F ROMTHELA B
Dissecting Distortion Pt. 2
Last month we talked about tube distor-
tion and how overdriving a larger signal
into a tube can cause it to distort. Keep
in mind that these terms are often used
interchangeably. The term overdrive is
typically used to describe milder signal
clipping, while distortion tends to refer to
the hard stuff.
It should be noted that any type of signal
manipulation can be used in a musical or
non-musical fashion. In general, tube gener-
ated overdrives
and distortions
tend to be much
more pleasing
and touch sensi-
tive than pedal
derived sounds.
Sometimes the
harshest, ice-pick-
in-the-ear tone
will better serve
the song and its
communication Figure
1
aspect, but don’t
get me started!
More often than
not, distortion lev-
els are way out of
whack, especially
in live situations.
When the aver-
age guitar slinger
practices alone,
the tone is satu-
rated to the gills.
Take that same Figure
3
tone – commonly referred to as “my sound”
– and try it in a band situation. You’re often
greeted with mush, mud and pierced ears.
Live sound can be very good. The lab rats
here at Creation Audio Labs are well aware
of how good gear can sound, and unfortu-
nately, how often it doesn’t due to incorrect
use. In all fairness, the blame lands squarely
in one of two places. First, band members
shoulder some of the responsibility by lack-
ing the knowledge to achieve good tones
at reasonable volume levels, as well as not
understanding proper placement, such as
where to put their amps and mics. Second,
live sound engineers may not be that well
versed on how to use either the gear or the
room to achieve a good sound. When an
inexperienced band is coupled with a novice
sound guy, audience members suffer.
Bryan Lionman recently sang the praises
of working with the sound guy to give
the band the best shot at a good sound,
emphasizing that it starts with the band.
Sure, a crappy sound guy can mess you up,
but they can never “fix” a band that doesn’t
sound good in the first place. So remember,
before my inbox gets slammed by thou-
sands of angry emails, it’s a two-way street.
Figure 2
Figure 4
A ton of great sounding bands and incred-
ibly capable live sound people are out there
making it happen, night after night.
But getting back to distortion in a band
situation, less is always more. And by that
I mean less is always more. The vocals and
the cymbals are competing with the guitars
99 percent of the time. Add in bad EQ and
improperly powered high-frequency driv-
ers, and the ice pick heads straight for your
ears. No wonder live gigs get a bad rap.
Next up is the inevitable too-loud bass. Low
frequencies need to be handled properly to
get a good sound for the entire room, not
just on stage. Bass players need to remem-
ber that what they’re hearing on stage
tends to bear little resemblance to what the
audience is hearing. Again, our mantra here
is “less is more.”
Let’s take a closer look at the differences
between overdrive and distortion. In the
lab where we make and fix audio gear, we
rely on oscilloscopes and other prohibitively
expensive equipment to actually look at
signals. In general, audio is comprised of
sine waves with varying degrees of pleas-
antness and/or harshness. Pleasant sounds
have nice, round flowing
patterns. Harsh tones
display rough edges,
eventually appearing
more “square.” For audio
analysis, we use a totally
square wave at 1kHz,
and trust me, it sounds
horrible. The visual rep-
resentation of the wave-
form can reveal many
things about the technical
aspects of the sound,
but won’t necessarily
determine if that sound is
“good” or “bad,” or, the
communication value of
the sound.
Fig. 1. 1kHz sine wave
– pure tone, no distortion
Fig. 2. 1kHz square wave
– good looking square
wave, “bad” sound
Fig. 3. 1kHz sine wave run through a trusty
Jekyll & Hyde pedal, on the OVERDRIVE side.
Fig. 4. The same 1kHz sine wave through
the Jekyll & Hyde on the DISTORTION side.
Keep this issue handy. Next month we will
do some more dissecting and will refer back
to these photos. Once this series is com-
plete, I promise you will have a better grasp
of how this applies to your music than ten
legions of your peers.
Sarge out.
Gary “Sarge” Gistinger
President, Creation Audio Labs, Inc.
creationaudiolabs.com
