Re: Minimal setup for grabbing a room impulse

On 04/05/2026 22:56, Jeanette C. wrote:
> Hey hey, I'm looking for a small setup to grab a room impulse response.
...
> I do have a field recorder with extra mics, which are nice enough.
...
> Or do you have other suggestions which wouldn't need too much more?

On 04/05/2026 23:13, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
> Depends on what you want to use the IR for. If it's just a room effect
> (rather than a high quality reverb) then almost anything goes.


Hello Jeanette,

as Fons pointed out, it depends on what you want to achieve.

If you want to do calibrated measurements or are looking for an exact
reproduction of the room, the requirements on the equipment are higher.

On the other hand, if you just want to capture the general character
of the room, there are plenty of options.

Furthermore, Sine sweep is only one method. You can also just record
a slap or a crack or a bang or a shoot in that room.


Several years ago, when I did more sound and music recording,
I often recorded the pop of a rubber balloon with the field recorder.

You can pop several balloons at interesting locations on the stage,
and then use that one that sounds best. You can then even edit the
bang and remove some to the early reflections and the colouration
to improve the quality of the reverb.

You can go one step further and apply this method to the creative sphere
and combine several spatial sounds to create a virtual space that doesn=E2=
=80=99t
exist anywhere. For example, combine a stage with very clear and distinct
early reflections with the reverberation of another venue, such as a cathe=
dral,
or a tunnel, or a silent space somewhere out in the woods at night...

I used that method a lot, since it is easy to carry out and cheap.
You just need a moment of absolute silence in the location.

Depending on the software that is used then to produce the
reverb, sometimes it is necessary to fourier-transform the
time domain signal (the bang) into a frequency domain signal.
That can be done with a lot of software, e.g. CSound.

Best wishes,
=2D- Hermann