making impulse responses

[Chuck E. Jesus]

do any of you do a lot of impulse response recording? i want explore the transform multiplication function in EmuX2...i've got some weird sounding spaces around the house, access to stairwells, etc....i've read a starter pistol works, but i'd have much better luck getting a real handgun tbh , i thought of firecrackers, not sure anyone wants me to light them indoors though...i've thought handclaps but not sure that will create enough energy...also, the two options i have to record semi-mobile is a Zoom sampler, i think it samples around 32k, and a Tascam 246 cassette portastudio (it can do 3 3/4 ips and has dbx)....sure, i'm going to experiment anyway, but i'll have to get the whole rig together, figure a few tips might help...oh yeah, mics: i have a pair of Radio Shack PZMS made by crown, powered by 1.5 v AA (i think there are 3v that fit also), and a Rode NT3, it takes a 12v batt...

tips and/or war stories?

thanks,
rg

[thecontrolcentre]

you could try using balloon pops ... a bit safer than firecrackers.
I made some IRs last year by recording some guys across the field out the back of my house shooting pheasants. I just stuck a microphone out the window and recorded straight onto my HDD. They sound great on drum loops.

[Chuck E. Jesus]

you could try using balloon pops ... a bit safer than firecrackers.
I made some IRs last year by recording some guys across the field out the back of my house shooting pheasants. I just stuck a microphone out the window and recorded straight onto my HDD. They sound great on drum loops.

balloon pops, great idea!

[Borogove]

Handclaps should be fine if you've got a good clean recording, you can just boost/normalize the IR to make it "loud enough". Balloons may be more consistent and less 'colored' though.

[Emile]

And if you want some unique colors and unusual sonic textures bear in mind that any sound can be used as an IR! I begun creating my own IR collection using heavily processed samples and synths and I feel like I opened a whole new universe of flavours and textures! For examples, check spectral relativity and kaleidoscopy IR packages. The possibilities are endless!

[Cyrosis]

Most accurate method is to use a sinesweep and then run it through a deconvolver, basicly instead of a loud pop, which is hard for speakers to reproduce accuratly (your talking the entire frequency spectrum at once) it sends a sweep of the frequencies over a chosen amount of time (10+ seconds or so seems common). So in other words, if you want to go this method, you would need something to playback the sinesweep, and of course speakers loud enough to excite the room, if hand clap or a balloon was your other choice, you can see the speakers wouldnt need to be amazing to be an improvement anyhow, a deconvolver is simple really, it will make the sinesweep for you, then you can play it, record the space, and re open the deconvolver with the new wet sweep, then target it to the dry sweep you used, so it will know what to get rid of and then compile it all into a nice neat wav impulse response. http://www.voxengo.com/product/deconvolver/ <very nice app

[timobrien]

Capturing Real Acoustic Space Impulse Responses
http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=33

Thread on impulse capturing tips:
http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?opti ... &topic=4.0

[Chuck E. Jesus]

Capturing Real Acoustic Space Impulse Responses
http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=33

Thread on impulse capturing tips:
http://noisevault.com/nv/index.php?opti ... &topic=4.0

a great tip came from there i am familiar with: the remington nail gun...i've used these, and i can borrow one easily....loud as hell!

thanks!