D.I Impulse Response Trick

[dir-en-grey44]

So I noticed my Behringer ultra-di400 was colouring my guitar signal making the lows:mids sound a bit mushy and shelving the high frequency a bit.
Rather than paying for an expensive di box I went a head and generated a flat eq test tone signal and ran it through my di box and eq matched it to the flat eq tone I made.
Created an impulse response and put that in front of my signal chain in my daw and to my amazement, the signal was crystal clear. My guitar tracks have never sounded better and don't sound wimpy when I use it with amp sims. Just thought id let you guys know if nobody hasn't tried it yet.

 

[guy in latvia]

sounds like a cool idea. can you explain what you mean by flat eq test tone? sine wave?

 

[dir-en-grey44]

It's a test tone generated from voxengo deconvolver which comes out flat at all frequencys. I used the same process as creating an cabinet impulse response only I ran it through my di and recorded it and eq matched it.

 

[otamatone]

Sounds interesting, thanks for the info

 

[deLuther]

Voxengo Deconvolver`s sweep start from 40 Hz, so it can give poor low end in result, so, basically, it`s not that flat

 

[dir-en-grey44]

Isn't anything below 50 considered useless anyways for guitars?

 

[deLuther]

But you feel that something is wrong
For example (on cabinet impulse):

Sometimes natural low end gradual fade can sound more natural.

As for some proposal for something different.
Try to play some DI-track through your DI-box and use this tool for matching impulse extraction:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/backline/957890-new-way-cabinet-impulse-extraction.html
You can also use MatcherCL on your test tone and response.

 

[dir-en-grey44]

Actually when I matched the di sweep to the original sweep there was gradually no change in the low end the only changes occurred were between the bass/mid section and the highs were bumped up a bit. I could get a comparison for you in a bit but thanks for the info I'll experiment with different methods and get up some comparison audio tracks.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Do you think it would be possible to do this with my POD HD? To get the test tone to pass through the unit I think I'd have to run the output into the input, which doesn't sound like a good idea :/

 

[dir-en-grey44]

You put the test tone on a external source like iPhone or iPod and on the unit set it to dry and play it back through the unit.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

You put the test tone on a external source like iPhone or iPod and on the unit set it to dry and play it back through the unit.

I thought of that but assumed it would be too many file type conversions to be effective. My iPod hasn't been used in 6 months and is charging, but I'll update & post how it goes.

edit: They were exactly the same, according to Ozone. I really didn't expect that. O____O

 

[Punkyskunky]

Hey man, awesome idea!

Could you post a picture of the EQ curve you got in the end after your matching?

I tried your idea with this chain and I just wanna make sure I did it correctly.

Reaper sine wave sweep > Out of my Apogee Quartet > Input of Apogee Quartet > Made sure input and output were level-matched and not distorted/saturated > Fabfilter Pro Q 2 Eq Match

I ended up with this curve:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/720e3ujlga1sg4r/Screen Shot 2014-10-24 at 09.27.20.png?dl=0

Does that seem about right or am I way off?

 

[MultiM]

Fabfilter Pro-Q 2 can do match EQ?

 

[Punkyskunky]

Yep, Awesome Plugin It's down in the analyser section.

 

[dir-en-grey44]

I have no experience with fab filter but if it does eq matching and you matched the original sweep ran through the interface and matched that signal to the original than yes you did it right and by the looks of it looks like it's being shelved no?

 

[exoslime]

@dir-en-grey44
thats actually a great idea! thanks for sharing it