[FuzzyD]

I recently downloaded the McCoy Tyner Solo: Live from San Francisco album from iTunes and am a bit displeased with the quality of the sound. Aside from an unfortunate amount of white noise, there's a bit of distortion through the album on some of his louder dynamics. I looked at a song in audacity and don't see clipping but some stuff just doesn't sound right to me. Take a listen to this short clip from the track Angelina. Where does this distortion on the louder dynamics come from? Is it just bad recording? Poor compression? What? Thanks!
 
http://www.mediafire.com/?p0u87e811yjp98h

 

[xnor]

The waveform looks like a zigzag line at the distorted portions:
 

 
Dunno what caused this. Maybe some hardware compressor.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Where does this distortion on the louder dynamics come from? Is it just bad recording?

I haven't heard the recording, but I would guess with a high degree of certainty that it's at least one microphone preamp clipping. The engineer wanted the most volume from the mic he could get, but he rode the level too high and clipped at least one input on the louder sections. Sounds like that's what happened.