The tools we use are as flexible as our imagination wants them to be.
Convolution plugins are used for a variety of applications, emulation of real acoustic spaces, sonic behavior of hardware devices and more. The idea behind them is to add realism to the processed sound.
However, the concept of “reality” in sound is exactly what a sound designer intends to transform, so rather than using a convolution plugin as a static tool to approximate reality, I decided to use it in a different way, to perform with sound as it would be possible to perform with a instrument.
Convolution Processing is a technique that allows the real-time creation of musically related ambiences, accents and transition elements from an instrumental or vocal part. In this video you’ll see/hear how this technique can enrich a simple percussive part and a synth part into a full sounding track.
Video Workflow ▸ concept behind the technique ▸ recording and editing of custom impulse responses ▸ recording of initial instrumental part ▸ setup of the rhythmic-oriented processing ▸ detailed function of each individual plugin chain ▸ rhythmic part performance ▸ setup of the tonal-oriented processing ▸ detailed function of each individual plugin chain ▸ final performance ▸ final notes.
//
In this track you can hear how I applied my Convolution Processing technique to a vocal part written and sung by Katie Chastain of Faux Fix fauxfix.bandcamp.com/album/my-antagonist
A couple of notes about what you’ll hear in this processed version. First of all, it all starts with the dry vocal part, I didn’t use any additional synth, instrument or vocal line. The initial chord and the blurred bass sounds are the result of Convolution Processing, as well as all the other elements that you’ll hear. I started by creating some custom Impulse Responses, which I then loaded into several dedicated chains in Ableton Live and finally exported the individual elements to be mixed in Pro Tools.
Stylistically, I wanted to maintain the natural beauty of Katie’s voice at the center, so the processing is elegant and subtle, you won’t hear extreme vocal transformations. For a better experience I recommend listening to this track with a full range system (or headphones).
Here I applied it to the sound of bees, to illustrate the use of this technique in the context of sound design for films/video games.
You can purchase “FFS 02 // Convolution Processing” for $9.99 on my Gumroad page.
