This section of the tutorials will provide information on the basic nature of impulse responses, and how to use the options provided in the OwnHammer libraries.
Impulse Response Overview
Impulse response capture is a way to measure the linear elements of a system, and retains the ability to represent things like frequency and phase response, and reverberation decay. In the application realm of guitar equipment such as provided on the OwnHammer website, they are able to duplicate the "sound" of mic'd up guitar cabinets with EXTREME accuracy. The concept is simple - set up mics the way they would be for studio and live applications, and capture the sound of the cabinet, speaker, mic(s), and outboard gear in that signal chain in that exact configuration. Once the impulse responses have been compiled (which are sold on the OwnHammer site), they can be used in a convolutin reverb type loading device - be it a plugin in a DAW, or "cabinet block" in an outboard hardware unit - to import the file into and add that sound to a signal chain. Want a different sound? Load a different file! Which files should be chosen for a certain sound? This will be explained in the usage sections below.
Not all cabinets and speakers are created equal, speakers especially can vary WILDLY between specimens that should - as their make and model title would infer by being "identical" - sound the same but don't from both manufacturing tolerance deviation and time/wear/environmental factors. The OwnHammer brand has spared no expense and collected some of the most amazing and sought after pieces in electric guitar history dating from modern times back to its origins, and poured over hundreds of speakers and dozens of cabinets to find the very best sounding specimens to present to you at an infinitesimal fraction of the cost of acquiring these pieces 'in the real world'. Add the incredible amount of experience in mic'ing guitar cabinets, co-pioneering the commercial IR market, advancing the techniques involved in the stimulus and capture processes beyond any other provider, and high profile engineer, artist, and parallel industry developer involvement and endorsement, and you have the unquestionable highest echelon of professional guitar and bass loudspeaker impulse response products to choose from with OwnHammer.
Where to Begin?
First and foremost - which cabs and speakers are for you? Most likely, you're playing through a guitar amp or a model of a guitar amp, and pairing the cabinet and speaker to that make and model of amp is usually a great starting point from which you can branch out and experiment with later if desired. Google, YouTube, TheGearPage, etc, are great resources for looking up what cabs and speakers go best with your guitar, amp, and playing style. Start there, and once you have an idea of what you're looking for you can select the library or libraries that are going to fit with your sonic objective and use application.
Once a library or libraries have been chosen, now it's time to investigate the IR options! The majority of the time, the multi-mic mixes are the desired choice. Not only is this the way many if not most studio recordings are conducted, but the OH mixes use intentional slight phase misalignment to add organic qualities to the sound that are highly desirable both in the way they "feel" to play and how they sit in a mix.
Getting Started
If the utmost in simplicity is desired, the newest libraries representing the most up to date sampling methods and feature set provisions have a "Summary" folder, where there is a single file provided for all given cabinet/speaker combinations within that library. This file represents the middle ground in the brightness and darkness scale of the OwnHammer pre-made mix types, and for some, is as far as is needed. One file to represent a cab; it doesn't get more simple than that! Even if this isn't the final destination in the tone hunt, it is a good way to get a general feel for the various cabinet and speaker choices in a given library.
The next and primary point of interest for most is accessing the Quick-Start folder (in applicable libraries), and the notable contents therein. The Quick-Start represents the extent of what 95% or more of users will ever need to explore, and is the backbone of every library.
Quick Start Mix Files Recommended Usage
Your mileage may vary!
Sound:
Low/Mid Gain
Low/Mid Gain
Low/Mid Gain
Mid/High Gain
Mid/High Gain
Live Sound
Pickups:
Single Coils
Single Coils
Humbuckers
Humbuckers
Humbuckers
Any
Cab Type:
Open Back
Open Back
Any
Closed Back
Closed Back
Any
Tone:
Fat/Full
Clear/Forward
All Purpose
Fat/Full
Clear/Forward
All Purpose
IR Mixes:
OH1F OH2F SP2 Summary
OH1 OH2 BOLD Summary
OH1 OH2 BOLD Summary
OH2 JS CHUNK SP2 Summary
OH1 CUT MDRN BOLD/PROG Summary
OH1 OH1F SP2 Summary
Making Things REALLY Simple ALL The Time
The vast majority of the time for most people and with most libraries, OH1, OH1F, and/or SP2 are all that may be needed. These not only use the industry standard SM57 and R121 combination, but in the OH1 mix the EXACT way these mics have been placed and mixed together is a slight, application specific deviation from a setup that has been used on countless gold and platinum selling albums by a very accomplished and decorated engineer/producer. This technique was generously passed onto OwnHammer, and is literally being played on the radio on a regular basis with many music styles and tone textures. There are exceptions, but trying these first is always a safe bet.
Quick Start Single Mic Files
The Quick Start folder also contains the OwnHammer picks for "best" placement of each of the individual files. In this case, the criteria for obtaining this spot is the most clarity and frequency response balance within the sweet spot range. These picks will make excellent candidates for single mic usage or blending in external file mixing applications in a general purpose sense.
Mics and Mixes Folder Contents
If you want to go deeper, the OwnHammer libraries do not restrict verbose options and throw in the kitchen sink, affording you the opportunity to be treated like an adult and choose your own tone! Many easy to follow placement options are provided in the Mics and Mixes directories that will allow extensive customization, should you choose to pursue it. The individual mics not only provide a very bright (FRED) and very dark (EDGE) option, but also sweep the sweet spot (00-10) for you to pick and choose what sits best with your source, playback medium, and surrounding mix, or unique tone objective.
Third Party Reference Disclaimer: Any and all third party companies and products listed or otherwise mentioned on this site may be trademarks of their respective owners and are in no way affiliated or associated with OwnHammer, LLC. Product names are referenced solely for the purpose of identifying hardware used in the equipment chain for impulse response capture or are examples of companion products. Use of these names does not imply any cooperation or endorsement.
