Measuring Analog Distortion?

[SuperReverb]

When it comes down to a Pissing match... Between 2 engineers of equal "Accolades"

Eng. A = "The file is distorted, there's capsule distortion, AND overdriven Pre Amp distortion... can't you hear that? It was recorded poorly."

Eng. B = "You're on glue, Hallucinating, that is completely clean, free of ANY distortion artifacts."

For the record... I am siding towards Engineer B, who brought me the file, asked me to solo it, play it, and asked... is this distorted?

In my Opinion the file sounds great, and clean. So.. rather then turn this into "Well my friends say" I'd like to provide some science... measurement.

If it were digital clipping, I could zoom in, take a picture of the flattened transient, but this, really, in all honestly, is a really well recorded vocal, at Low to moderate levels, is clean, relatively uncompressed, and I feel like "Eng B." is just in a political situation with Eng. A trying to discredit him.

I am unaware of any "Tools" that can scientifically recognize analog distortion in a wav file... however I was unaware of Melodyne DNA, and UnMix Technology before it happened, and likely told people "Not possible yet", until I personally discovered the technology.

Enough "Ears" on this thing.. we need Science.

T.I.A

[Andre Knecht]

Political situations, as you put it, are becoming more and more common these days. Sad. A direct and unavoidable consequence of the “rise” of hundreds of “instant-engineer/producers” whose contribution is to lower standards on a daily basis and suck the oxygen out of a market already put under pressure by piracy and the inevitable race to the bottom.

That said, certain kinds of distortion can indeed be heard and it takes a bit of training to learn to recognize them individually.

If the topic is science, then measurement of distortion (deviation from the original) “after the fact” is meaningless, because there is no control signal against which to compare and measure various parameters’ delta—i.e. the original performance. The latter was a complex and multi-dimensional signal, and the only way to capture it is by way of microphones and the associated electronics. We can only measure the differences between two recording chains, not the differences between a recording chain and an “original,” because the original ceases to exist immediately after it took place.

The only exception to the above is to compare a known, mathematically defined and (therefore) repeatable “simple” signal, such as sine and square waveforms, against what a signal chain captured of that. Even then, the measurable differences are all one-dimensional, which is why lab measurements can only tell us so much. And which is why honing our listening abilities is infinitely more important than the ability to recite technical specs from memory, or — infinitely worse — making sonic decisions based solely on said specs.

IHTH.

[daeron80]

Nothing is free of any distortion artifacts. That makes me want to side with Mr. A. I've known maybe two people in my life who could reliably hear and identify capsule distortion. Fred Cameron was one, and he's sadly gone from among us. He taught me to hear it in older 414s. Sort of. Trouble is, I liked it! Mild distortion often sounds good, as long as it's not hard clipping. If you like the sound of the vocal in the mix, then you've got no problem.