Guides
The short answer
Plain-English meanings of the words you'll see on an AV quote, from line array and pixel pitch to truss, haze and confidence monitor.
A to Z
- Cold sparks
- Spark fountains made for indoor events, fired up from the stage floor for openings, reveals and finales.
- Column speaker
- A tall, slim speaker that sends speech further into a room without being loud at the front.
- Confidence monitor
- A screen at the front of the stage, facing the speaker, that shows their slides and notes.
- Delay speakers
- Extra speakers further back in a big room or crowd, timed so their sound arrives with the main PA.
- Front of house (FOH)
- The sound desk out in the audience, and the engineer who mixes the show from there.
- Gobo
- A cut-out pattern in front of a light that projects a logo or a texture onto a wall, floor or ceiling.
- Haze
- A fine mist that makes light beams visible in the air.
- Headset mic
- A small mic on a band around the ear, for presenters who walk around and use their hands.
- Lapel mic
- A small clip-on mic, with a transmitter pack on the belt.
- LED wall
- A screen built from LED panels, sized and shaped to the stage.
- Line array
- A column of speakers hung in a gentle curve, often flown from truss, that sends sound evenly to the back of a big crowd.
- Load-in and load-out
- Load-in is when the crew brings in and builds the kit. Load-out is the pack-down.
- Moving head
- A light that pans, tilts and changes colour on cue.
- Multiview
- One screen that shows every camera, slide and video source at once, used to run a live production.
- Pixel bar
- An LED bar along truss that adds colour and movement.
- Pixel pitch
- The distance between the LEDs on a screen, in millimetres. Smaller is sharper up close.
- Projection screen
- A screen that a projector throws its picture onto, from the front or from behind.
- Rigging
- Hanging speakers, lights and screens safely from truss or the venue's roof.
- Run of show
- The timed plan for an event, with every speech, award and cue in order.
- Stage monitor (wedge)
- A speaker on the stage floor, facing the performers, so they can hear themselves.
- Subwoofer (sub)
- A speaker for the low notes: the bass you feel, for DJs and bands.
- Switcher (vision mixer)
- The desk that cuts between cameras, slides and video during a show or a live stream.
- Throw distance
- How far a projector has to be from the screen to fill it.
- Truss
- The aluminium frame that lights, screens and branding hang from.
- Uplighter
- A light at the foot of a wall that colours it from the floor up.
- Wash light
- A light that floods the stage, the walls or the ceiling with even colour.
- Wireless handheld mic
- The mic people hold, for MCs, speeches and questions from the floor.
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