kHz
Thickness
Ambiguity Rating
What you think it means:
Doubling, bass, distortion
What it actually means: Low
and low-mid harmonics, well
balanced lows and mids
Urban
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: New
age, electronic, fashion show
music
What it actually means: A sub
genre of RnB
What it actually means: Memes
Wall of Sound!
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means:
Excessive over layering,
changing guitar pick-ups for
each new layer, adding another
distortion, hard panning left,
right AND center
What it actually means: A well
created sound or tone with full
harmonics and effective EQ
Warm
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means:
Beautiful, amazing, awesome,
perfect, magic
What it actually means: Grammy
Wet
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Effect
on, more reverb
What it actually means: Effected
signal to make performances
sound natural
Width
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Wall of
Sound!, going around my head
What it actually means: The
stereo field
X-Factor
Ambiguity Rating
What you think it means:
Superstar
What it actually means: A
TV show that exploits young
performers
Yummy
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means: Sounds
delicious, feeling of wanting to
lick the sound wave
What it actually means: A
questionable upbringing
Zen
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means:
Peaceful, chill, delta waves
What it actually means: A very
successful car model
Viral
Ambiguity Rating:
What you think it means:
Something fun, people will share
it, cool new idea
--Mukul Jain (Chief Engineer/Proprietor at
Ferris Wheel Studios)
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
49