Hi glupson
Referencing is a recording term we used as far back as the late 70’s that I can remember. I’ve probably explained this a couple of times on this forum but for this threads sake, when a tape runner was in charge of referencing a recording it meant we went along with the tape to the different studios to make sure the sound was the same each place it went. For example if I ran a tape from the main studio to one of the private studios for the BeeGees when I got to one of the listening rooms I would explain what was going on so if Robin wanted to make a change I could "reference" that change when I got back to the main studio. Or we could do a dup and make a change right there for me to take back for the others to hear. I’m trying to give a short version of this, but it’s more or less involved depending on who the artist or engineer is. Many musicians have their private studio and play around forever and some guys could care less once they do the actual playing.
You’ve heard of "Mastering" or "Re-Mastering" a recording. A Master is either an original cut or an original cut of a change. With Mastering you vision that first generation of a recording but that’s really a generalization with multi-mixing. That first cut may be laid down but as soon as you start making passes it’s no longer a virgin cut. It depends how picky you are and how many versions you want hanging around, but referencing for a tape runner meant you were the guy who knew the recording as it went through the different stages and what tape was where and what generation of the tape it was. Referencing referred to "a point of reference". As Multi-tracking and storage became more involved referencing evolved. Keep in mind the technology of recording changes very quickly.
For me referencing carried over into playback naturally. With the audio chain referencing is a matter of knowing the original setup sound "reference" as a whole and then being able to see how the sound changes as a physical change is made to the chain. Plug & play is when you do a basic setup "plugging something together and then playing it without tuning the sound in". Referencing is when you put into action changes and want to follow the sound changes to the Audio Code. The Audio Code is the signal + mechanical conduits interacting with the audio signal.
MG