Studio 101 – Audio Terminology: Distortion

This month’s column continues our year-long exploration of essential audio terms, focusing on distortion and its many forms. We will look at traditional analog harmonic distortion—the crunch of clipping guitar amps, the fuzz and overdrive of pedals, and the more subtle saturation introduced by analog consoles, processors and tape that contributes to the sought-after “analog character” in recordings and mixes. We will also examine edgier varieties of digital distortion, such as bitcrushing and waveshaping, which can add a distinctly modern edge.

Distortion can be either a problem to avoid or a creative tool to embrace, depending on the context.