What is Distortion?

What is Distortion? 

Distortion and saturation are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "grumpy" or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar, but it can also be used with other electric instruments such as the bass, the electric piano and the Hammond organ. Guitarists who played the electric blues originally got an overloaded sound by increasing the guitar amplifiers powered by a vacuum tube at high volumes, which caused the signal to distort. While overdriven tube amplifiers are still used to get overdrive in the decade of 2010, especially in genres such as blues and rockabilly, other forms of distortion, such as distortion effect pedals, have developed since the 1960s. The snarling tone of the distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many genres of rock music, especially hard rock, punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal. The effects alter the sound of the instrument by trimming the signal (pushing it beyond its maximum, which cuts off the edges of the signal waves), adding sustain and inharmonic harmonics and harmonics and resulting in a compressed sound that is often described as " "warm" and "dirty", depending on the type and intensity of the distortion used. The terms distortion and overdrive are often used interchangeably; where a distinction is made, "distortion" is used to denote a more extreme version of the "overdrive" effect. "Fuzz" is a term used to describe a particular form of extreme distortion originally created by guitarists who use defective equipment (such as a misaligned valve tube, see below), which has been emulated since the 1960s by a series of pedals. "fuzzbox" effects. Distortion, overdrive and fuzz can be produced by effects pedals, rackmounts, preamplifiers, power amplifiers (a potentially mind-boggling approach), speakers and (since the 2000s) using digital amplifier modeling devices and audio software. These effects are used with electric guitars, electric bass (fuzz bass), electronic keyboards and, more rarely, as a special effect with voices. Although distortion is often intentionally created as a musical effect, musicians and sound engineers sometimes take measures to avoid distortion, particularly when using public address systems to amplify voices or when playing prerecorded music.