pre-echo

Sound before sound

Pre-echo is a faint sound that appears slightly before the main audio signal, like a ghost arriving ahead of its source.

In analog tape recording, it occurs when magnetic signals bleed through layers of wound tape.

In digital audio, it can result from certain compression artifacts.

Vinyl pressings sometimes exhibit pre-echo when loud passages affect adjacent grooves: You can hear a pre-echo of the drum hit just before it actually lands.

foreshadowing

premonition

Advance sense of future events

portent · forewarning · omen · herald · anticipation · foreboding · narrative device · literary technique · dramatic irony · setup

audio

flutter

Rapid light movement

oxide · reel-to-reel · mastering · vinyl pressing · playback · dubbing · analog recording · magnetic tape

Opposites
temporal direction of audio artifact

pre-echoecho

Reflected sound wave

reverberation · delay · reverb · decay · tail

audio signal quality

pre-echosilence

Total lack of sound

clarity · noiseless · high fidelity

Family

pre, echo, echoes, echoed, echoing, echoic, echolocation, echolocate

Familiarity
Top 1,000,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Rated G