Because there are always technical restrictions in the way a sound can be recorded (in the case of
acoustic sounds) or designed (in the case of
synthesised or processed sounds), sonic errors often occur. These errors are termed artifacts (or sound/sonic artifacts), and may be pleasing or displeasing. A sonic artifact is sometimes a type of
digital artifact, and in some cases is the result of
data compression (not to be confused with
dynamic range compression, which also may create sonic artifacts). Often an artifact is deliberately produced for creative reasons, for example to introduce a change in
timbre of the original sound or to create a sense of cultural or stylistic context. A well-known example is the overdriving of an electric guitar or electric bass signal to produce a
clipped, distorted guitar tone or
fuzz bass. Editing processes that deliberately produce artifacts often involve technical experimentation. A good example of the deliberate creation of sonic artifacts is the addition of grainy pops and
clicks to a recent recording in order to make it sound like a vintage
vinyl record.
Flanging and
distortion were originally regarded as sonic artifacts; as time passed they became a valued part of pop music production methods. Flanging is added to electric guitar and keyboard parts. Other magnetic tape artifacts include
wow,
flutter,
saturation,
hiss,
noise, and
print-through. It is valid to consider the genuine surface noise such as pops and clicks that are audible when a vintage vinyl recording is played back or recorded onto another medium as sonic artifacts, although not all sonic artifacts must contain in their meaning or production a sense of "past", more so a sense of "by-product". Other vinyl record artifacts include
turntable rumble, ticks,
crackles and
groove echos. In the
Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem, inadequate sampling bandwidth creates a sonic artifact known as an
alias, and the resulting distortion of the sound is termed
aliasing. Examples of aliasing can be heard in early music
samplers since they could record audio at bit rates and sampling frequencies below the Nyquist rate, considered desirable by some musicians. Aliasing is a major concern in the analog-to-digital conversion of video and audio signals. In the creation of
computer music and
electronic music in the past decade, particularly in
glitch music, software is used to create sonic artifacts of all stripes. They are also the primary focus of the practice of
circuit bending: making sounds from products that were unintended by the makers of the circuitry. ==See also==