Henka Kernels

Wave-Based Reverb. State of the art, custom reverb impulse responses (IRs)

Henka Kernels are designed for demanding composers and virtual instrument developers in mind.

At their core is my Wave-Based Reverb. Using its hybrid model, instrument directivity data, and combined with advanced filter kernels and other convolution techniques, they are custom-made Impulse Responses that are specifically tailored for the original setup and room of the recording, transforming the tone of the instrument in a life-like way, taking it into different spaces.

Wave-Based Reverb, an advanced and natural sounding reverb technology with high dynamic range, that recreates how musical instruments propagate sound in space.
Virtual microphone positions. Add realistic mic perspectives just with IRs.

This works assuming that the source mic position is closer than the position we want to emulate, and for the best results, that the acoustic wave coming out of the instrument is stable (far-field quality) at the source mic position. Generally, larger instruments means more distance for their sound to reach stability.
Advanced reverb blending. The reverb can be designed for a specific mic position so that it sounds like the instrument was captured in another space without changing the perspective. Also, thanks to the hybrid model of Wave-Based Reverb, the reverb can be modified so that it blends in a natural way with the reverb that is already present in the recording. For example, the floor reflection in the IR can be redundant if there's already a floor reflection in the recording. It can be fully removed to avoid an unnatural sound.

This works assuming that the original reverb in the recording is at a lower volume and with a shorter decay than the reverb of the room we want to recreate.
Advanced microphone emulation. By taking into account the original microphone(s) used in the recording, the reverb can be adjusted specifically so that it sounds like it was captured by the same microphone(s). Also, a transfer function kernel can be added to emulate all kinds of different microphones.

acoustics@tomiwailee.com