tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-1149193774882428042006-06-01T21:29:00.000+01:002006-06-01T21:29:00.000+01:002006-06-01T21:29:00.000+01:00Hmm... sure sounds like a sales gimmick to me.<BR/><BR/>This isn't really anything that new, though perhaps it's new to the "classical" world, where things like digital effects and such aren't too commonplace. It'll <I>sound</I> like something new and exciting to those who've never been behind the boards of a recording studio - even a home makeshift one. Admittedly, that's most of the world - but to those of us who have, this is kind of a "Huh? So?"<BR/><BR/>I guess to someone who's familiar with studio effects, this news is a bit like hearing that a 2CD set is being released - one disc played normal, the second through a distortion pedal or a spring reverb tank.<BR/><BR/>In studio production they call it "impulse modeling" and it's been around for awhile - the first IM program I played around with was in, like, '98 or '99 or so. I've got a few concrete pieces that make extensive use of them (shameless plug: various parts of my piece "Sanctuary" involved running material through a series of different impulses taken at the Todaiji Temple in Kyoto...)<BR/><BR/>One of the fun things about the technology is that you can use the same setup to make "impulses" of not just rooms, but vintage effects pedals, amplifiers, and other studio gear. A plate reverb unit costs thousands of dollars - but you can get multiple impulses of them online for free by poking around.<BR/><BR/>On my system I've got probably close to 200 impulses from churches, temples, empty silos, caverns, bathtubs, swimming pools (empty <I>and</I> underwater) and all sorts of funny-sounding places around the world - some I've taken myself, some came from others. People trade them online. There are programs from which you can create virtual impulses by designing a room in a CAD-like environment, telling the computer what the walls are made of, placing the source speaker and mics in your virtual room and voila. Some of these programs even use impulses taken from specific amplifiers and microphones, so you can not only hear what your guitar would sound like in in some "impossible" Escher-inspired room, but what it would sound like in that room, played through a '65 Fender Champ turned up to 8, and recorded with a vintage Neumann U87. Impulse upon impulse upon impulse.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, the only reason I can see for this CD release is the gimmick. A gimmick the producers are pretty sure most listeners won't know has been around for a long time.Seth Gordonhttp://www.myspace.com/soundnotmusicnoreply@blogger.com