Weald - A Wood Based Sound Effects "Processor" and IR Library

[michaelwayneharwood]

The examples above were from my first attempt at sine sweep recording, and are of the "loose" category in regards to the amount of resonance. Once I get an "isolation booth" built I am going to re-record the samples, deconvolve them, and then throw them through some testing. Each species of wood will have at least three variants: "tight", "loose", and "box".

Suppose I have a very meh sounding bass, nothing spectacular, I decide I want to give some color to its tone but I'm not interested in distortion, fuzz, reverb... I just want to enhance the tone without going into effects overload, this might be a way to do that.

This is definitely one of the practical applications that I had in mind, as well as having a set of IR's for sound modification on basses that sound really good....of course "good" can be very subjective. One of the initial IR's I tested with was Western Red Cedar, and the IR's effect was very subtle. I personally thought the bass frequencies sounded a bit bigger, punchier, and tighter without adding any mud. It provided some nice definition without being overtly obvious.

The tonal modifications that can be achieved can be big and in your face, or slight depending on the IR and how much you use to color the tone. As a somewhat similar comparison compressors can squash all of the life and dynamics out of a signal, or they can be use in small amounts that contributes to a better overall mix. You can distort your tone and get serious grit, or you can add a touch to sharpen things up a bit. I think that all effects have their place, and finding the tools that work for you is the key.

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

I am really wanting to hear some "box" IR's.
Rondo

 

[JustForSport]

Great idea! There certainly is a difference with the IR,
One thing to try maybe, is to compare a thicker piece of wood with the thinner one using a couple types of wood avail to see what the difference in timbre is.
Also, striking with a different density of tool for comparison.
I don't mean for every type of wood sampled, but just a couple initially to see what the difference may be.

 

[Nic.]

This is fascinating. Rather than having pieces of wood you swap out live, I'd rather have presets that I download into a purely electronic pedal based on measurements you make

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

This is fascinating. Rather than having pieces of wood you swap out live, I'd rather have presets that I download into a purely electronic pedal based on measurements you make

If I am understanding Michael's concept correctly, I think this is what he has in mind:
logidy.com
Rondo

 

[Justice Graves]

Ok I'm in, long read between the two threads but you got my attention. I can see the benefit of the subtle adjustment of sound, I really do think that has greatest promise in the world of ABG's but I'm sure it can also liven up electrics. Tone is very subjective and anything to modify it in a new way is always interesting.

 

[Rôckhewer]

@michaelwayneharwood
My friend, you know from our emails that I am also very interested and impressed with the work you're doing on this project.
Also the wood samples that I promised you are packed and only awaiting me to find time to get to the post office to ship them to you.
I would only hope that you could try to ignore any and all naysayers, and/or people who find it necessary to crap on another's ideas, dreams and innovations... whether that be to make themselves look smarter, or that in tearing down others, they make themselves feel better about their own lack of creativity, etc...
There are enough people on this forum alone that are genuinely interested in what you are doing, that it would be a real shame if you decided not to share your ideas and projects, due to the inevitable negativity of a very small minority.
Much respect.
Peace.
-Rock

 

[Freightshaker]

So, a truly fresh approach to modify the signal?

Sub'd.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Great idea! There certainly is a difference with the IR,
One thing to try maybe, is to compare a thicker piece of wood with the thinner one using a couple types of wood avail to see what the difference in timbre is.
Also, striking with a different density of tool for comparison.
I don't mean for every type of wood sampled, but just a couple initially to see what the difference may be.

The sampling process for the IR's goes like this:

1. Strike the wood with a hard object like a ballpeen hammer
2. Strike the wood with a dull object like a rubber mallet
3. Strike the wood with a piece of the same species of wood
4. Run a sine sweep through the wood

This provides a fairly wide range of activators that provides a wider base of samples. This allows for comparison of the similarities of the tones that appear to be inherent in the wood, and a way to select those that are tonally desired based on a context. Although this may sound a bit esoteric, I want to let the wood speak for itself without imposing any expectations on it's voice while at the same time giving it the most opportunity to talk to me in various ways.

This is fascinating. Rather than having pieces of wood you swap out live, I'd rather have presets that I download into a purely electronic pedal based on measurements you make

If I am understanding Michael's concept correctly, I think this is what he has in mind:
logidy.com
Rondo

@nic - The Logidy EPSi, as @rondodunbar states, is what I was thinking is a potentially good fit for that. The Invalid Link Removed can also load third party IR's, and can stack up to 4 of them. There are other options for on stage use as well. I may have made a mistake in talking about both the IR library and the "analog" physical pedal I am experimenting with in the same thread. Sorry for the confusion.

Ok I'm in, long read between the two threads but you got my attention. I can see the benefit of the subtle adjustment of sound, I really do think that has greatest promise in the world of ABG's but I'm sure it can also liven up electrics. Tone is very subjective and anything to modify it in a new way is always interesting.

I agree that the initial view of the way the IR's color the tone *seems* to apply mostly to acoustic instruments, as well as that everyone has a slightly different take on what the best tone is. That being said I can see a potential for imparting some elements usually associated with an acoustic instrument onto an electric. As an example let's take a electric upright bass. The tone associated with an upright bass is a result of a variety of things. Scale length, nut and bridge material, string material, resonance of the body, etc. One of the things that is missing from an EUB is the big acoustic body, and by adding a touch in of woody resonance you *might* be able to color the tone so that the sound is more to your liking. What if you wanted to impart a bit of that acoustic bass tone on an electric fretless with flat or tape wound strings? You most likely won't get a "true" upright bass sound if that's what you are shooting for, but you might be able to add some of the elements of that sound that are attractive to your ears, or work with a specific type of music or song.

Here's an example of using an acoustic guitar IR with an electric guitar to impart some of the "flavor" of an acoustic guitar. It does not magically transform the electric into a sexy sounding Martin acoustic, but it does open up some possibilities for tonal sculpting:

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

So, a truly fresh approach to modify the signal?

Sub'd.

I can't claim this approach as being "fresh" or "novel" with things like the Zoom A3 (and a whole host of other options) available. That being said I think that the idea has enough merit to work through to completion.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

@michaelwayneharwood
My friend, you know from our emails that I am also very interested and impressed with the work you're doing on this project.
Also the wood samples that I promised you are packed and only awaiting me to find time to get to the post office to ship them to you.
I would only hope that you could try to ignore any and all naysayers, and/or people who find it necessary to crap on another's ideas, dreams and innovations... whether that be to make themselves look smarter, or that in tearing down others, they make themselves feel better about their own lack of creativity, etc...
There are enough people on this forum alone that are genuinely interested in what you are doing, that it would be a real shame if you decided not to share your ideas and projects, due to the inevitable negativity of a very small minority.
Much respect.
Peace.
-Rock

Thanks man. It does get tiring when my "idea" threads attract responses in the vein of "that will never work", or "that's stupid and useless". That's the way of public discourse in general I suppose. If you dare to voice your thoughts or ideas in a crowd of people you invite response from everyone. Maybe I am just dreaming, but at some point I would think people would quit telling me "that will never work" based on the number of times I have shown the opposite.

 

[Nic.]

@rondodunbar and @michaelwayneharwood I see, I got confused because someone mentioned acoustics in a live situation, and the part where you said you needed to eliminate the click sound of the switch (I assumed that would be the footswitch when engaging the pedal live).

Anyway, really excited to see this happen.

 

[mapleglo]

Thanks man. It does get tiring when my "idea" threads attract responses in the vein of "that will never work", or "that's stupid and useless". That's the way of public discourse in general I suppose. If you dare to voice your thoughts or ideas in a crowd of people you invite response from everyone. Maybe I am just dreaming, but at some point I would think people would quit telling me "that will never work" based on the number of times I have shown the opposite.

I remember when you first started posting here, suggesting the use of the piano tuners for bass, and a bunch of people were saying that it would never work.

If I had a dollar for every time someone said that an idea would never work, and then it turned out that it would, I could retire early.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Here's a list of the wood species that I will be able to create IR's for. I am waiting on a few generous souls to provide some of them, and as I get access to other species I will add them to the list. One of the "deliverables" of the IR library is to provide a PDF with spectrum plots of each of the IR's as a visual reference of the differences, but I am finding that listening to the way the IR's modify the signal is much more telling than a graph.

• Alder
• Ash
• Ash (Thermally modified)
• Balsa
• Basswood
• Bubinga
• Cedar (Western Red)
• Cherry
• Ebony (Pale Moon)
• Hickory
• Jatoba
• Katalox
• Limba
• Maple (Hard)
• Maple (Soft Quitled)
• Maple (Spalted)
• Mesquite
• Oak (Red)
• Pecan
• Pine (Radiata)
• Plywood (Birch)
• Poplar
• Rosewood (Indian)
• Sassafras
• Shedua
• Teak
• Walnut (Black)
• Walnut (Peruvian)
• Wenge

 

[47VevetS]

What if C,A,T....really spelled DOG?

 

[Roxbororob]

Wow I,m hooked. Keep it up and keep us posted.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Marketing blurb: "Do you have wood?"

 

[scotch]

Intriguing...

Always looking for creative ways to manipulate sound. I dig this idea! I can see a physical pedal form factor with transducers being problematic in stage applications. A plug-in for a DAW would be desirable though! I would anticipate the tonal changes of such an effect being more subtle, thus lending itself more valuable in a studio context anyways.

Still, this is the kind of fresh thinking and opportunity to problem-solve that results in useful innovations! I'm staying tuned....

 

[-Asdfgh-]

What would be the options for using the sine sweep (I presume it vibrates the body directly) at an appropriate location and then an open mic (not a transducer) on a series of bodies? E.g. acoustic basses? Maybe this has already been done, but then presumably feeding a wide spectrum signal from a standard bass via a piezo could be also modified by an IR pedal to provide some elements of the body sound? That sounds doable from an IR pedal perspective, but I don't have the bass or other gear to do the rest.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

As a further comment, if an IR pedal had a limited processing capacity you might not be able to do bass->impulse 1->2->3 (e.g. 2 might be a vintage amp, 3 a cab), so a way to convolve 1,2,3 offline to load as a new preset would be useful.