SONIC DESTRUCTION

From overdriven signal paths to rhythmic malfunctions, there’s plenty of creativity to be found by doing things just a little bit wrong

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Right-back since the earliest days of recorded music, musicians and producers have been making use of techniques that are technically ‘wrong’ for creative purposes. Just look at the adventurous techniques used by The Beatles in Abbey Road, or the leftfield sound creation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

In the 21st century, there are multiple techniques and production approaches used regularly by electronic music makers which originated as things that were technically ‘wrong’ – errors, malfunctions or misused gear that turned out to create musically pleasing results. The most obvious example is distortion, discussed below and over the page, which is essentially the byproduct of trying to push a piece of recording gear harder than intended. There are multiple other ‘wrong’ techniques worth adding to your arsenal of production skills though; from glitch-like digital pseudo-malfunctions to purposefully raw and lo-recording techniques.

This issue we’re exploring precisely those approaches. We’ll dig into the science of ‘breaking’ your music, and show you how pushing certain approaches to the extremes can add character and unique qualities to your tracks.

What is distortion?