Why does everyone seem to blend IR’s?

[laxu]

I've never owned more than one real mic so I have just used one.

But modeling makes it very easy to blend them, so having a SM57 do the "bite and cut" and then blending a bit of another mic for "body" works really well for my tastes.

It gets even more interesting if you combine different cabs and mics. The ML Sound Lab MIKKO IR mix I made for the Marshall model in my Strymon Iridium is a combination of different mics on a Greenback, G12H-30 and V30. Could I have done it with one mic on one of the cabs? Sure, but the movable mics, blending different cabs etc lets me really play around with it.

 

[la szum]

21st Century Guitar Playing = Doubt Your Every Move Every Step Of The Way.


Fuck that shit!!

 

[Will Chen]

My gut feeling is always if one IR isn’t doing it for you, then I’d swap that rather than blending something else.

My experience with real mics when tracking was near always 2, a dynamic and either a condenser or ribbon. However, almost always the end mix was predominantly 1 mic's sound, typically the dynamic, with the other mixed much lower just adding a littler high end or back a little to add a touch of room sound. So moving to these new UI's, I tend to take a similar approach: 1 IR is the primary tone, a 2nd just to add a little bit of extra color or address a specific something lacking from the 1st.

But being 100% honest, I've only built up 1 preset in the FM3 since the Dyna Cabs have been added, most my older presets which work there's no real reason to touch them.

 

[dk_ace]

I use blended IRs because it’s rare that I hear everything that I want from a single mic. I can certainly make a single mic work, but things generally sound better to me with two mics.

I sometimes do the blending myself if I’m being picky, but I’ll often use York IR mixes to get that sound by using less dsp and less work on me.

D

 

[northern_fox]

Very very hit and miss if it's mixing different mics/cabs - if I do it's almost always IR's from the same set/cab. I often think it sounds good at first and then when I go back to the single one after, I prefer it. Once in a while I find a combination that's good and doesn't have weird phasing though. I mean IR's, not individual mics captures.

 

[eggpl@nt]

I suffer from this affliction. I feel like I have to mix mics because that’s what everyone does and that’s the only way to achieve tHe SoUNd iN My HeAD. It’s just the right thing to do, obviously. (/s)

Frankly, I think it can work against me. So I decided to take personal offense to this post. I whipped out my Axe Fx, built a basic preset, and used only one Dynamic mic in the DynaCab block.

I moved the mic around until I found a good spot—not too bright, not too thin, not too flubby—and I think I like where I landed.

I’m going to use this post as inspiration to not unnecessarily muck with a second mic just for the sake of having a second mic.

Thank you.

 

[paisleywookiee]

DynaCab

YOURE A DYNA-CAB!

 

[Enchilada Jones]

I love adding a ribbon at a distance to dial in the amount of body I want to add to the 57

I didn’t even think of that as ‘blending’ I think most of my go-to IR’s are dual mic captures. Managing the low, low-mid character by adjusting proximity effect from a ribbon mic distance is usually the last thing I need to do once I pick the ir. After that it’s save preset and never return to Cab block again. I almost never even do high or low cut anymore.
Audition IR…. It either sounds good with tone stack control adjustment or it’s the wrong IR….then tweak the mic distance and done. Push save and play music.

it’s taken me a long time to retrain my brain to keep from hunting for a ‘better IR. I think part of my success there came from using the UA pedals, Ruby, Dream 65, Woodrow. They each have 6 cab choices and I usually know right away which one of the 6 is going to be what I want. Like if I had 6 real cabs to pick from I’d know which one was going to be right for that amp voice I’m working with. So I’m trying to make AxeFx, Helix, etc work with similar limits instead of never ending choices.

 

[metropolis_4]

I’ve been sort of doing something similar with the Boss cabs in the SY.

I select between 1x12, 2x12, 4x10, and 4x12 based roughly on the balance of mids and bass I want, then dial in the focus of the attack with the distance.

I’ve really been liking this. It feels more like fine tuning the EQ in a predictable way than hearing big jumps between different IRs.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I started seeing IRs as "complex EQs" quite a while ago. I don't even approach it like putting a mic on a speaker, just alter what I want in the frequency spectrum and export as an IR.

Although I tend not to dick around with it too much after I find a happy place.

 

[Jwdubois]

I rarely blend single IRs myself other than the occasional vanilla 57+121 combo, but I often prefer pre blended IRs from vendors like OH and York.

I'm getting into blending IRs with Dyna Cabs because it's so easy to get great results.

 

[Jarick]

When I shot some IR's last week, I ended up blending two together because one was a little dark and one was a little bright. It worked pretty well considering I have no experience and minimal gear.

Now I'm messing around in the Dyna-Cab with two dynamic mics (1 and 2) to kind of mimic a Fredman thing. It's not as drastic as using a ribbon for a second mic, a little more focus and mids, pretty good overall.