Dream Theater founding member John Petrucci has announced the launch of his new high-tech company, Tonemission, that aims to help fellow guitarists succeed in their pursuit of the ultimate guitar tones.
Priced $79.99, Tonemission’s debut product, the John Petrucci IR Collection: Vol. 1, replicates the Grammy Award-winning guitarist’s sound as heard on his Terminal Velocity solo record, Liquid Tension Experiment’s latest studio effort, 3, and Dream Theater’s 2021 LP, A View from the Top of the World.
According to a press release, this is the first time a firm has created impulse responses (IRs) that “precisely capture the exact sounds on an artist’s specific albums.”
“I’m a tone freak," says the prog metal master. "I’ve always been obsessed with guitar and amplifier tone. This is my tone mission, and that’s the name of the new company that will bring the John Petrucci IR Collection: Vol. 1 impulse responses to the world: Tonemission.”
Like many guitar players, Petrucci says that for most of his career he’s only known the world of physical guitar amplifiers and cabinets and admits he used to scoff at digital representations. However, with recent advances in capture techniques and resolution his attitude is now markedly different.
“I now find myself a believer and a user,” he concedes, adding, “The goal was to make these IRs available commercially and share them with other guitar players and creative people who I just knew would love them as much as I did.”
So how did Tonemission go about creating such “exact” impulse responses? Painstakingly captured by longtime Dream Theater/Petrucci engineer James “Jimmy T” Meslin, a full-range frequency sweep was amplified through a 4x12 speaker cabinet and its signal chain while being recorded back into a DAW.
Aiming to bottle the complex tones heard on the above records, Meslin used a variety of microphones on the cab, including condenser, ribbon and dynamic mics.
While Tonemission’s John Petrucci IR Collection: Vol. 1 allows selection of individual mics, unique results can be achieved by loading multiple IRs. Thus, users are able to not only recreate the sounds heard on Petrucci’s albums but also use them as the basis for their own tones.
In total, 34 IRs are available in six resolutions, specifically 44.1-kHz/16-bit; 44.1-kHz/24-bit; 48-kHz/16-bit; 48-kHz/24-bit; 88.2-kHz/24-bit; and 96-kHz/24-bit .wav files.
“For each record, we took our time ensuring the sound in the room was heard and felt on the other side of the glass,” recalled Petrucci. “With the John Petrucci IR Collection, our goal is to give you instant and convenient access to those sounds.
“Music is all about sharing sound, and so am I… The John Petrucci IR Collection: Vol. 1 is the first step for Tonemission and me to bring what I’ve learned to the broadest user base possible. From there, [users] can find their own sonic visions.”
Visit tonemission.com for more information.
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