Review: IK Multimedia ARC System (Mac/Win)

Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Mike Levine

             

A SOFTWARE-BASED SYSTEM TO CORRECT YOUR STUDIO'S ACOUSTICS

Fig. 1: The ARC plug-in EQ’s your playback system to give it a flat response based on the curve generated by the measurement application and the optional Target Curve.

Wouldn't it be great to trust the acoustics in your studio? To be able to do a mix where you didn't have to take a copy of your song, burn it to a CD, and then listen to it in your car, on your boombox, and even on your living room stereo to see how it translates? The reason why so many personal-studio owners often must do so much referencing during the mix process — even if they have excellent monitors — is that their studios have not been acoustically treated and tuned. As a result, sonic gremlins such as first-order reflections and standing waves wreak havoc with the sound and make it impossible to mix with confidence.

A big impediment to studios' getting treated is an economic one: custom acoustic treatments can be expensive. And many recordists would rather allocate their equipment budget to something sexier, like a new plug-in or microphone. But what if there were a relatively inexpensive way to use computer-based DSP to compensate for those acoustic anomalies? IK Multimedia's ARC System offers just such a solution, using Audyssey's MultEQ technology (see “Tech Page: Got Modes?” in the September issue, available at emusician.com), which was originally invented for the high-end home-audio and home-theater markets. The system is designed to correct both frequency- and time-based (phase) problems.

Process It

Can EQ alone cure your acoustic problems? I asked acoustic consultant Bob Hodas about it, and he told me that EQ is typically the icing on the cake of a treated room, used for final finishing-touch tweaks after all the absorbers, diffusers, and bass traps have been installed.

Other products on the market besides ARC use DSP as the primary tool for room tuning, including JBL's LSR-series speakers and KRK's ERGO system. One way in which these three products differ is that they all put their processing in different parts of the signal chain. For the LSR system, it's in the monitor cabinets themselves. For ERGO, it's in a dedicated box that's placed between the audio interface and the monitors. ARC does its processing as a VST, AU, or RTAS plug-in within your DAW (see Fig. 1).

Checking — One, Two

ARC is composed of a standalone measurement application (see Fig. 2), a plug-in for implementing the EQ curves, and a measurement microphone. This omni-pattern condenser (see Fig. 3) is specifically tailored for ARC, and the system won't work correctly if you substitute another measurement mic. The mic comes in a padded black plastic carrying case, and a windscreen and custom clip are included. An IK spokesperson told me that it's of good-enough quality to also use as a recording mic. I tested it out on acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, and shaker, and the results were solid if not inspiring. (To hear it in action as a recording mic, see Web Clip 1.)

After installing the ARC software, the next step is to take measurements in your studio. You start by putting the measurement mic on a stand, pointing it straight up at the ceiling, and placing it at ear height at your listening position, centered between the monitors. You then launch the measurement software, and it prompts you to press the Test button to make sure you're getting enough level through your monitors (it emits a series of test tones). Once your levels are set, you're ready to start measuring.

The software guides you through the testing process and for each measurement emits a series of ten tones each for the left and right speaker. (Currently the ARC System doesn't support surround.) The manual recommends taking at least 13 measurements, preferably 14 to 16 for every set of monitors in your studio. After each measurement, you move the mic to a different spot in and around your listening position. Suggested measurement positions are indicated graphically in the manual. (Kudos to IK for including a printed manual, not just a PDF.) According to IK, the Audyssey MultEQ technology is capable of correcting your room for multiple listening positions (for example, a main position with a client couch behind it).

If you have more than one pair of monitors, you need to take separate measurements for each type. That's because they have different frequency responses and interact differently with the room.