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  4. INSTRUMENT PROFILES & DRY DIRECTIVITY

  • INSTRUMENT PROFILES & DRY DIRECTIVITY

    F
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    This is probably a beginner set of questions adressed to experts (admins or senior users and sound engineers) and maybe asked already, but sorry I wasn't able of sorting it out myself reading documentation and manuals:

    - the default MIR24 instrument profiles have the "dry directivity" switched off when they upload: I would then suppose this is the recommended set-up. But at my ears the sound seems more wet and unclear, and artifacts happens more often, then i tend to switch it on. But the problem is WHAT THE DRY DIRECTIVITY DOES?

    may anybody explain exactly what's the use of this botton/function?

    - the instrument profiles are of course intended to work with the corresponding VSL library sound, (I own SE 1&2, Chamber strings and Dimension strings and they work really fine, sounding always better than any personal attempt or casual positioning and set-up). Reading the manual it seems to be possible to get benefits from the instrument profile even if applied to the same orchestral instrument from an other (dry) VST library: do I understand correctly?

    (I read before it's not recommended and actually yes often it creates more problems than benefits. By the way in some occasion I got dramatic improvement in realistic feeling of positioning in space and distance using the VSL instrument profile for some other virtual instruments from other manufacturers. What's the official position of VSL about this topic?)

    of course the "think MIR" approach is: our ears rule and if something sounds good it's OK and if it doesn't, it's not. 😃

    But instead of random trial and errors exausting process, a better technical understanding of the tools would really help me a lot, thanks in advance to any contributor

    FV
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    Any chance anybody can share his knowledge about this topic?
  • DietzD
    VSL Team
    DietzD
    Sorry for the delay. I'm in the midst of a huge production these days (ESC) - I will post a detailed reply ASAP. Thanks for your patience!
    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library
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    P

    I'm no MIR PRO expert, but I've been using it for quite some time, now. I might be able to help you a bit^^.

    Dry Directivity is an process that only alters the Dry part of your signal (the "panned but otherwise mostly untouched input signal"). Without it, you can consider your virtual instrument is facing its own spot microphone. When you activate it and rotate your instrument, you can hear the dry sound change quite a lot. I think it's mostly intended for instruments like horns, which are normally sending their direct sound in the back of the room, or at least on the walls. It muffles their direct sound, so that they don't have too much presence. That's the idea, anyway.

    I never use instruments profiles for non VSL products, but from what I've heard, they are mostly precise EQ based on VSL recordings. So, the result on anything else is quite unpredictible. Might be wrong, though.

     

    On or two tips to keep in mind : in a standard use of MIR Pro, your Dry/Wet ratio should always lean on the Dry side (mine is usually between 20 and 40% dry). I like to activate the 2nd microphone, facing the rear walls, to add some flavour to the reverb. And when i want to give it a little more "punch", without sacrifying the feeling of reverb, I find that it's quite effective to "cheat" on the main microphone placement, and move it a little bit closer. That way, i can have the same amount of reverb, but a reverb with a little more presence.

    Don't hesitate, depending on your instruments of course, to EQ a little bit before sending them to mir. The very high frequencies (>10Khz) tends to be too strong on dry librairies, and these can translate into weird "treble burst" inside mir if you don't cut them down a little first.

     

    But that's only my two cents ^^.
  • F
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    thank you Plougot!

    Now looking for Dietz insight... 😊
  • DietzD
    VSL Team
    DietzD
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    @Another User said:

    of course the "think MIR" approach is: our ears rule and if something sounds good it's OK and if it doesn't, it's not. 😃

    That's true, but you're right that it's always goot to _know_ the rules before you break them. 😉

    HTH,

    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library