And on and on. Actually, the rise of multi-track recording changed the industry in a much more fundamental way. Now instead of having to do many takes, if a basic rhythm track could be recorded, each performer could record their part on a different track at their leisure. The result of this mixing is the mixdown tape . Since most songs are mixed down to two channels for stereo playback, this involves deciding where to place instruments and voices in the stereo spectrum, how loud the various things should be relative to one another, and what kind of electronic tools to use to alter the sound.
Compression tends to make everything sound like it's at the same volume.
While we're on the topic of radio stations, they have their own favorite terms. If a record starts with an instrumental passage, the time between the beginning of the record and the first voice heard is called the intro . If there is no intro to a record, that is, the first sound heard is the voice of the singer, the record is said to start cold . If the sound gradually fades out at the end, the record is said to fade . If the song comes to a stop without fading, it is said to end cold .