Shaping sounds with convolution

Noisia use convolution reverb to give sounds a unique sense of place in the mix. Nik explains how it works…

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“I’m going to play with convolution a bit and make some tails for my dry sounds. We’re just using it as an alternative to reverb. You can use it on dry drum loops to get interesting tails and a good room sensation. The cool thing about it is that you can make your own impulses.”

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“I’ll start by making a very simple click sound in FM8 to use as an impulse – it’s just a simple little percussive sound, but if I convolute it with something then maybe something cool will happen.”

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“I’m using Melda [MMultiBandConvolution]. I’ll start by convoluting the sound with itself, which isn’t going to lead anywhere, but once I can start changing the sounds and experimenting it gets interesting.”

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“Let’s load up some dry drums. Now we can have this weird little impulse I just made processing these drums. We can EQ it a bit to make it sound better.”

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“It makes it sound as if the sound you’re putting through it is going through some sort of membrane that’s limiting the frequencies. It sounds like an object ‘playing’ the sound, which can be really helpful for your ears when putting something into a mix. It’s a similar idea to using guitar cabinet models.”

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“Obviously you can use longer sounds too to make sounds with a long tail. I’ll also use stereo impulses made of two detuned sounds, which can be used to create a stereo image.”