How do you choose your IR's?

by ears .
this is the think I have spent the more time with, as I use a 4 cabs combinaison most of the time .
I scroll them while playing the same palm mute or chord until I puke haha, and with the time, now I know which cab /mic sounds good to me.
Once I have found a good combinaison, I tweak the rest . I only use the stock ones because they are already a lot and dont want to fall even more in this never ending choice of combinaison. the 3rd party packs are great sure, but we have already 2000+ come on ... in my computer I have extra packs from York , ownhammer or the ones I created, but no... I stay with the stock content. Just for the health.
 
I usually start with a "matching" cab, e.g a 4x12 with Greenbacks for Marshall type amps, Mesa 4x12 for Mesas and so on. Hard to go too wrong with those even though often there's multiple options that could work.

For mics my go-to combination is the 57 + 160 blended together. The 160 adds a bit of oomph. If the 313 mic option is available I often choose that, it's great.
 
I see many mentioning taking ear breaks, and I concur!! It’s true for many thing in audio like mixing, etc. but I find that auditioning lots of IRs turns my ears to mush lol. You have to come back later / the next day and see if you still like it. Aside from that I pay attention to how even it sounds across the frequency spectrum. I normally want something that is tight in the lows, “focused” in the mids, with just enough top end sizzle. Too boomy/muddy, too scooped, or too fizzy are reasons I will usually not like an IR. The final test is hearing it in the context of a mix whenever possible. It helps to at least have an idea of what cabs and speakers you like in real life, at least as a starting point - but don’t stop there. I never had creambacks in real life and now they’re one of my favorites. I usually go for V30s because they’re tried and true for metal.
 
Another thing I like, and I’m sure most of us do, is pick 4 of my favorite IRs to place in the 4 channels of the cab block. You may not get lucky enough to find that one perfect IR that works for every situation - for playing loud, tracking in the studio, for every one of your guitars, etc. So it helps to have a few you can cycle between for each situation.
 
I generally like a dynamic and a ribbon or large diaphragm condensor, like a 57 and a 160 or 121, or a 58 and a 160 or 122 when available. Usually mix the ribbon/condensor 4-7 dB lower, to fill in the bass a little. Too much and it doesn't sit well in a mix. I occasionally use other mics, like 313 or some others, depending on what's in the collection. This narrows the herd a bit, and then the ear can decide which of each mic sounds best. Pre-mixed ones can just be listened to directly, so the ones that tickle your ear the right way can be chosen directly....
 
I have a reference IR which sounds good with everything. Not the most character filled but always works.
I have that on one channel.
On the next channel I go with something I think might sound good in context and scroll through while I play or the looper plays. I do this until it sounds good.
Then I switch back to my reference and compare. If it’s better, I keep it.
 
State of Epicicity said:
I love the idea of ear recalibration. Many engineers talked about that on Pensado's Place, to make sure their mixes weren't too this or that. Recently I found I was going too mid scooped, and just playing a snippet of audiophile albums immediately let me know how off my ears were.
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I used to use 10 mids on my Randall RM100, but since I started making Fractal patches I've started backing the mids in the basic/ideal amp controls to around 4 or less. How much were you scooping mids, just out of curiousity?
 
When I'm recording myself, or other clients, I go for the best sounding IR for that particular mix.

When playing live with my band, I've selected the closest sounding IR that corresponds to each of our 2x12 & 4x10 cabs. This way, what we hear in the IEM is almost identical as to what we'll hear through the cabinets.
 
Sorenspete said:
What criteria do you use when choosing an IR? I find this is the only part of the Fractal experience that gives me option paralysis. Why is your favourite IR your favourite?

I have a few York IR's but a lot of the patches I've made have ended up featuring either Leon's IR's or stock IR's.
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My best method and recommendation is really learn the sound of ONE IR and then use that as a reference for every other IR in comparison. There's a reason why a lot of engineers and producers use a reference mix: You can't tell if something sounds good in a vacuum unless you have a comparison.

I tell clients find a factory preset you like, doesn't have to be the "best" then always use that as a reference for when you're dialing in your other tones. You'll find that the IR in that preset will be the baseline you compare everything else to.

My go to factory preset? JCM800 / Brit 800
Go to Factory IR? 4x12 Pre Rola GB 57 (number 785)

Brit 800 with the gain up, knobs at noon + that IR is basically a very standard rock rhythm sound to my ears. Everything else is compared to that. brighter, darker, warmer, thinner, fatter etc. And I swap back and forth to make sure my new preset sits in the mix etc.
 
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Sorenspete said:
I used to use 10 mids on my Randall RM100, but since I started making Fractal patches I've started backing the mids in the basic/ideal amp controls to around 4 or less. How much were you scooping mids, just out of curiousity?
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It was the other night when I was going through the Das Metall, VH4 Blue and Silver, 5150 I, II, & III, Powerball, and Savage models, setting up ideal thrash rhythm tones. Playing that much rhythm with no frame of reference, just one high gain beast to another, I was going a little crazy. I can't remember individual settings except on the 5150 block lead channel the mids were 3 - 4. The big thing was just that I was using low master volumes settings on everything, which of course on all those amps especially will give you that mid scooped tone right off the bat. I remembered not liking the Firepower album by Judas Priest, but loving the tone, so I dialed it up as a frame of reference, and I could just hear a ton of character and good mids missing from the tones I had been creating. I then went to my standard, just listening to the overall mix of Roundabout by Yes, which is just a perfect sound to me, and that helped recenter me. Anyway, after that I started raising the master volumes on the high gain amps, which yielded great body to the tones.

But that was my mood that night. I might lower them again next time I play. And all this was with the 4x12 Recto Slant speaker impedance curve and Factory Bank 2 #723 cab with the Smoothing at 8.00. My guitar is bright, so I was trying to go for something inherently aggressive and dark; these settings might sound like shit on other guitars with greater tonal depth haha.
 
State of Epicicity said:
Finally, if you’re having trouble, I think running your Axe into a guitar plugin with movable mics is the most helpful. Amplitube, Wall of Sound, TH-U, the MIKKO plugin, and others have this ability, and that can be a quick and easy way to land on a good spot for you and even blend mics. Then you can capture an IR from any of those and import to the Axe.
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Hi I bought MIKKO plugin some time ago didnt know this works with AXE - I can use MIKKO plugin at the same time as axe edit ? thanks much
 
for me personally I really l like the York Audio stuff so whatever the amp I am using I generally try to pair it up with a matching cab
Although , there are a few that just work for many purposes but ya I have VOX , Fender Deluxe 5153, YA212 Creamback M65, Marshall V30
mesa OS , Mesa 212 ,Friedman those are probably the main ones
 
I struggled with this SO MUCH as a Axe noob back in the day. When you scroll through IRs... you get this sense of changing resonances and your ears start to hear only the filtering.

These days, I know that several cabs work for what I want to hear, and I just put them on everything. If I can't get a sound, I might change the IR...but I'm loathe to.

Mix01 and 03 on the YA Mesa 412 pack do everything I want currently from an IR. Leon's 07 is a good substitute for my jam.
 
Sorenspete said:
What criteria do you use when choosing an IR? I find this is the only part of the Fractal experience that gives me option paralysis. Why is your favourite IR your favourite?

I have a few York IR's but a lot of the patches I've made have ended up featuring either Leon's IR's or stock IR's.
Click to expand...
I approach IRs the same way I did looking speakers for a physical amp: I research the speakers that are typically used with an amp as well as speakers that players have 'upgraded' to. I've also spent a lot of time finding the best mic location on a physical cab to get the tone I want. Armed with this information, I look for IRs that have the same or similar speaker then narrow down the list by mic placement.

My favorite IR is the free WGS Retro 30 IR https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/wgs-retro-30-free-ir.128249/ . I have the actual speaker so it helps me better understand how to dial in an amp I may be unfamiliar with. I'll get the amp dialed in, then add the "correct" IR's to get a more 'accurate' or 'authentic' tone. I'll sometimes leave the Retro 30 IR and mix it with the others, it's a great sounding IR when combining with others.
 
IR selection has been the bane of my existence. Like mentioned, your ear gets adjusted quick and then you don’t have a frame of reference.
After much trial and error, I’ve settled on Ownhammer revolution and GGD Cali. These cover pretty much everything I need and work well live in a full band mix.
Recently, Burgs shared a preset with a Triptik 1x12 stock cab which is now my only cab for clean tones.

I’m staying away from the IR rabbit hole till someone comes up with a better workflow / UI to choose them.
 
I usually start with an intuitive approach, picking some IRs that would fit the cab I'd be pairing with the particular amp. I'd populate the 4 slots of the cab block, record a riff or a solo line to the looper, let it play and start switching.
Most times I end up with combinations, having a main, tone defining IR and then dressing in a more trebly one here and an SM57 one for oomph there.
 
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