Maybe its just getting used to the new ARC sound. Try another round of measuring and see if its different at all. Also how do you like the modeled playback systems? Ever check your mixes on car speakers or on a small boombox?

IK Obi


Maybe its just getting used to the new ARC sound. Try another round of measuring and see if its different at all. Also how do you like the modeled playback systems? Ever check your mixes on car speakers or on a small boombox?

I did the correction several times between last night and this morning into the afternoon. Still exactly the same results. I'm not sure I can get used to this though Obi. It's definitely masking things that I know are wrong that I did purposely in a few situations. It's like...how can I explain this to you without sounding like I'm bashing it....honest I'm not.
 
When I buy monitors for my studio, I tend to go with monitors that give me an even response. Meaning, I don't want a set of monitors that may kick out extra rich bass....or a set that sounds too warm with mids or sparkling with highs. I want a set that gives me a nice dose of everything because I know if they sound too good, it's most likely going to cloud my vision when mixing. Every time I've purchased monitors based on how good they sounded, I've failed in my personal experience. So I tend to always go for something that gives me a bit of everything while keeping an even sound.
 
With ARC 2, it seems like it's tightened things up so good, it's too good. When I add sub low bass to something and I hear it on every system I have including systems that can't run ARC (as well as my systems that have ARC 1) like a car stereo, home stereo systems, boom box, other entertainment centers etc, I should be hearing that when using ARC 2. But, I'm not hearing it at all. Like it's rolled off too much low end or something and has tightned everything up the way a subtle multi-band comp would.
 
I did everything that I have always done. Mirror so I could set the mic at my nose/ears, selected the right mic during the correction stage, had the signal up to the K on OK, used a low latency setting on my soundcard, made sure input mic was disabled, measured every placement and did 16 each time, made sure I was out of the room and quiet for each test blast and got the same results each time.
 
It DOES sound super close to ARC 1. So close in fact, it's really not enough of a difference for me to say "This is better". But it does sound better....it's just not a better that I feel is the right representation of what I'm putting through it...if that makes sense at all? If I have something with a nice tight 50 Hz bass boost on it, I want to hear that...yet, ARC 2 seems to tighten it up. I hear it, but I don't feel it. ARC 1 on the same song, I hear it AND feel it. The highs on ARC 2 sparkle a bit more too. As you can see in my picture, it raised the high end on me where it should have left that more flat. When I drop that high end a few increments, it sounds more like ARC 1. See how ARC 1 has that top end to the right flat-lined? Why ARC 2 boosted that a bit is beyond me...but it did it every time and on every set of monitors. That little boost there makes a pretty big difference for me and can be the difference in a guitar sound being more harsh than it should be, or cymbals lashing out a bit too much. But the high end isn't what I'm worried about as much as what it's doing to my lows.
 
It's a cool piece, don't get me wrong...it's just not doing anything different than what I already have other than making me second guess my low end. Even with full bass response....it still falls a bit short when compared to ARC 1. It is clearer though....I'm just not so sure that type of "clearer" is the right representation for me. One thing I can say...whatever I hear through ARC 1, I hear everywhere. I'm terrified to mess with my well-oiled machine. But I'm going to do some testing and see for sure if it's helping me for the better or hurting me.
 
As for the modeled playback systems, unfortunately don't sound realistic to me at all. If I ever had a mix sound like mine do using them, I'd hang it up. LOL! When I play something on my boom box, it either sounds killer if it was mixed right, or it sounds bad. The boom box setting you guys have doesn't sound like the real one I have here. Same with the others...I can't judge anything listening on them as they don't sound anything remotely close to what I use. Lap top is about right though...but the others, not to my liking so far. Sorry if any of this sounds negative. You know how much I support this product...I just don't think there was enough of a substantial improvement to make it worth the upgrade...even though the price was more than fair and I don't feel I wasted any money.
 
One thing about me...when I fix something to where it works and I no longer have issues in a place where I once was ready to give it up....I don't mess with it. I haven't struggled with a mix since before ARC 1. I never second guess myself and I can mix something and make it acceptable in an hour or two for quickie ideas or rough mixes that have enough impact to sell a client or myself. ARC 2 is basically what I already have with a few more little tools with a similar sound that's a bit tighter sounding than ARC 1. That "tigher sounding" thing will need to be put through the paces though as I think it will hinder me instead of help me. I'll have more info some time this week. :)
 
-Danny

 Danny, thanks for that post brother. I was going to write you and ask.

Have you tried the modeled speaker responses at all? I think ARC sounding too good is usually a good thing. Correcting the playback is exactly what ARC is made for. :

 I can't say that ARC2 sounds better in a flattering kind of way. I can say that I have a flatter room which allows me to mix better. ARC 1 could not competely make my space flat ARC 2 does that now.

 The modeled speaker references have helped me already to put bass in that was lost on smaller systems. Really like the mono capability too.

 I'm not using a bass sub so maybe this is why there are some things happening with Danny bass in ARC 2.Just a guess.

4 times the accuracy really shows. I'm loving how smooth the mids and highs are and the custom target curves are sweet. I make hip h op and prefer to hear a *lil* bit more bass but don't like to let that influence my mixes. So now I just add a bit in the correction and when I turn it off to render it is spot on.

So if you want your mix to have more bass you would set up your custom curve with a dip in the lowest frequency or do I have it backwards?

Cheers,

jayson

Well not exactly the lowest, I set mine to about 60 hz for a bit more bottom end. Really helps when I'm using ARC in the production stages and not just mixing.

jayson


So if you want your mix to have more bass you would set up your custom curve with a dip in the lowest frequency or do I have it backwards?

Cheers,

jayson

No you have the principal right. The thing you have to figure out is *what* frequency needs to be bumped up that ARC toned down. For example, my sub is set for 85 Hz and I set it to my ears listening to reference material that I like. The dial on my sub volume is set for one notch under 0dB. When ARC corrects this, it's telling me that there is a bit too much sub so it removes it. Yet, when I mix, I'm adding more bass in my mixes because I don't hear it. So I end up bass heavy in my mixes.
 
The fix was for me to turn my sub up to 0dB which is one notch up from where it was. This puts bass back into my mixes and allows me to hear more bass so I mix a bit bass lighter and now everything sounds perfect.
 
So in a nutshell, if you find your mixes are bass light after using ARC, you need to fingure out what frequency to cut a bit in your custom curve so that you can add the right amount of bass in your mix to start with.
 
If your mixes are coming out bass heavy, you'll need to find out which frequency in your custom curve to boost so that you'll have good bass to start with and won't add as much in. Some of this may take a little trial and error. For me I got lucky and it was just a matter of putting a little more of my sub back in when using ARC. If I happen to use a media player that doesn't have ARC attached to it, I'd have to drop my sub that one increment so it wouldn't sound boomy. But because I use Winamp, ARC is loaded up automatically upon playback and I never have to adjust anything. :)
 
-Danny

While using ARC 2 today I clicked the info button for grins. I was surprised to see it said:
VERSION 2.0 32-bit.

I am sure that I am running the 64 bit dll. I don't see the bit-bridge icon anywhere so I am wondering WHY the info page says 32-bit?

Anyone else noticed this? Any thoughts?

Kind regards,
Rick