Danny Danzi recommended this "monitoring plug-in" to me for my home studio EQing and room correction (another thread). 
 
I finally got the master-plug-in 'operational', yesterday, (after some minor mishaps) and re-tests (measuring areas of the room)
 
Some questions for any of you ARC users:
 
1) Do you have good translation results with this? 
 
2) Are you used to this: flipping it on (while mixing) and off (while bouncing)?  Do you trust your studio more with this?
 
3) Are your 'corrections' dramatic, shocking, etc.?
 
4) Is ARC a decent replacement for bass-traps?
 
5) Finally, I've had counter-intuitive results with this: flipping it on (while mixing) and off (while bouncing)  (Ozone4's spectrum was used to test the on position vs. off ... though the spectrum results appear accurate with on & off comparisons).
 
IOWs: The White 'corrected' lines (LT & RT) become the monitoring goals; which is precisely opposite of what I mentally-expected.  IIRC, it is an abomination to leave ARC on while bouncing, as this prevents the real-mix bounce/translation(s).
 
 
Other comments:
 
So if your/my lively home studio room echoes-up ("blasts-up") the bass (the orange line), ARC pushes it down as a bass-trap should.  Thus, I might push up more bass levels (judiciously) in my mixes and masters.
 
Nonetheless, my mixing on my Adams seems 'perhaps' more 'balanced' to the ears when ARC is on (and it compares perhaps more closely to my Bose quiet Cans (which I'm oft forced to use).  Of course, expectation bias is doubtless an issue. 
 
Thanks for sharing any experience on this.

Have not tried the ARC. Have tried manual eq correction before. It sounded much tighter. Did not play around with it much but I imagine it would be better than no treatment, but not as good as the real thing. The reason being smearing of certain frequencies and that if you move your head into the wrong spot, it sounds wrong.

 - Smearing: resonance as well as constructive interference goes on at the modes (well, some). The constructive interference (or 'boosting' of certain frequencies) can be reduced with eq. Good. Better, for that one location. Unfortunately the RESONANCE that is found at that frequency remains. You can't get rid of that (unless ARC is so smart it can utlise noise reduction technologo to cancel out the resonsnace as well because it learns the room so well.. Sounds far fetched but I don't know enough about ARC to pass judgement). This will result in a smearing of certain bass notes, so one frequency will 'roll' into another. This is going to make things not sound as tight as they are and potentially screw with reverb (if you're using low stuff), gates (if you're using to gate a kick for example), compressor settings on bass etc. If the ARC can correct for this, I'll be pleased to hear.

 - Only works for one location: even slight movements of the head can make audible differences in frequency response. I believe ARC takes readings at multiple places that you might work in and find the best solution? If so, results may vary considerably from room to room. If one room tends to be pretty uniform, ARC is going to do a good job, otherwise it might not as it has no way of knowing where your head is at one point in time.

 - Nulls: Can ARC do anything for nulls? I wouldn't have thought so... But again, I don't know enough about it so am eager to hear.


I'm sure ARC works great, but I'm sure proper treatment is better. Being a home recordist, I understand how difficult it can be to have a fully decked out room, so in those cases, ARC might just well do the trick. Hell, if I see enough convincing results on this thread maybe I'll look into it myself...

I just got it myself, Philip, since it went down in price and they added the 15% sale and freebie sale.  I made my measurements and could not believe the difference between having it on and off!  where did my low end go?  dang my mixes must really have been sucking in the low end for years!

I have 2 very drastic resonances at 150Hz and 300Hz on my correction (and another fairly large one at 600Hz).   and when I run ARC on my latest mix I can't hear hardly any low end.  this is going to be quite an adjustment for me.

I do have "bass traps" in my room - but actually they're probably more appropriately called "broadband traps" as they don't really get much of the 150Hz or below if you look at the absorption plots.  I had taken room measurements and knew I had problems in that area and had toyed with the idea of trying to build some tuned Helmholtz resonators at my trouble frequencies.  but I'm in a pretty small room already - the traps take up my corners and my equipment takes up the rest - where in the world would I put them?

so since I just started using it myself, I can't really answer all of your questions, however, on another thread about ARC, IK Obi stated that it doesn't need to be a replacement for traps - but a compliment to them.

Hi Philip,

I'd like to answer your questions first, and then supply a little article I've written for you in case you decide to try the correction procedure again.

1. I have excellent translations with this on all my speakers.

2. Yes I'm used to flipping it on and off and had to condition myself at first. The key for me was to literally create busses with multiple instances of ARC already there. This way, when you are ready to export, you just set your master bus to your main soundcard outs where for mixing, the out of your master bus would be sent to ARC.

3. Yes my corrections were quite shocking. I had loads of bass going on that was removed in one set of monitors...which always bothered me because I was always bass light. On the other set of monitors, it gave me more bass and while mixing with them in the past, I was always bass heavy. ARC solved both issues with them.

4. I have no bass traps in my room nor do I have any other ugly decor so to speak. I've been doing pro work here for many years. If you like the sound of my mixes etc and the info I have shared past and present, it's more proof this sort of stuff is not a necessity...at least in my world. ARC fixed everything for me. I have no issues mixing and I never question anything. Without ARC, I'd be mixing in headphones because my monitors just would never give me the right representation.

I have Adam's as well as the Sub 8. I found that after the ARC correction was applied, I was mixing a bit bass heavy...but 100% better than anything I had done before. The fix was to increase the level of the sub from one notch below 0dB to placing it AT 0dB. This gave me more bass in my mixes which made me mix bass "lighter" and I've not touched it since. So you may have to make a few small corrections like that.

Now for some stuff I think you will enjoy. Here are the guidelines I used to do my room. Hopefully they will help you too if you didn't go about the correction this way.

ARC pre-prep:
 
First, make sure your monitors are set up in a perfect triangle and are as many feet apart from each other as they are from your favorite listening sweet spot. This is important. Next, make sure they are not up against the wall. I know that some of us don’t have a choice when in a bed room or spare room, but try to be as far away from the wall as possible without losing too much of your space.
 
If you have a sub: If you have a sub, listen to a CD you know and love. Mix enough of the sub in to where it just adds some low end thump. Be careful where you put the sub frequency selection. Most rooms are going to need 75Hz to 85Hz brought in using a sub. Sweep through the frequencies of your sub with the sub turned up pretty good so you can hear where it is accentuating. Once you find the place you like, back the sub level down so it just gives you nice low end and compliments the CD you are listening to, to where you say “yep, that sounds fantastic to me!” Also, make sure no settings on your monitors are being enhanced. Some monitors have eq controls on the back of them for boosting or cutting frequencies. Let ARC do all that...make sure these are flat. Now you are ready to work with ARC!
 
Read the manual really well and the steps it tells you to take, then keep all that in mind and do these steps. This is the best I can tell you about it and what worked for me below.
**Note**If you do your room corrections using the latest software and get an illegal operation when the software tries to save your room correction, it’s a bug that hasn’t been fixed yet. For me, here’s what worked and what you’ll need to do. If you do not get a crash when you do the room correction procedure, skip to part 1.
 
*Alt correction method is ONLY FOR THOSE WITH FAILED CORRECTION ATTEMPTS!*
 
Alternative correction method: First, make sure you are using ARC software 1.1 or version 1.1.1. Trust me on this, those versions work better for correction. I'm using 1.1.1 right now but did my corrections using 1.1 and earlier. We have a few issues that are known to IK at this time with the later versions of the software for *some* users. A few of those issues I have reported myself and am keeping in touch with IK on the situation. But there are no issues with the earlier versions I mentioned as far as doing the correction procedure. You can update to the latest after the correction if you want to. But I stick with 1.1.1 after my corrections. If you need to know why, just ask me and I’ll gladly tell you.

 
“The correction procedure”

1. Make sure your mic is set pointing straight up to where it is equal to your nose and ears (get a mirror or have someone else set it) and right in the center for your sweet spot which is placement 1. Set your latency as low as possible and listen to the test tones. If you hear any drop outs, raise the latency samples a little at a time until you have no drop-outs and the lowest latency possible. From there, run the test tones again and make sure the "K" in "OK" is flickering. No louder, no lower. This is important.

2. Next, (and this is SUPER important) make sure when you tap on the mic that you cannot hear it coming back through the speakers. You must disable input monitoring on your soundcard so that sound can send, yet not be heard. If you don’t know how to do this, neither do I because I use a mixing console, so I have other options that you may not.

3. Next, map out all your placements with tape and be as symmetrical as humanly possible. Try to do at least 18-20 symmetrical placements if you can. When you go to do the correction tests, move yourself out of the line of fire for each test burst. It gives you a few seconds to clear the area. That’s all there is to it. Once you get done the correction, do NOT toggle ARC off and on to hear what you had other than a few times when you first start using it. You have to get used to this sound and toggling back and forth will be the death of you. Also, if you don’t have a sub, you may want to get one because it really does help. Just my NS-10’s didn’t work too well with ARC...but once I used my sub and did the corrections, it all worked perfectly. That’s it....good luck! :)
 
One last thing. Since you have ARC, you are going to have to bring your tunes into Sonar or some program to listen to them properly. This to me is a complete downer and something that bothered me. I don't know how it was brought up, but I was talking on this forum and Zo comes out of nowhere while on a skiing trip or something and tells me about a VST plugin for Winamp that allows you to run ARC in it automatically! So years later, thank you Zo for bringing this to my attention!! (hugs my friend!)

The key to this, and how I run things here, is to run 2 media players. I'll explain the method to my madness as well as give you the plugin link. I run all mp3's using Win media. All eq's and performance enhancement disabled. Win Media player runs off of my Realtek soundcard which powers Altec Lansing 5.1 speakers not being used in surround mode. These speakers are the best pc speakers I have ever used and they allow me to monitor in a really good consumer environment. Ever so slightly bitey at about 6k, but nothing that sticks out to you as "uggh!"
 
For wave files, I use Winamp and run the plugin Zo told me about. This auto loads ARC permanently with the correction I want for my Adams or I can change it to my NS 10's, Genelecs, Tascam's, Tannoy or whatever else I want to listen through. I usually leave this set to my Adam A-7's though. If I want to play an mp3 through here, I can do that also. But having both players is kinda cool and I also have the file associations and icons looking different so I know in an instant that a wave file has the winamp icon, mp3's have the Windows media icon. It just keeps things tidier for me and allows me to toggle better. The link for the plugin loader for Winamp can be found here: 

http://www.savioursofsoul.de/Christian/programs/winamp/

I was not able to use the latest version of the plug for Win 7 x64. So for me, it's 1.4 I believe...if not 1.4, it's 1.3. This will stop you from having to load CD's and other audio files into a DAW to hear it correctly using ARC. Hope this helps...best of luck! :)

-Danny

Everything Danny said! 

And I too have EXCELLENT translation when using ARC. My room is treated, and is already surprisingly flat, but ARC makes it even better! Check here for a before and after comparison of my room: http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2125075

As Danny has said, mixing takes me much less time now - I don't have to go and listen to it on 100 different systems and take the trial and error approach. In fact, I don't check EVERY mix on any other system these days - I still do periodically, but that's really just to reassure myself. 

It feels really, really good to be able to trust your monitoring environment!

Finally, I found that stereo imaging was a lot better with ARC too. And yes, I always remember to disengage the plugin before mixdown!

Danny Danzi


 I'd be mixing in headphones because my monitors just would never give me the right representation.

Yup. I hear that and that's where I'm at. In my present room monitors are pretty much useless. I do turn them on to check mixes when I'm done... mainly to listen to the low end, but I cannot trust them to do anything else.

Thanks Danny, Matt, Beag, James, and Zuma,
...for your excellent validations and thoughts.
 
Beag, I paid $250 for the crossgrade and it did not even search my system for IK stuff.  Shhhhh!
 
Interesting that Danny said: "I have no bass traps in my room nor do I have any other ugly decor so to speak" ... which of course is music to my ears (as are his pristine mixes). 
 
Yet, Matt, another purist, stresses the "resonance" issues that bewail our humble studios. 
Matt, I think ARC is supposed to counter our resonant/reverb and reflective phase issues 'somewhat', but perhaps only within the stereo panorama (... as LT and RT corrections are unique.).  But alas ...
 
IK Multimedia (http://ikmultimedia.com/arc/features/) boldly claims:
 
--The first and only room correction system in a plug-in for DAW-based studios
--Improves clarity, stereo imaging and frequency response for faster, more reliable mixing
--corrects frequency and phase response not only for the engineer’s ‘sweet spot’, but also multiple points in the room
--Sonically 'treats' your room so you can finally trust the sound of your studio
(Ha ha ha!  ARC improves clarity, stereo imaging, EQ, and phasiness)
 
My 2nd set of ARC measurements are perhaps shoddy enough to push the sweet spot off and cause ARC to tame down a speaker excessively (where vocals are no longer centered).  To be fair, I was holding the microphone with my hand (instead of the boom stand, LOL) while I made the measurements.
 
Danny, I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful, excellent, and detailed protocols here.  That is Godsend to me and all of us.  Its apparent you've done many time-consuming ARC measurements or many monitors and use ARC to listen to our MP3 mixes via your excellent protocols.
 

You definitely want to use a boom stand. The mic is very sensitive and even moving it a little bit can throw the measurements and corrections off.

James: LOL it's so funny you chimed in here. I just sent a client of mine who I do some producing for to your web site as well as Jeff Evans site. I told him both of you seemed like serious engineers with great attitudes, gear and sounds. He's in Perth also and actually wants me to fly out to do his album with him. He's checking out what his money situation is and said he'd give you a call even if he couldn't afford to get me out there. He's in Greenwood moving to Beechboro soon. Hopefully it goes through so I get a chance to meet both of you. :) Glad ARC is working for you also.

Zuma: That's the most frustrating thing, isn't it? I used to use my monitors for levels only because I couldn't trust anything else that was coming out of them. Then again, at the time all I had was the NS-10's without any sub and some Tascam monitors. Everyone used to tell me "dude, NS 10's are supposed to sound like absolute dog crap. When you make something sound good on them, it sounds good everywhere!"

Needless to say, I never made a single mix sound good on them other than when I used ARC and my sub. LOL! So it was AKG 240 DF cans for me for about...15 years. I got decent results out of them, but I was always lacking something. But it worked for the time.

Philip: You're quite welcome. Hahahah you were holding the mic in your hand?! Oh man, wait until you do it the right way and then listen to your results. Make sure you don't delete your old correction files so you can compare them to the new one you did using my tips. I think you're going to be quite impressed....at least that's what I'm hoping for. :)

Yeah, in my experience, I would say that IK claim is spot on. ARC hs worked really well in every room I've used it with. Some rooms were built for studio use, some were not....I get great results all the time. But I must stress, the sub will really make a difference. Then again, on my Adam A 7's, I did correction with and without sub...and the one without the sub, sounds like the sub is on. So in all honesty, if the A7's where the only monitors I had, I really wouldn't need the sub at all as it compensated perfectly. All my other monitors worked perfectly without the sub too...except those NS 10's...they just sounded bad with or without correction. But when I did the correction on them with the sub, they improved by 200% and they are actually one of the best sounding monitors I have now that they are corrected. As a matter of fact, when I toggle between them and the Adam's, the only difference I hear is in the panning because I don't have the NS-10's spread out as far as the Adam's...but the tone is nearly identical...which really surprised me. Slightly thicker low end, but a GOOD low end that isn't over the top. Anyway, best of luck with everything...let me know how the new correction with the boom stand works out. :)

Danny, thanks so much for the recommendation, really appreciate it! I had no idea you even knew I was in Perth! And congrats - to have an international reputation is no small achievement. If this guy can afford to get you out, you'll have a blast - he's obviously very serious about making a killer record. Of course, if you come please do get in touch, both Greenwood and Beechboro are not far from where I live. I'll have a few beers ready for you...

Philip, you absolutely MUST take the measurements using a stand! As Danny has mentioned in other threads, accuracy is extremely important when taking measurements with the ARC system - results can vary hugely. You really can't be too careful here. I spent half a day setting up my measurement points, using a plum bob and rule. I marked each measurement point on a large bit of cardboard, which is now my template, so I don't have to re-measure every time. If your measurement points are just 'rough enough' then I'd say there's a fairly strong chance that ARC will make the monitoring situation worse.