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138 Chapter 10 Convolution Reverb: Space Designer
Using the Deconvolution Facility
Now that you know about sine sweep responses you’d probably like to know how to
use it to roll your own. It couldn’t be easier.
Accessing the Deconvolution Facility
The Deconvolution facility is necessary only in combination with a sweep response
recording.
To access the Deconvolution facility:
1 Bypass the plug-in by clicking on the Bypass button at the top of the of the Plug-in
window. This conserves CPU resources.
2 Click on the Deconvolution button towards the top right of the Space Designer GUI.
This will launch a File Selection box.
3 The File Selector menu bar will show Load Coded Impulse Response for Deconvolution.
Click Choose and select the wet, reverberated sweep response recording.
4 The File Selector menu bar will change to display Load Testsignal. Click Choose. Now
open the same dry sweep audio file you used as a source for the wet response
recording.
5 You will be prompted to save the decoded audio file. Select the desired path and file
name. Now the new IR will be calculated.
6 Any silence at the end and beginning of the new IR file should be removed using a
sample editor.
7 This file can now be loaded into the Space Designer.
About Convolution
This section looks at the technicalities behind convolution (in a reverb sense).
The use of reverberation on dry sounds is commonplace in computer music
production. Reverbs (and delays) can be used to simulate room and other acoustic
spaces or entirely new sounds, which may (or may not) be related to an actual physical
space.
There are several methods used to simulate and model different reverbs and physical
environments. One technique involves the actual recording of the ambience of a room,
and overlaying this recording (the impulse) onto another sound. This technique is
called convolution.
Before we get into convolution, a few basics need to be covered on reverberation itself.