Reverb settings can be customized even after loading an impulse response, allowing for extreme fine-tuning.Īs mentioned before, convolution can be used for creative sound design.
The leading plug-in developers take great care to record the impulse responses, so these plug-ins are able to almost perfectly recreate the reverb qualities found in different spaces.Ĭonvolution reverb plug-ins will also tend to include all adjustable standard reverb parameters (decay time, adjustable level for early and late reflections, reverb frequency response, etc.). These impulse responses can be used in a convolution setting to recreate the timbre of that space’s ambience. Ever want to hear yourself playing the piano on stage at Radio City Music Hall? With convolution reverb, you can!ĭevelopers travel to famous spaces around the world to record and collect impulse responses, and even do the same in everyday spaces like bedrooms and car trunks. The convolution process is used in some of the most powerful (yet CPU-intensive) reverb units on the market, convolution reverbs.
Regardless, most convolution plug-ins can use information from any audio file as the impulse response to affect the input signal. This would leave a pure signal of the space, rather than including another sound with the space. Ideally, the initial impulse would be edited out from the recording, leaving just the acoustic response of the space. With the initial impulse in mind, we are able to see how the space’s / object’s acoustics affect the resulting sound’s timbre. Microphones are used to record the resulting audio. This impulse produces a snapshot of the space’s characteristic ambience according to the space’s unique acoustics, an ambience which can be captured. This impulse can either be a short, percussive sound (a starter pistol, a clapboard / slate, a balloon popping, etc.) or a more sustained sound like a sine sweep (a sine tone that pitches up through the audible frequency spectrum).
The input signal is the sound that will be affected, while the impulse response contains the sonic characteristics of the space or object that we will impart on the input signal.Īn impulse response is created by playing a sound, or an impulse, in a space. Instead, we work with two audio sources, an input signal and an impulse response. However, there are no oscillating waveforms involved in the convolution process. To an extent, this would be another form of cross-synthesis. Many of you are likely familiar with the concepts used for FM synthesis, in which an oscillator’s signal is used to modulate the signal of another oscillator. What exactly is convolution?Ĭonvolution is a type of cross-synthesis, a process through which the sonic characteristics of one signal are used to alter the character of another. In this article, we’ll be covering what convolution is, how it works, example plug-ins that use this process, and what benefits they provide producers.
Convolution effects can also be found within other plug-ins (there’s likely one in a plug-in you already have!). There are a wide range of convolution plug-ins available, each offering their own additional parameters and impulse responses. With a wide range of realistic and otherworldly sonic possibilities, convolution can be a fantastic addition to any producer’s toolkit. Its ability to accurately impart the characteristic timbres of spaces and objects on other signals is useful in both sound design and standard processing applications. Convolution is one of the more sophisticated processes regularly used in audio production.
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