A big problem for those of us with a home or project studio has been mixing in a less than ideal room. If you are like me, you are mixing within a DAW through near monitors in a small, boxy room. This produces all sorts of issues - especially in the low frequency range- which affect how I mix. Part of the problem is knowing exactly what those issues are and where they are happening. Furthermore, how do I deal with them, without spending a small fortune, after I have found them? This is where ARC comes in.
I have to admit I was slightly skeptical about a program claiming that it can find and correct these issues in such a simple way. But I was pleasantly surprised at the results.
ARC is a program you install on your computer. A special microphone measures test tones sent through your monitors and uses MultEQ technology to analize acoustical information throughout the listening area in your studio. ARC combines this information to provide an accurate representation of the room's acoustical problems and corrects for both time and frequency response problems.The final step is to insert the ARC plug-in on the master fader of a project in your DAW and apply the changes. It also shows a visual representation of the frequencies found to be out of balance as well as the ones it has corrected.The plug-in also has a button to turn the changes on and off.This really helped me hear what issues my room has and how I was mixing as a result.
While this program is not meant to be a replacement for room treatment or better monitoring, I found it to be very helpful in showing exactly how a room suffers and it offers a way to compensate for these issues. It let me hear how my mixes were being affected and why they were not sounding the way they should.This is a great tool to help those of us mixing in smaller studio environments compete with the big boys!