Quote:
Originally Posted by initialsBB  Wow, that's a lot of impulses. Have you considered some kind of "greatest hits" collection? I would gladly pay, I don't know... $30 for a collection of one impulse from each cab from a single position with a 57 or something. Or one impulse of whatever sounds best from each. That amount of IRs is just overwhelming to me. |
The problem is "whatever sounds best" is a relative concept. It depends on your amp, your guitar, what genre you play, what kinda mood you're in... and who knows what else. So, my greatest hits, will be a lot of other peoples' misses.
I think that's one major reason IRs have disappointed people in the past. They load it up, it doesn't sound right and there's no other options to make it work, so they give up, or apply dangerous amounts of EQ and it just starts sounding weird and filtered.
In most convolution plugins it's pretty easy to audition different mics and positions. So, one of our goals was to make it feel like you're sitting in the control room with an assistant in the live room moving the mic around the cabinet. Part of the fun is becoming familiar with each mic's unique characteristics and then figuring out how to manipulate them to your advantage. So it's not only an IR library it's a learning tool... it slices, it dices... it will also do your taxes.
Based on my experience, and yours may vary depending on the factors I noted above. A good place to start with just about every cab is a Royer on the cap at 1-2". Then you can dial in what you want from there.
Or with the other mics you can start:
Code:
421 CapEdge 0", CapOffAxis 0", Cone 3"
C414 CapEdge 2-3"
i5 Cone 0"
M160 Cap or CapEdge 0-2"
RE20 CapEdge 0"
KM84 CapEdge 2-3"
M7 CapEdge 1-2"
M8 CapEdge 1"
R121 Cap 1-2"
SM57 Cap Edge 0"-1", CapEdgeOffAxis 0"
TAB57 Cap Edge 0", CapEdgeOffAxis 0"
U87 Cap Edge 2-3"
A good general rule would be start of the Cap Edge at 1", then dial in from there. With the ribbons and the M8 you might start on the Cap. Play around, though, sometimes you'll be surprised what sounds good.
These won't always work right off the bat, but then you move the mic closer for more proximity effect and thus more low-end. This will balance out the highs you get from being closer to the cap or overwhelm them in some cases and skew the balance. Or, farther away to thin it out a little which works well for clean guitars and "bassy" amps.
Or, move the mic in towards the cap for more high-end, or more "definition" if it sounds too muddy, and out towards the edge of the cone if you're getting too much high end or it sounds too harsh.
Then there's the Off Axis positions. It will roll-off the highs and depending on the mic give it "grainy-er" sound. Sometimes if it sounds too bright, it'll work to leave the mic where it is and just flip it off axis.
Then there's the whole blending thing. The IRs are time-aligned so you can mix a 2" mic signal with a 0" mic signal and not have to worry too much about phase coherence. This is where the Room mics, the Back of Cab mics, and the mics that are placed farther back can be most useful in achieving a good 3D sound.
In short, if you use these guidelines and just start playing around you will quickly find many combinations that work for you and you will be happy, and in turn will make other people happy and everyone will like you, your dog will listen to you, and the abundance of the universe will flow in your direction.
