PA Calibration Made Easy
Live mixing is already a tough job. But if you have to compensate for poor PA performance, it's a migraine-inducing ordeal. That's where Waves TRACT comes in. This indispensable plug-in makes tuning any PA child's play. Time-align front, fill, and PA speakers. Phase-align subwoofers and tops. You can also use TRACT's advanced IIR parametric EQ for mixing and problem solving. And while TRACT's FIR EQ is powerful enough on its own, you can combine it with Rational Acoustics Smaart v8 or Di v2 (sold separately) to transform any sound system into a well-balanced foundation for your mixes. Nothing can replace a well-trained system engineer, but TRACT is, without a doubt, the next best thing.
Related Videos: TRACT System Calibration
Failure to tune — the fast track to poor sound
Every sound system performs differently in different environments. That's why the live sound engineers here at Sweetwater recommend calibrating your PA each time you set it up. If you don't tune your system, then you can expect erratic performance. Familiar recordings will sound different, and your typical mixing adjustments will have an unpredictable effect. Worse yet, time-alignment issues can cause phase cancellation that's sure to decimate your low end. That's why a top-shelf system calibration processor like TRACT (Time and Response Auto-Correction Tool) is a necessity.
PA calibration in a nutshell
PA system calibration involves two steps. You start by capturing and measuring the sound from your speakers. You then calibrate the system using the measurement data you obtained. TRACT supplies minimal-phase and linear-phase FIR components that can be applied to any output bus. You can make your measurements with external tools and adjust these components manually, or calculate the FIR EQ curve and time-alignment automatically using analysis software like Rational Acoustics Smaart v8 and Di v2 (sold separately). TRACT works with any mixing console via Waves MultiRack, with the eMotion LV1 mixer, and within any major DAW.
Combine with Smaart for first-rate system calibration
TRACT integrates with Smaart v8 and Di v2 audio analysis software (sold separately) to calculate your FIR EQ curve. Use Smaart to take and merge up to eight measurement snapshots of your system, then select a reference as the basis for TRACT's EQ corrections. You get four common reference curves right out of the box, and you can create and save your own reference presets. Once the FIR EQ is calculated, you can change TRACT's reference curve to limit its frequency and amplitude ranges. You can also supplement it with up to eight bands of IIR EQ filters, including a bell, low/high shelves, flat-tops, Butterworth and Linkwitz-Riley curves, a tilt EQ with a variable frequency pivot point, and an allpass filter.
Waves TRACT Features:
- EQ and time-alignment software for tuning any sound system
- Supplies minimal-phase and linear-phase FIR components that can be applied to any output bus
- Create a corrective FIR EQ curve to balance your system’s EQ
- Integrates with Smaart v8 and Di v2 audio analysis software (sold separately) to calculate your FIR EQ curve
- Includes 4 common reference curves right out of the box, and you can create and save your own reference presets
- Supplement your reference curve with up to 8 bands of industry-standard IIR EQ filters
- Time-align front, fill, and PA speakers while phase-aligning subwoofers and tops
- Capture and merge up to 8 snapshots of measured response signals
- Works with any mixing console via Waves MultiRack, with the eMotion LV1 mixer, and within any major DAW
- Use it live or in the studio