Every music producer and mixing engineer has their own way of labeling mixer tracks. The whole idea of using short names is all about speeding up the workflow whilst keeping the session well organized.
As such labeling tracks helps to quickly navigate to the most important elements of the session without auditioning tracks and it’s also useful when collaborating with other people.
After all there are some common short names used in labeling mixer tracks and let’s now look into them.
Common Abbreviations Used To Label Drum Mixer Tracks
BD = means “Bass Drum/Kick Drum”
KD = means “Kick Drum”
KIK = means “Kick Drum/Bass Drum”
808 = This one is self-explanatory!
Snr = means “Snare Drum”
SD = means “Snare Drum”
CLP = means “Clap/Hand-clap”
HH = means “Closed Hi-Hat”
CL HH = means “Closed Hi-Hat”
Hat = means “Closed Hi-Hat”
OHH = means “Open Hi-Hat”
Open Hat = means “Open Hi-Hat”
CYM = usually refers to “Crash Cymbal”
Rev CYM = refers to “A Reversed Sample of a Crash Cymbal”
Rev Crash = refers to “A Reversed Sample of a Crash Cymbal”
Perc = refers to “A Percussion Sound”
Snap = means “Finger-snap”
Snaph = means “Finger-snap”
Common Abbreviations Used To Label Synthesizer Mixer Tracks
LD = means “Leading Synthesizer Sound” (often plays melodic part)
LEAD = means “Leading Synthesizer Sound” (usually plays melodic parts)
BA = means “Synthesizer Generarated Bass Sound”
BS = means “Synthesizer Generated Bass Sound”
Synth Bass = means “Synthesizer Generated Bass Sound”
PD = means “Synthesizer Generated Pad Sound” (often used to create ambiance and texture)
PAD = means “Synthesizer Generated Pad Sound” (often used to create ambiance and texture)
PL = means “Synthesizer Generated Pluck Sound”
PLK = means “Synthesizer Generated Pluck Sound”
BL = means “Synthesizer Generated Bell Sound”
FM … = usually refers to sounds made with Frequency Modulation. e.g FM Piano, FM Bass e.t.c
FX = means “Sound Effect.”
SFX = mean “Sound Effect”
KY = means “Keyboard Sound” e.g E-Piano/Electric Piano and so forth.
KEYS = means “Keyboard Sound” e.g E-Piano/Electric Piano and so forth.
