[Earl Sanders]

Here's the problem: I have a song I really like and would like to apply its
reverb to another song. All I have available is the original song, no IR
responses or any idea of the type of studio used to produce the reverb. Is
there any way I can accurately apply the reverb from the original song onto
the new song with convolution? Since no IR is possible, how can I go about
this?

Thank you,
Earl

[Arny Krueger]

"Earl Sanders" wrote in message


Here's the problem: I have a song I really like and
would like to apply its reverb to another song. All I
have available is the original song, no IR responses or
any idea of the type of studio used to produce the
reverb. Is there any way I can accurately apply the
reverb from the original song onto the new song with
convolution? Since no IR is possible, how can I go about
this?

What you want to do is theoretically doable, but you probably lack the
resources to actually do it.

What you are trying to do is obtain the impulse response of the virtual or
real room that was used to apply reverb to the song you are using as an
example.

There are a number of ways to obtain the impulse response of a room.

One of them is to actually apply an ideal impulse to a room, and measure the
room's response to that impulse at some location, which is straight-forward
enough.

Another way to obtain the impulse response of a room is to apply some known
signal to a room, measure the response of the room to that signal, and then
do some higher math to find just the impulse response of the room. Part of
the higher math is a detailed analysis of the signal before reverb was added
to it. The signal you use for this purpose could be music or pink noise or
some other signal, but it needs to contain significant amounts of energy at
all the frequencies of interest.

In your case you are kinda screwed because you don't know exactly what your
example song was like before reverb was added to it. That's the key resource
that you probably lack.

[Scott Dorsey]

Earl Sanders wrote:
Here's the problem: I have a song I really like and would like to apply its
reverb to another song. All I have available is the original song, no IR
responses or any idea of the type of studio used to produce the reverb. Is
there any way I can accurately apply the reverb from the original song onto
the new song with convolution? Since no IR is possible, how can I go about
this?

No, but by listening you can get a sense of how the original reverb sounds,
and you can sit down and A-B with your source and reverb unit and try and
make them sound the same.

Does it sound like a real room? Like a shiny chamber? Like a plate?
Is the reverb long or short? Is it bright or dull? There are a lot of
parameters so you need to take them one at a time.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Arny Krueger]

"Earl Sanders" wrote in message


Here's the problem: I have a song I really like and
would like to apply its reverb to another song. All I
have available is the original song, no IR responses or
any idea of the type of studio used to produce the
reverb. Is there any way I can accurately apply the
reverb from the original song onto the new song with
convolution? Since no IR is possible, how can I go about
this?

After looking at the other responses to this point, I think that some of us
told you that you were up the creek without a paddle, but we didn't tell you
how to find a paddle.

Scott did a nice job of telling you what paddles look like.

last weekend I was visiting one of the older studios in this city, and
listened to their senior guys talk about how they add reverb. The room was
dead, but their recordings aren't.

First they build up three sets of reverb that sound like what they are
looking for in that kind of reverb. One is short reverb (0-8 mS delays) one
is medium reverb (8-30) and one is long (30-200 or more). They adjust the
delays and the timbre of each kind of delay as desired. Then they add
various amounts of each kind of delay, again as desired to get the overall
sound they want.

Short reverb represents surfaces that are close to the mic and source.
Things like floors and nearby walls. Medium reverb represents nearby walls
and perhaps the ceiling. Things like the walls of the stage or shell that
the virtual performance is in. Long reverb represents things like the other
sides and very high ceilings of a very large room.

So when you listen to the recording that you are trying to clone the reverb
of, think about the room that you hear the music happening in.

Is the floor carpeted or polished wood? Is your back to the wall or is it
30 feet back? That relates to short reverb. Carpeting absorbs highs and
polished wood reflects it. Do you need to mute the highs in short reverb?

Are the nearby surfaces walls draped, plastered or glass? Are they square or
angled? That relates to medium reverb. Drapes absorbs highs and glass
reflects it. There might also be some mid-bass boom or low-end thickening
to of reflections of this kind.

Is this taking place in a big room, and if so, is the room a concert hall or
a basketball court? That relates to long reverb.