How to Create Your Own Impulse Response for Free!

Description: Have you ever wondered how to recreate the authentic sound of a space in your music production? That's where impulse response comes in! In this video, we explain what impulse response is and how you can record your own for free.
We then show you how to use Ableton's Convolution Reverb Pro plug-in to apply your impulse response and recreate the acoustic environment of any space. Join us and take your music production to the next level with this powerful technique!
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Thanks,
Libby and Marcel

[@SimplyXera]

I really hope you are able to give impulse response recordings! I've always been looking for a source for them and they are hard to find. Thanks for this! :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Oh yes if I have the magical number of 100 I have a library coming up. Also I'm thinking about creating a convolution reverb plugin for others to use.

[@ozansan2217]

This is great! This video is linked to me by our Signals and Systems course, and it's so nice to see that the convolution and impulse response has a real use, and you can achieve so much more with it other than playing around with maths :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

HI Ozan. Thank you so much and what kind of course is that? I'm not aware of it.

[@ozansan2217]

@@FreeToUseSounds Thanks for the reply! It's a course on signal processing in my university, which is primarily concerned with waves and practically any change over time, and how to transform and perform analysis on waves. There's no infringement or anything if you are wondering, just a link to this video. We're learning the mathematical background of the process that you've performed, and the background of Ableton computing the sound with reverb added, how to compute convolutions, and how to obtain sound waves (or, any other wave, really) after the wave is passed through a filter. I imagine any kind of filter can be obtained by popping a balloon, and recording the sound that comes back, not necessarily reverb. You probably can obtain an "old radio" effect by playing a popping sound through a radio and recording the output, and put it in the same plugin, assuming it just computes convolutions. The same process could also be performed underwater to obtain an "underwater" effect. The possibilities are endless! Thanks for inspiring me to pay more attention to my class! It's a delight to see that the subjects we learn do have real world applications :)

[@FloMoTionDJ]

great stuff, well presented. I had a good laugh at your recreation of the scene with the different reverbs, keep it up!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you so much for watching Flo :)

[@jameshenderson4932]

Fantastic. I would love hanging out with these guys. Fun.

[@JerryGartnerPersonal]

This is brilliant! What an amazing way to capture an environment! I wonder how different frequencies affect this. I imagine a 90Hz boom acting like a reverb EQ at 90Hz. I'll definitely be experimenting. Thank you!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Jerry! Thank you so much for watching and let me know what you find out about it.

[@BlindLibrary]

I'll give a huge note to self: Try to keep your responses as balanced and clean as possible. Remember, you don't want someone coughing during an impulse recording, or, do you? Any background noise caught in the recording for all intent and purpose is now part of the response! Keep as quiet a noise floor as you can. That's the most important thing I can stress.

[@vidworxsfx]

I like the example doing it ADR style, so we can hear how close a match to the real space the IR can reproduce. So as of right now im 27 of the magic number of 100 :-) def look forward to being able to dl some of these, great vid.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Oh yeah you can use it that way or even use the IR on any instruments as well.

[@BlindLibrary]

@@FreeToUseSounds Or how about cutting out your favorite parts of the reverb/space acoustic and using them in your own things? Some of that's gonna get downright fun, especially when you thought you're going to hear one thing, yet you get something entirely different?

[@DiscoveryDuo]

That spooky reversed reverb effect should definitely be called a “Preverb”!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Sounds like a great idea :)

[@MrFree-vj8qj]

Reverb of a reversed track put on the normal versipn is called like that

[@alexandre7634]

I heard that you can also bring a monitor and play a pink noise at -20dbfs and then record it but your solution seems way more practical

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Oh yes I saw people playing the reverb live trough another speaker to record the impulse response.

[@alexandre7634]

@@FreeToUseSounds yes or frequency sweep also !

[@FreeToUseSounds]

That is what I had in mind. :) Fun stuff.

[@robbrinkworth2797]

Great video Marcel! Can't wait to use some of your impulse responses in our designs.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Rob Brinkworth Thank you Rob! I send you the files on Dropbox! :)

[@dtjmusiclife2023]

When you play electric guitar in your bedroom and put reverb pedal in front of it and you set in Hall/Plate/Spring etc. Whatever setting it is... The question is..? Is it you already or actually simulating the impulse response of electric guitar sound by adding reverb on it..?

[@iangomes]

This is great. I had been wondering if a balloon had enough power to get a good enough signal-to-noise ratio, but it seems it worked for you!

[@jeonsansil]

Thanks for your video. I've got a lot of inspiration from your channel. :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Happy to hear that!

[@ferenclucas2842]

it's cool but there's no distinction that there are two different people talking as it sounds like it's from the exact same location. maybe two different convolutions from the exact place and direction faced by both characters would be more convincing?

[@sapiotone]

Thanks for making and sharing this! Having just bought Sononym, I'm digging through old location recordings and just resurrected an impulse I recorded 15 years ago on my R09 :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Nice!!

[@BlindLibrary]

You just never know what you'll find from yester-year...

[@christiannikodemus]

Your videos are great! I've been a location sound recordist for many years, but the field lacks fun videos like this specific to sound recording!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Glad you like them!

[@JulienMatthey]

Amazing video. Thanks for sharing Marcel

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you Julien! It’s was super fun to create!

[@ViciousXUSMC]

Any other software that you know can use the custom IRs? Vegas, Audition, Audacity? Those are the ones I have and quite curious now. I'll have to start recording these.

[@gokulv.k.2347]

Helloo @freetousesounds, your Videos are incredibly beneficial and Inspiring...Hoping for much more useful content in the future. Thanks for sharing your experience!!!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you so much for watching and yes we have a new review video coming up about the new Zoom H8

[@gokulv.k.2347]

@@FreeToUseSounds Excited!!!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@gokulv.k.2347 We are also started a podcast and post new episodes on Sunday. Feel free to check it out. freetousesounds.buzzsprout.com/

[@gokulv.k.2347]

@@FreeToUseSounds yes I'm already following😃

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@gokulv.k.2347 Wow! Thank you so much!!! Next podcast on Sunday is all about how Libby and I met and our life before. I hope you enjoy it.

[@Erik_Torstensson]

Nice reverbs and video! 😁🎤🎧

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Erik! It was you who told me about it :)

[@jamusjamus]

Brilliant and simple.thanks

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you for watching!!

[@hamradioop5777]

I have never seen this technique before and I thank you for such an enjoyable lesson. What works best here, do you use the same microphone and placement as in the original film and do you always use a balloon please?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi! I use balloons whenever I can but sometimes I clap with my hands.

[@elizabethsfaith8228]

So before Importing the room space file do you cut out initial pop? And thank you for this video it helped me a lot!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Elizabeth.. I don't record any other pop sounds that I would remove. But if, then yes.

[@andrejayden1560]

@@FreeToUseSounds hi, that would be my question as well! If you hit the balloon with the needle- there is the plop, did you cut it or is IR in ableton so good to filter out the first plop:)? Thx :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@andrejayden1560 You mean with "plop" if the balloon falls to the ground? If yes, I try to avoid this from happening.

[@RileyGein]

@@andrejayden1560 part of many convolution reverbs is a process called “deconvolving” which uses a bunch of math to remove the popping noise from the balloon while maintaining the characteristics of the reverb tail

[@musar03580]

@@FreeToUseSounds I think @Elizabeth's Faith means, do you edit out the initial sound of the pop? I have this question too. People describing how to record impulse responses sometimes talk about cutting off the initial portion of the sound and using only the tail of the recording (i.e. only the reverb itself) as the impulse response file.

[@crazykennymonkey191]

Awesome video. 🤙🏼

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you Clayton!

[@turanbagmanov7010]

hi is these devices are avalible for ableton live 12? I checked it up in my library i can see the reverb plugin but the ir mesurment device it's not there and i also searched in the internet to download it but i can't find any link are u still using this and doing this ?

[@whawha9016]

Did you actually publish any impulse response library? Couldn't find any, payware or free, on your site!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

I didn't yet. I wait until I reach 100 different locations. Right now I'm at 92

[@whawha9016]

@@FreeToUseSounds Great! Can't wait.

[@bricoman4933]

Could you blow it untill it explodes to hear the sound?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

What do you mean?

[@diegoratto6733]

Hi. Nice video. I miss the part where you actually create the IR. Did you just imported the wav file into the Ableton plugin after you recorded it with your zoom?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Diego. The IR was recorded with the balloon and yes I imported this wav files into Ableton.

[@diegoratto6733]

@@FreeToUseSounds ok!

[@wangmedia]

This is so cool. Is it possible to simulate any room?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Yes and also spaces with reverb like between mountains or forests. The larger the space the more boom you need. Some sound designers using speakers to to create a sweep.

[@YOYOJIN]

Very wonder why my favorite youtube didn't show up on my main page! >3

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi!!! That is so cool! We have a new video coming up tonight! Maybe the KZbin algorithm doesn't like us :( Did you click on the notification bell?

[@YOYOJIN]

@@FreeToUseSounds i did it 3times!:) haha cant wait for new video!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@YOYOJIN Awesome! :) See you there.

[@matthewpiatt]

Nice video. I bet you could sell the impulses from places you travel.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Matthew! Yes this is something I do. If I reach the magical number of 100 impulse responses, I will do that.

[@Cristobal88]

Muchas gracias! Me suscribo y un me gusta a este video!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Thank you!

[@brushstroke3733]

Can you use the reverse response to undo the grainy sound of 1930's records or the compressed, flat sound of some classic rock records? Make an IR that corresponds to their production techniques, then use it to reverse their production back to the original dry sound of the musicians without effects, etc. I would love to hear Jimmy Rodgers, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, etc., sounding like they were recorded in modern studios.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi! Hmm that is a very interesting question but I personally need to pass on answering this because of lack of experience. But if you want I can copy and paste this question to the facebook group I'm part of? Would you like me to do that?

[@brushstroke3733]

@@FreeToUseSounds Yes, I am interested to confirm that it would work as I imagine it. Actually, I think you could answer the question by a quick experimemt: use your original voice recordings in the parking structure along with the impulse response you made there, but just apply the impulse response in reverse. If the final result sounds like you talking in a studio with low ambient reverb, it probably means the technique could work to undo other ambient effects like microphone and preamp settings, tape sound, compression, etc.

[@brushstroke3733]

@@FreeToUseSounds Yes, I am interested to confirm that it would work as I imagine it. Actually, I think you could answer the question by a quick experimemt: use your original voice recordings in the parking structure along with the impulse response you made there, but just apply the impulse response in reverse. If the final result sounds like you talking in a studio with low ambient reverb, it probably means the technique could work to undo other ambient effects like microphone and preamp settings, tape sound, compression, etc.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@brushstroke3733 Hi I actually did this in Ableton. I put the IR in reverse but what happens is that my voice started later and sounds more ghostly.

[@brushstroke3733]

@@FreeToUseSounds Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Sounds like it worked somewhat but still created an effect of sorts. Did it remove the reverb/echo for the most part while creating that shifted, ghostly effect?

[@lelandbobpalmer]

Hi there and thanks for the video :-) Why is there such a long delay on the impulse?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Kenneth Lorentzen You mean in the tunnel? That’s the natural reverb of the parking lot.

[@rendermanpro]

Very interesting, awesome channel. ....but I even more shocked that Ableton can open videos :)

[@FreeToUseSounds]

I know, right? :) Thanks for the kind words!

[@CreativeRamy]

when you record the impulse response does it have to be in stereo using something like the BP4025 ?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Well you use what you have and if I had a spatial or VR set I would use it and if I only have one microphone I would use that too.

[@CreativeRamy]

@@FreeToUseSounds so what you're saying is that it doesn't matter how you record it, would the reason be because the file would be used as a sample within convolution reverb pro?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@CreativeRamy No I never said anything about it doesn't matter...If you want to be more professional you use different microphones and different setups. Also, to make it even more more interesting you can use speakers to record a sweep. There is a great article about Convolution Reverb written by DesigningSounds. You can find out more about IR, how to record it and what equipment you can use.

[@CreativeRamy]

@@FreeToUseSounds that's awesome Marcel I'll check it out 😊 all very interesting!

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@CreativeRamy Yeah you also get free convolution reverb plug-ins if you don’t want to use the Ableton version.

[@michaelscott9266]

What’s the name of the binaural microphone / headphones that you use?

[@FreeToUseSounds]

Hi Michael! I don't use any binaural microphones in this video.

[@michaelscott9266]

Many thanks for the response! I’m talking about the ones in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5aYfWSLn9uBoNk. Just found out that they’re the Soundman OKM II. Would be cool to see a video on using these specifically in different environments.

[@FreeToUseSounds]

@@michaelscott9266 Hi Michael! Yes I use the Soundman OKM Rockstudio. I used them yesterday in a tunnel but also in airports. Roland has also very good ones.