A sound quality or tonality imparted to recorded or amplified audio that differs from the original sound.
Coloration can be considered a type of distortion, since the output signal differs from the input signal, though generally “colored” sound quality is neither bad nor good, it is simply different from “transparent” sound quality — a particular coloration may or may not be desireable depending on musical and audio context. Microphones, for example, are typically selected specifically for the coloration they impart to the signal they capture.
