Mix Terminology

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Definitions

compilation
Either an entire album, or one long track which contains multiple songs played one after the other.
DJ mix
A sequence of several songs played one after the other, each one modified so that they blend together into a continuous flow of music. Common techniques for this include crossfading, beat-matching, beat juggling or scratching.
  • Note: If the tracks have not been so modified, then the action which should be described by relationships is compilation, not DJ mixing.
mash-up
A mash-up is similar to a DJ mix in that the DJ provides few, if any significant new sounds to the music, other than those required to blend already-existing music. A mash-up differs from a DJ mix in that two or more songs are playing simultaneously, rather than contiguously. In general, in a mash-up, each original source will contribute more-or-less equally to the final work. There is no requirement, however, that the entire mix of each source be used; a common mash-up technique is to use the vocals from one song mixed with the music of another.
master
The recording which will be the definitive copy that is duplicated for the end user usually into other formats.
mastering
The process of creating the definitive master audio of any music from the original audio material's final mix. See Mastering Engineer Relationship Type.
mix
The process which, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song.
mixing
The process of creating a final mix. See Mix Engineer Relationship Type.
sample
A portion of one track which has been included in another track. This portion may be manipulated (e.g. filtering, cut up etc.) but will be used to frame the new track. A loop is a sample which is played repeatedly. The presence of a sample or loop in the music does not make that music a mash-up; typically, the presence of one or more samples or loops indicates a remix, if they were not a part of the original master itself.
remix
A substantially altered version of a song, produced by mixing together individual tracks or segments of one or more source works. The artist doing the remixing can be the original artist. The source audio material can be from any part of the process; including the final mix, master, remaster, or original raw audio materials.
  • If the tracks have been significantly modified, more than is necessary to produce a continuous mix, then the action described by relationships is considered to be remixing, not compilation or DJ mixing, and the correct relationships to use would be those in Remix Relationship Class.
remaster
A new master, created from the same raw audio material, but after the creation of the original master. See Remaster Relationship Type.
remastering
The process of creating a new mater from the same original raw audio material. See Mastering Engineer Relationship Type.

For other steps in the process of converting a performance into a recorded song, see Engineer Relationship Class.