YT: Match EQ and IR Tutorial!

[Clark Kent]

Something about this just doesn't sit right to me... Not saying it's not cool as hell, but I'm very skeptical.

You should try it out. I know my video didn't have high quality audio so I can give you a clip with high quality audio and a comparison.

http://soundcloud.com/clark-kent-job/pod-vs-darketernal-ir

There you have my POD HD500 match EQ'd the same way to sound like John Petrucci (Dream Theater) Dark Eternal night. NOW: the first 10 seconds are the modeler with the IR and after that it's the original track. It's pretty much identical... maybe a bit more balls in the modeler version.

 

[Clark Kent]

Also if you guys are DJENT fans I made a djent song with the Periphery guitar tone:

http://soundcloud.com/clark-kent-job/you-you

And BTW this song is just a joke. I'm did everything here... I'm also singing/screaming/playing guitar/bass/mixing/mastering.

 

[Habsburgs]

mm.. not really feeling it. idk sounds nice i guess

 

[CubanDude]

I somehow don't really get it.. OK, I may sound like a total dumbass now, but first of all: How to get the stems of the tone you wanna match (e.g. a guitartone from song xyz I dig)? Thanks a lot in advance, seems to be a quite interesting method!

 

[cloy26]

You should try it out. I know my video didn't have high quality audio so I can give you a clip with high quality audio and a comparison.

http://soundcloud.com/clark-kent-job/pod-vs-darketernal-ir

There you have my POD HD500 match EQ'd the same way to sound like John Petrucci (Dream Theater) Dark Eternal night. NOW: the first 10 seconds are the modeler with the IR and after that it's the original track. It's pretty much identical... maybe a bit more balls in the modeler version.

Not identically the same, but in a mix it would sound identical.

 

[mva801]

I somehow don't really get it.. OK, I may sound like a total dumbass now, but first of all: How to get the stems of the tone you wanna match (e.g. a guitartone from song xyz I dig)? Thanks a lot in advance, seems to be a quite interesting method!

Get a version of the song. Find a place where the guitar is playing by itself. Voila.

Pretty damn cool actually. I've used the match eq to get closer to certain things in mastering, but I never thought to use it on an individual track. So he's basically just using the match eq to get that track to sound how he wants it, then running a sine sweep through that eq. After deconvolving the sine sweep, you can load it as an impulse response. So all you have to do is run your amp sim with the same settings as you did before, and the impulse response applies the same eq curve to it. There you have your copied guitar tone.

I can see a few scenarios where this may be helpful. Bravo sir.

 

[Superdatasatan]

Definitely cool stuff for learning and figuring stuff out. But I feel these things such matching sounds and eqs, presets, same old drum samples and shit are totally killing the creativity and chance of developing something fresh and new these days..

 

[viralz]

Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial, this stuff is a lot of fun!

 

[Clark Kent]

Not identically the same, but in a mix it would sound identical.

That soundcloud clip sounds a bit different because the volume isn't the same. The match EQ'd part has a higher volume so it kinda makes it sound different. If the volume was the same, I bet no one could point out which one is the real deal and which one is match EQ'd.

Anyways... When I do my serious match EQ's I might do it many times until it's exactly the same. It might not work the first time. However in this video I nailed it on the first time.

Definitely cool stuff for learning and figuring stuff out. But I feel these things such matching sounds and eqs, presets, same old drum samples and shit are totally killing the creativity and chance of developing something fresh and new these days..

I totally get what you're saying. Ripping other peoples tones can give you a good understanding of "WHAT IS A GOOD GUITAR TONE IN A MIX". Usually "massive" guitar tones suck in a mix you know. What I'm trying to do here is to go far beyond just ripping other peoples tones. In this video when I create the patch MATCH EQ, you might see two tones on the left. One called "CKJ One Direction" and the other "CKJ The End". Those are match EQ'd tones of my OWN RECORDINGS; My Mesa Mark IV through my 4x12 V30 cabinet. I made those recordings long ago and I don't own the amp anymore. BUT I can use the same tones I had back in the day. So this is not only limited to ripping off tones.

You can easily backup your recording tone perfectly if you just use a DI box inbetween the amp and kinda RE-AMP that signal with a VST modeler and match EQ it. Now you have 100% identical takes and you only have to record one riff with the amp cranked up and you can record the rest at home while your kids are sleeping.

You know... the options are unlimited.

 

[Mago]

Nice vid, I've been toying around with match-eq when I started out mixing, but never with that method of using the preampsignal and making an impulse of the captured thing.

I don't really think that this will help to understand how to process a guitar to work in a mix though.
Plus there's the same old problem that impulses don't work as well in a mix as a miced cab, even if it sounds really nice/close solo.
But it's a nice thing to toy around and get some nice tones, will try this to see how good it works!

 

[cloy26]

I don't really think that this will help to understand how to process a guitar to work in a mix though.
Plus there's the same old problem that impulses don't work as well in a mix as a miced cab, even if it sounds really nice/close solo.
But it's a nice thing to toy around and get some nice tones, will try this to see how good it works!

Is there extra stuff in a real mic'd track that makes it sit better? Like why is it that IR tracks usually sound so lame? At least in all my crap mixes... lol. Is it the "3d" aspect of the real amp?

 

[Clark Kent]

Nice vid, I've been toying around with match-eq when I started out mixing, but never with that method of using the preampsignal and making an impulse of the captured thing.

I don't really think that this will help to understand how to process a guitar to work in a mix though.
Plus there's the same old problem that impulses don't work as well in a mix as a miced cab, even if it sounds really nice/close solo.
But it's a nice thing to toy around and get some nice tones, will try this to see how good it works!

Well... it won't give you better monitors and it will not give you better ears. However it will give you the knowledge of the brightness and EQ balance that professional guitar tracks have. Just like professional studio engineers use reference song mixes when checking the brightness of a mix. And like I said in the video, there's a lot more gear in a professional guitar track than just a guitar, amp, cab and mic. Those things are just about impossible to get unless you have the money which can easily mount up to ~$50000.

I'd also love to see some proof on impulses not working as well in a mix as a miced cab. This simply isn't true. I'm can proof this statement is false. Sure if you have bad impulses they won't work but an impulse is just an EQ curve which ofcourse isn't the same thing as a real cab but will sit in a mix just as good. That's like saying the Axe-Fx doesn't sit in a mix since it's only using impulses.

 

[Clark Kent]

Check this video out. It's made by me. I'm testing out OwnHammer impulses. IMHO I can get them sitting in a mix a lot better than any of my live room amp mic tones. (and I've mic'ed amps a lot... I mean... I run a studio)

 

[Math]

Waw, this video was very helpful for me as an amateur, detailed and clearly explained.

But, I can't help but raise a question here.

What if you took an amp, cab and 3 identical mics, one dead center, 2 off axis, could you use this to match eq the off axis-ones to the center-one, to theoretically get an impulse that allows you to change the mic placement on a cab?

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

I use EQ matchin a lot too..
It's great for different things..

Btw, thanks for the video! it's awesome when people do vids with audio examples..
And you didn't even talk at 10% volume and play the audio at 4000% like most people do..

I haven't tried your specific example yet, but I'm thinking this leads to just having the EQ, or do you get the "room" tail as well?

 

[maggot9779]

I have a question, for your Periphery IR did you record with the compressor etc on or did you add them afterwards?

Awesome tutorial by the way, It would never had crossed my mind to do something like that...then again, I am pretty retarded.

 

[Melodeath]

I use EQ matching quite a bit. Thought I use it on recorded amp tones, not simulators. And I use it on mix buss for "ideas" - not actually keeping the match, but seeing which curves help the particular mix/master. Voxengo CurveEQ has been great to me. I haven't compared directly to Ozone, but I use Ozone now, since I'm on Mac.

 

[cloy26]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O474OFLGufg

Check this video out. It's made by me. I'm testing out OwnHammer impulses. IMHO I can get them sitting in a mix a lot better than any of my live room amp mic tones. (and I've mic'ed amps a lot... I mean... I run a studio)

Do you sell these?

 

[Clark Kent]

Waw, this video was very helpful for me as an amateur, detailed and clearly explained.

But, I can't help but raise a question here.

What if you took an amp, cab and 3 identical mics, one dead center, 2 off axis, could you use this to match eq the off axis-ones to the center-one, to theoretically get an impulse that allows you to change the mic placement on a cab?

Well yes you can match eq one mic placement to sound like another mic placement. Basically... you can record a session with one mic placement and then change the placement later on with match eq.

Then you'll just have to learn to live with the fact that there's something VERY digital in your signal chain. Not saying that it will sound digital... it won't but the knowledge that it's there might make some people feel uncomfortable.

 

[Clark Kent]

I have a question, for your Periphery IR did you record with the compressor etc on or did you add them afterwards?

Awesome tutorial by the way, It would never had crossed my mind to do something like that...then again, I am pretty retarded.

I recorded it with all the compressors on etc. but I think it wouldn't make much of a difference in the end result. Still I think it "should" be match EQ'd with the compressor, gate and tubescreamer on since they have them in their tracks also.