How Do you get the Volume Up of IR's closer to what Factory ones are?

trsaudio

Member
I've been working on some IR's to accompany some patches I'm working on to post for everyone but find my IR's a little low in volume. I am normalizing them and that has helped but still a bit low.

Any tips from Cliff, Ownhammer, Redwirz or anyone who has been thru this?

For the record I am capturing an electronic device so no mics are involved at the moment.

Workflow is Capture, normalize and min. phase (in FuzzMeasure) export IR file (an AIF) and go into AlbertA's converter to save as an Axe II IR.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks,
Keith
 
Why not just leave them as they are and then turn up the level of the cab block?
 
Matt that could certainly work ok but I was trying to get them to where FM didn't come in to play and louder ones sound better.

Obviously there is a way for them to be equal to the factory ones - just not sure if I have the necessary tools to do it.

Thanks,
Keith
 
In my direct experience with this phenomenon, it is due to the relationship between tail length, frequency response, and minimum phase processing. Most people think it has to do with algorithmic tools or outboard factors such as preamps, eq's, converters, etc, but it does not. I'll give you a quick example:

For the Room IR's I'm working on right now, I have them at 500 ms for the full resolution files. When I do my manual time/phase alignment to the OwnHammer standard, a normalized deconvolved file comes out around the same as everything else. Add minimum phase processing to the same process, and the initial spike of the impulse raises greatly in relationship to the rest of the data and as a result of the time at which is taken into consideration for the normalization math, the output is significantly lower. How to work around this? Shorten the tail length. If I take this same minimum phase IR file and prep it for Axe-Fx I & II format by truncating the tail and then normalizing it again, it's fine, as the duration of the file and the initial spike is all similar to the near field captures. This may not be a viable option for you, as it wouldn't be for me if I depended on minimum phase processing for my full resolution .wav IR's. One of the many reasons I'm against minimum phase processing as I am for it.

The converse I'm sure everyone else has experienced with files that have a lot of bass, they can be way louder than normal files. I wrestled with my upcoming back of cab files for a couple days trying to find a placement and eq setup that gave the sound, character, and response I wanted but that wouldn't blow your woofers switching to it from a typical near field. I think as they originally were, with them normalized the peak value was between 12 to 15 dB louder!

So again, it's not the equipment you're using, physical or intangible, it's the math behind the processes involved and how they interact with your collected data. This will be something you will either fight with, accept, or be forced to find some kind of compromise.

Hope this helps a little. :)
 
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There may be a large spike somewhere in your freq response. I did some match EQ IR's and for some reason there was a massive spike @ like 18kHz. Try viewing your IR in the Axe IR converter app to see if there is a spike. Then filter the spike out. I did a LP filter at about 14.5kHz. Problem solved.

I realize that can IR's and EQ matched IR's are different. Similar enough though.
 
Normalize the energy, not the peak. But if you are using my converter that is done at conversion. This means it's resulting in lower perceived loudness.

Does the IR suppose to represent a cab? Or something else?

You can try LMO's Axe-O-Matic, he has an option to turn off normalization (I assume it then just takes the data as is) and play with the normalization yourself to match it by ear.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to everyone for the extra input. Haven't been able to get much done for a week due to another bout of pneumonia.

Albert - it's not truly a cab IR but a capture of a Rockman Soloist in the Clean Stereo Chorus position. I was using that as a basis for a preset that I will post in the next week or so (health permitting). I was hoping to let the "IR" do the heavy lifting in terms of creating the bulk of the sound but that has had it's short comings.

None the less I did get a fairly close patch that I think really grabs the vibe of that sound even though it's not an exact match.

I am eager to post it and get the community's help in making it better. That clean sound was a staple for me for years on stage though the distortions kinda sucked.

Thanks again to everyone,

Keith
 
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