Terminology

Status: Semi-official, but in desperate need of cleanup before it can be truly official.

Basic MusicBrainz entities

• Artist ✓
  • Artist credits ✓
• Release Group
  • Release Group type
• Release
  • Track
  • Medium
  • Release (medium) format
  • Release date
  • Catalog number
  • Cover Art
• Recording
  • Standalone recording
• Work
• Label
  • Label Code
  • Label country
  • Label type
• Area ✓
• Place ✓
• Series ✓
• Event ✓
• Instrument ✓
• URL

Other MusicBrainz terms

• Relationships ✓
• Alias
• Annotation
• CD stub
• Disambiguation comment
• Disc ID
• Edit
  • Edit note
• Editor
• Folksonomy tagging
• MusicBrainz identifier

Glossary

hidden track

A hidden track can mean:

• a track that is not listed on the release's sleeve.
• a song in the pregap of track 1 on a CD, i.e. is located before the first track (a so-called pregap track).
• one or more songs that follow another song on the same track, usually after a longer period of silence, but are not listed on the sleeve.

See the special purpose track title guidelines and, where necessary, the guidelines for multiple titles for details about how to name these tracks.

relationship editor

This is used to mean two different things:

• The interface for editing a release's relationships, available via the "Edit relationships" link.
• A type of user.

Mix terminology

compilation

Either an entire album, or one long track which contains multiple songs played one after the other. A compilation requires only that the tracks be played one after another. To describe a 'compilation', use the Compiler relationships.

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. A DJ mix requires that the tracks be modified in some manner. To describe a 'DJ mix', use the DJ mix relationships. Note: If the tracks have not been modified, then the action which should be described by relationships is compilation, not DJ mixing. Also see medley, for cases where the sequence of songs involved a brand new performance, rather than the use of prerecorded material.

fast mix

A special type of DJ mix, where a large number of tracks are combined into a single continuous mix, with only a small section from each appearing in the final work. Use the DJ mix relationships to describe this special type of mix.

interpolation

A type of sample in which the melody of a source is copied, rather than the original audio being used.

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 one after the other. 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. Songs involved in a mash-up can be indicated with Mash-up Relationship Type.

master

The recording which will be the definitive copy that is duplicated for the end user usually into other formats.

mastering

The process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a master (the audio source from which all copies will then be manufactured).​ See "audio mastering" in Wikipedia for more information.

medley

A medley consists of several different songs that have been rearranged into one continuous work using the original sheet music or score, and involves a completely new performance to record it. The existing published versions of the song are not used. See Medley 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. The presence of samples and/or loops can be indicated using the Samples Artist Relationship Type (for releases or recordings) to indicate the artist who was sampled, and the Samples Relationship Type (for releases or recordings) to indicate the material which was sampled.

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. Note: not everything called "remix" is really a remix in the classic sense. In hip hop especially, it's typical to call "remix" to a new version of a song with different guest rappers; these should probably not be linked to any artist as "remixer".

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 master from the same original raw audio material.