Distortion & Overdrive

Music Tech || MT CA2 - The Digital Audio Workstation

What is distortion?

When an audio signal is amplified by turning up the gain.

What are the different types of distortion?

• Overdrive.

• Amp Modelled Distortion.

• Distortion.

• Bitcrusher.

• Fuzz.

• Analogue Distortion (sometimes known as saturation).

What is overdrive?

• A form of medium or mild distortion.

• It is designed to imitate analogue saturation that occurs when playing with a real amplifier.

• It is most commonly used with electric guitars in Rock music.

What are the three main controls on an overdrive pedal?

• Tone: Low Pass Filter on the overdriven signal.

• Level: Output volume of the overdriven signal.

• Drive/Gain: Amount that the input signal is turned up.

What are the three main controls on an overdrive plugin?

• Level will often be called Output.

• Level compensation will automatically decrease the output volume as the drive is increase.

  • This will keep the signal at the same volume making it easier to balance in the mix.