Electric Guitar Distortion


	Contents:
	Audio sheet
	Exercise sheet
	Explanation

Electric guitar distortion is a traditional field of audio effects. In its simple form it means hard or soft clipping the signal. Clipping a signal is a form of signal distortion, in the context of audio effects sometimes also called overdrive. Overdrive or distortion will produce many strong harmonics. The distortion may be generated already before power amplification from an external effect pedal or inside the power amplifier (esp. with tube amplifier). Finally the already distorted and amplified signal is fed into loudspeakers installed in a cabinet. The loudspeaker(s) (incl. cabinet) may again distort the signal and also will introduce linear frequency range limitations and resonances (linear filtering). Resonances may result from guitar speaker itself and/or from the cabinet (open backside). More details can be found here.

Special Thanks

Special thanks go to Dr. Philipp Bulling. He played the guitar and allowed to use the audio example for manipulations purposes.

Playback Type

Both, standard loudspeaker and headphone playback is possible.

Audio Examples

In the first week of September, we were delighted to host Dr. Isabel Schiller, an early-career researcher from RWTH Aachen University's Work and Engineering Psychology Lab. Isabel is a Clinical Linguist, holds a PhD in Psychology, and is passionate for auditory cognition and voice research. Together, we've embarked on a collaborative endeavor centered around auditory feedback modulation. Our goal is to develop and assess a real-time voice modification system, designed to explore vocal motor control in both healthy speakers and those with voice disorders. As we joined forces this week, we laid the groundwork for the technical implementation of our project and prepared the upcoming launch of our first experiment at RWTH Aachen University. Interdisciplinary collaborations like this one highlight the importance of merging knowledge from different domains, not only for advancing cutting-edge research but also for fostering an enjoyable and enriching experience.