Disclaimer: I am an IR producer for Fractal Audio Systems. I believe I create the best IR's on the market. (as I'm sure every IR producer does) In this video I will be mainly discussing my own way of shooting IR's.
You can discuss the above methods to some degree but ultimately the most important part will be microphone positioning and it combined with your guitar tone knowledge which always comes down to YOUR PERSONAL OPINION. Even though I can easily be labeled as the "djent IR producer" as I'm best known for my collaborations with Misha "Bulb" Mansoor of Periphery. I want to point out that I'm an alternative rock/jazz/funk guitarist myself and I've producer professional music varying from hiphop to indie all the way to metal.
As far as guitar tones are concerned I was doing match EQ over a year before the Kemper came out and the Axe-Fx had tone matching and if you remember me from those days you'll remember that kid who wouldn't shut up about match EQ. Ultimately it is what lead me to work with guitar tones for a living. The knowledge that I got from all those years of studying guitar tones from pretty much any band you can name from System of a Down to Guns N Roses to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Metallica... at this point I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a geek on the subject.
So that is the experience I base my microphone positioning on.
If you're someone who's seriously looking into making IR's I strongly recommend studying professional guitar tones and especially your favorite guitar tones and the reason why it sounds the way it does. You will learn so much about why a quarter of an inch on your mic position can make or break your IR.
There are plenty of minor details you can discuss on the topic so don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have, I love to talk about IR's!
- Microphone positioning
- Old school: run between the control room and live room without real time sense of what the mic positioning sounds like
- Extreme method: use isolation headphones to get real time sense of what the mic position sounds like but base your opinion on low quality headphones
- Hire someone to move the mic for you and obey your orders through headphones
- ML Sound Lab: build a microphone robot and have GoPros in the control room so you can listen to your mic position in a perfect listening environment while monitoring your microphone through a TV screen
- Cabinet, speakers & room
- Cabinet type and size and all materials down to what kind of cloth was used make a big difference in sound
- What kind of speakers and how worn the speakers are makes a huge difference
- What size your room is, how it's treated and where you place your cabinet in the room makes a huge difference in sound. Be very aware of all reflections in the room!
- ML Sound Lab: Every speaker sounds very different so I shoot all available speakers on a 4x12 cabinet. We have a room in the studio built to be perfect for guitar cabinet acoustics.
- What powers the cabinet?
- Solid state power amp: used by the majority of IR producers because it is "flat-ish" but it is not 100% colorless.
- Other power amps that are also "flat-ish" can also be used for this task and it is once again not 100% colorless.
- ML Sound Lab: The "correct" tube amplifiers with power amp removal. This technique was first introduced by me to Fractal Audio when I shot Cab Pack 7 way back. This is eventually what gave Cliff the idea of "mic+di" so you can try it out and hear the difference if you own an Axe-Fx II.
You can discuss the above methods to some degree but ultimately the most important part will be microphone positioning and it combined with your guitar tone knowledge which always comes down to YOUR PERSONAL OPINION. Even though I can easily be labeled as the "djent IR producer" as I'm best known for my collaborations with Misha "Bulb" Mansoor of Periphery. I want to point out that I'm an alternative rock/jazz/funk guitarist myself and I've producer professional music varying from hiphop to indie all the way to metal.
As far as guitar tones are concerned I was doing match EQ over a year before the Kemper came out and the Axe-Fx had tone matching and if you remember me from those days you'll remember that kid who wouldn't shut up about match EQ. Ultimately it is what lead me to work with guitar tones for a living. The knowledge that I got from all those years of studying guitar tones from pretty much any band you can name from System of a Down to Guns N Roses to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Metallica... at this point I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a geek on the subject.
So that is the experience I base my microphone positioning on.
If you're someone who's seriously looking into making IR's I strongly recommend studying professional guitar tones and especially your favorite guitar tones and the reason why it sounds the way it does. You will learn so much about why a quarter of an inch on your mic position can make or break your IR.There are plenty of minor details you can discuss on the topic so don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have, I love to talk about IR's!
