keneds
Does this ARC 2 thing make a difference? I've got gas.

It's a huge difference. If your like me and don't have the space for proper acoustic treatment ARC2 is a life saver. I can now trust what I'm hearing. Hold off until the Christmas sales begin.

Thank you. I can't wait. 😜

keneds
Does this ARC 2 thing make a difference? I've got gas.

It's like night and day for me. I have my monitors on a shelf about 4 inches from a wall, and they're also in a corner. Not the best situation by any stretch of the imagination. I hate how things sound when I turn ARC off. Straight away the bass becomes flabby and boomy and something bad happens with the highs as well. Flicking the ARC switch is like putting contact lenses on my speakers. I can't believe how balanced and clear everything sounds. Although I think the worse your room is, the more improvement you'll hear. 
 
The difference is so pronounced you'll probably want to hook your whole system audio through it. That was a bit of a pain to set up but I managed to get it working via a couple of programs - one paid (Virtual Audio Cable) and one freeware (Pedalboard). If I want to watch a movie or listen to Spotify through ARC, all I have to do is set VAC as my default audio device and then load VAC and Pedalboard (in which I have ARC inserted as a plugin). Was a little confusing to get working at first but now I do it by second nature and it's all good. Watching movies is so much more pleasant through ARC because the dialog no longer has that irritating boominess which my room inflicted on it, plus I'm pretty sure it doesn't bother my neighbor so much now 

Well, I got the ARC2 today, setting it up is like a trip to the dentist..... So now that I have it up and running I have a few questions for ya's. Old projects.... Do I insert and remix? I makes a huge difference in the monitoring but once turned off there is a obvious difference. How does this translate to the mix if it is turned off at the time of mix Down? Thx, Ken

ARC only affects the way you hear your mix during mixing. Just think of it as transporting your DAW to an almost perfect room and mixing your track there. The whole point of mixing in an acoustically treated room is to enable you to make accurate mix decisions which will translate well on other systems. When you mix in an untreated room, your mix decisions are influenced by the room. If your room is boosting 100Hz, you're going to cut that frequency in your mix. Played in a room which doesn't boost 100Hz, that cut is going to sound wrong. When you mix in a good room (or with ARC) you can be sure that your mix decisions are based on the music, not the room. 
 
Your old pre-ARC projects were mixed to sound good in your room. Whether they translated well to other systems is probably hit and miss. If you remix them with ARC enabled, you can be sure they will sound great on other systems too. Although it's still a good idea to listen to your mixes in other environments to make sure. 
 
Don't worry about what happens when you export your track with ARC turned off. As long as you set up ARC correctly (i.e. followed the instructions to the letter and did at least 12-16 measurements in a symmetrical pattern around your listening area) and as long as you have good quality monitors, you can be confident that your mix decisions were not influenced by the room like they were before. Once you have an exported mix, listen to it without ARC and compare it to your reference mixes. Without ARC, the room will be coloring the sound, but hopefully in the same way as it's coloring the pro mixes you're referencing. 

+1 to everything sharke said. Take your old mixes and re-mix with ARC2. Be sure to turn it off before mix down or make a separate bus for ARC and export from your main outs. Now burn a cd of your old mixes and your new ARC mixes. Take these to your car or somewhere other than your studio and I believe you'll be a believer.

Thanks for the very helpful description. I will back track now. To the "remixing" board. :)

Question.....what is a good final RMS dB level on the ozone master output (rock music)? And when using ARC 2 during mastering in ozone, what ARC target curve do you use? I had mine set to HF mid comp and it came out a bit hissy. I think I'm going to try the flat setting.

I shoot for -12 to -14 RMS and use the flat setting. Most radio stuff is a lot louder than mine, but I like dynamics. I would say commercial levels ave. -6 to -9. Import a final (Professional) mix you like and throw a meter on it.

Thx Clint,Do you mix and master with the flat setting? I have noticed...after ozone, things are leveling out across the board.