Overmodulation

Overmodulation occurs when an audio or video signal exceeds the maximum level a system can handle, causing clipping, distortion, and artifacts. In audio recording and broadcasting, this means the waveform is driven past 0 dBFS (digital) or the tape/circuit saturation point (analog), flattening peaks and introducing harsh harmonic distortion.

In video and visual contexts, overmodulation pushes color or brightness values beyond their valid range, producing blown-out whites, crushed blacks, color bleeding, and banding artifacts. Analog video synthesizers and feedback loops are especially prone to overmodulated signals, which is why the effect appears frequently in video feedback and circuit bending work.

Glitch artists use overmodulation intentionally to produce distortion that reveals the boundaries of a medium. By deliberately clipping audio signals, overdriving video inputs, or pushing color channels past their limits in image editors, practitioners create textures and artifacts that would be impossible through conventional processing. The technique connects to broader glitch principles of exposing system limits and finding aesthetics in failure.

Related techniques: circuit bending, video feedback, databending