Chapter 13

Using Acoustic Mirror and Wave Hammer

This chapter is designed to familiarize you with the Sound Forge® Pro Acoustic Mirror™ and Wave Hammer™ effects.

The Acoustic Mirror effect is a powerful digital signal processing tool that allows you to add environmental coloration to your existing recordings.

The Wave Hammer effect is an audio mastering tool that features a classic compressor and volume maximizer.

What are the Acoustic Mirror effects?

The Acoustic Mirror effects represents an advance in reverb technology in that it incorporates the acoustical responses of a given environment or venue into your audio files. You may never play Carnegie Hall, but that does not mean that your recordings can’t sound like it. Taking this concept even further, this effect allows you to simulate the signal response of vintage musical equipment. Imagine the money you’ll save not having to buy those paired U-47s.

The acoustic signature

Acoustic Mirror effects use the environment’s acoustic signature, or impulse response. These acoustic signatures are saved as impulse files and given the extension .wav or .sfi. An extensive library of high-quality impulse files are included. In addition, you can collect your own acoustic signatures and create custom impulse files.

Adding an acoustic signature to an audio file

1.Open and play the Saxriff.pca file.

Note: This file is located in the same folder as the application.

2.From the Effects menu, choose Acoustic Mirror. The Acoustic Mirror dialog is displayed.

Note: You must have an active file in the Sound Forge workspace to start the Acoustic Mirror tool.

3.Click the Browse button located next to the Impulse field and locate the Acoustic Mirror Impulse Files folder on the Sound Forge application disc.

4.Double-click the folder. Several impulse subfolders display.

5.Double-click the Large venues folder. Several impulse files display.

6.Double-click Stadium, Camp Randall 50 yrd line.sfi. This impulse file’s acoustic signature is added to the Saxriff.pca file and you are returned to the Acoustic Mirror dialog.

7.Click Preview. The processed file plays and the sax riff is virtually placed in a football stadium-sized venue.

8.Select or clear the Bypass check box to toggle between the processed and unprocessed audio.

Adjusting the acoustic signature

After you add an acoustic signature to a file, you can use the controls of the Acoustic Mirror dialog to precisely configure the reverb effect. More importantly, you can preview configuration changes as quickly as you make them.

1.Open a file and display the Acoustic Mirror dialog.

2.Verify that the Real-timecheck box is selected.

3.From the Impulse drop-down list, choose the desired impulse file and click Preview. The processed audio file is played. Notice that all dialog controls are set to their default values.

USING ACOUSTIC MIRROR AND WAVE HAMMER 215