distortion

Question 1

when was distortion created and by who

Answer 1

1964 by Dave Davies of the Kinks in the song ‘You Really Got Me’

Question 2

when were valve amps mostly used

Answer 2

used exclusively before the late 60s

Question 3

when were solid state amps used

Answer 3

late 60s early 70s

Question 4

what sound do solid state amps and valve amps give

Answer 4

solid state- hard clipping and harsher overdrive
valve amps- soft clipping and warmer overdrive

Question 5

what are amp simulators and why are they useful

Answer 5

convenient DAW plugins which allow us to emulate the sound of a physical amp or create a completely original amp setting that can be easily altered during mic stage and don’t require buying lots of different amps

Question 6

why don’t some people like amp simulators

Answer 6

analogue electronics of valve amps and solid state amps have a much better sound

Question 7

what are the parameters of distortion

Answer 7

volume, tone/filter, gain/distortion/fuzz, clipping, bit depth, down sampling

Question 8

name 3 examples of distortion pedals

Answer 8

ProCo RAT
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Boss SD-1

Question 9

name 3 examples of distortion plugins

Answer 9

Softube Saturation Knob
iZotope Trash
Fabfilter Saturn

Question 10

what can saturation do for vocals

Answer 10

make them more expressive by bringing our breath noise/add warmth

Question 11

what does bit crusher offer

Answer 11

emulate the alias tones of early samplers/ game music that used a lower bit depth (e.g. 12 bits)

Question 12

what does distortion do for guitars

Answer 12

limits the dynamic range and helps guitar parts blend