It is a background sound to me like discordant music from a poorly tuned radio station.

Her voice seemed to move in and out of hearing range, like a poorly tuned radio station.

His career has sputtered like a poorly tuned car, each step forward offset by an injury, necessitating that he begin over again.

For one thing, the piano, a constant presence, was poorly tuned and voiced.

A poorly tuned electronic control unit can result in decreased performance, driveability, and may even cause engine damage.

Not that it mattered a great deal in this sodden, poorly tuned performance.

Different sections were poorly tuned within themselves and with one another.

Branches shifted, dissolved, and reformed like elements of a poorly tuned hologram.

The weapon was quiet: a series of pops like a distant, poorly tuned outboard motor.

At once his mental interface filled with a hiss of static like that from a poorly tuned hyperwave radio.