What is overmodulation?

Overmodulation refers to pushing an audio or video signal beyond its intended limits, causing distortion and artifacts. In audio, this creates clipping, harmonic distortion, and the aggressive sound characteristic of genres like industrial and noise music.

In video and visual contexts, overmodulation occurs when brightness or color values exceed the displayable range, causing blooming, color bleeding, and signal distortion artifacts. Analog video equipment produces distinctive overmodulation effects -bright areas smear into adjacent regions and colors become saturated beyond natural values.

Artists deliberately overmodulate signals for aesthetic effect. In circuit bending and hardware glitch art, overdriving signals through analog equipment creates unpredictable visual chaos. Audio-reactive visuals often incorporate overmodulation as signals peak.

The technique connects to the broader glitch philosophy of pushing systems past their design limits to discover unexpected behaviors and hidden aesthetics.