Impulse Response Libraries for convolution reverbs
I am half way through my Audio Innovator In Residence program at Fort York Library's Digital Innovation Hub and the response to the workshops and lectures have been great!
As part of the series I've had some fantastic one-on-one sessions with aspiring musicians, engineers and people interested in all things audio.
Although I covered the use of effects in some of my audio workshops, reverb, in particular, came up again in one of my individual sessions last week so I thought I would share the information here in greater detail.
Reverb based effects come in many different flavours and mix engineers always have a solid library of quality reverbs for whatever room or ambience they are trying to create.
Here is an online library of impulse responses from various sources. For those who use convolution reverbs, having a good and varied selection of IR's is a great way to flavour many different tracks and closely match concert venues.
All reverbs use one of two processing methods, algorithmic or convolution. Algorithmic reverbs use calculations based on hypothetical rooms and spaces to give the reverb its sound. Although it tends to be more artificial sounding, typical of the iconic hardware reverbs of the past 35 years, it is at times the perfect effect required by the music.
Convolution reverbs use pre-recorded samples of real rooms and spaces to build Impulse Response (IR) files of those spaces. The incoming audio signal convolves with the IR to create the reverb sound. Although they require significantly more processing power they are much better at simulating real spaces than algorithmic reverbs.
Popular convolution reverbs:
Space Designer (Bundled with Logic)
Knufinke SIR1 (Free)
Impulse Response Library's are all over the internet. Here is a comprehensive list of Impulse Responses to start building your library. The two worth looking into in greater detail are by Voxengo and Audio Ease.
Here is a quick video tutorial on creating your own impulse responses of your favourite spaces or reverbs. Have fun!
Comments