Static-like distortion on piano recordings

[George]

Anyone else ever have this problem? I hear a static-like distortion on a few piano recordings that I have. I hear it when the pianist plays louder notes/chords. Sometimes this only happens on headphones, but other times it does this on my speakers as well.

I should add that I have noticed this happen on original CDs and on CD-R.

Anyone know what this is? 

George

[jwinter]

Historical stuff, or new? 

If old, it may simply be a sign that the piano is overpowering and exposing the limitations of the old recording equipment -- ie distortion when it gets above a certain decibel level, or frequency range, or whatever (hard to say without knowing the circumstances -- could be a fault in the electrical equipment, bad mike placement, etc.).  It's probably more noticeable in piano recordings than orchestral as there's less overall noise to mask the effect -- the same thing happens when the brass section really kicks in on an old mono symphony recording, but the strings etc can hide it to a certain extent, whereas the piano is all alone.  I confess I usually hear that kind of thing as blurring distortion rather than static though -- could it be a transfer noise from LPs/78s?

If it's a recent recording, no clue.  Some sort of digital artifact or a bad copy, maybe?  I suppose it could be distortion in even newer recordings, if poorly made, recorded live etc.

[George]

Only new stuff, some are storebought CDs on lesser-know labels, others are CD-Rs, still others are LP transfers to digital files. They all do the same thing I describe in my OP. 

[nut-job]

Only new stuff, some are storebought CDs on lesser-know labels, others are CD-Rs, still others are LP transfers to digital files. They all do the same thing I describe in my OP. 

You need to determine if
1)  The same static is heard at the same instant in the recording every time the recording is played, on the same equipment, and whether it changes with volume level.

2) The same static is heard at the same instant when the recording is played on another set of equipment. 

If it is reproducible, especially across different playback systems it is a flaw in the recording.  This is fairly common.  A static sound would be consistent with signal saturating the recorder, causing the waveform to be clipped.  In a digital recording clipping might occur in the original master tape.  In an older recording it could be in the original recording, or could have been introduced by incompetent transfer to the digital master.  It could also be due to data loss, in principle, but this is contradicted by your comment that it is associated with high volume.  Data loss could cause static, but it would be uncorrelated with volume level, because it is no more difficult to read the numbers off the disc when the volume is high.   

It is also possible that your playback equipment has problems, and as mentioned above it might be more noticeable with piano music because it is lacking in overtones.  But if it is due to playback equipment it would go away when you played on different equipment.  Strong overtones, such as is found in orchestral music, would tend to mask the effect.

[Jay F]

Just the other day, I was listening to a home recording of someone strumming the guitar, and at what seemed like the moment the pick or finger hit the string, there was a burst of static. So I'm guessing your problem is probably a recording issue.