What is distortion?
Distortion is any unwanted alteration or warping of a signal or visual.
In video, distortion typically refers to a visual anomaly where the image looks stretched, pixelated, or warped. This distortion often occurs due to incorrect aspect ratios, lens issues, or compression.
In audio, when a signal exceeds the equipment's or software's limits, it produces harsh, fuzzy, or crackling sounds.
Distortion commonly occurs when the audio or video signal reaches a level beyond the maximum range, which causes the waveform to be cut off. This is commonly known as clipping. But distortion can also arise from over-amplification, recording errors, or if an editor introduces it intentionally for creative effects.
What is the most common cause of distortion?
The most common cause of distortion is overloading the signal. In audio, this happens when the sound level is too high for the equipment or software to handle. In video, it often results from a mistake in your equipment’s or software’s settings or poor-quality compression.
What is a real-world example of distortion?
Think of when you turn up your car stereo too loud, and the speakers start crackling because they can't handle the high volume — that is distortion. In video, it's like watching a low-resolution, pixelated video displayed on a large screen.
How is distortion used?
Musicians use distortion intentionally to create gritty and aggressive sounds. In a video, distortion might be used for stylistic effects to give a scene an unsettling or surreal look.
How to avoid distortion when recording audio with Riverside
If you've recorded audio that sounds like its distorted or clipping, you won't be able to improve it via editing. Distortion generally occurs when the input gain or volume is set too high during the recording, or there is a sudden increase in volume from the source.
How to normalize audio in Riverside
If a participant in your recording was much louder or much quieter than the others, apply audio processing to balance the sound levels when you export the recording from the Editor.
- Log in to your Riverside account.
- Open a recording in the editor or upload an external file to start editing.
- In the top right corner of the Editor, click Share.
- In the Export Options dialog box, click the toggle next to Normalize Audio Levels.
- Click Export.
The normalization applies to all tracks in the clip, including anything played on the media board. Riverside normalizes the audio to the EBU R 128 loudness standard of -23 LUFS (Loudness units relative to full scale).
