With music production and mixing becoming increasingly accessible, entire generations of producers and artists work in less-than-perfect spaces. Gone are the days when you needed a million-dollar Hollywood studio to make a million-dollar record, and some of today’s best music is being made in bedroom studios.
When I say imperfect spaces, I mean they are shaped oddly for studios and aren’t optimized for working with audio; maybe they have strange corners where bass builds up to create an extra boom in the sub, or phase issues cancel out too much high end so you overcompensate for what you cannot hear in the first place and are left wondering why all your mixdowns sound so brittle.
However, room correction can fix all of this, and while legacy brands like Sonarworks have dominated the market for ages, new offerings are starting to come to market with their own sets of unique features, price points, and more. We were sent IK Multimedia’s ARC Studio a while ago to review. It’s taken a while to get to the review, as I wanted to wait until my ears adapted to its corrections. Now that I’m once again comfortable in my room, I’m excited to dive deeply into what I think about this powerful and affordable new device. So, let’s dive into the full review, but before we get into the fun bits and hot takes, let’s break down some of the drier technical stuff!
What Is The IK Multimedia ARC Studio?
IK Multimedia’s ARC Studio Advanced Room Correction System is a solution designed to ensure your mixes sound consistent and impressive across various playback environments. This system includes a measurement microphone, software, and an external hardware processor, offering a straightforward and efficient method for acoustic correction. By conducting room measurements and applying correction filters through an external processor, ARC Studio elevates the standard for mix quality and consistency.
The magic of ARC Studio begins with its precise room measurement process, facilitated by the ARC MEMS measurement microphone and the ARC4 software. Unlike other systems that rely on your computer’s CPU, which affects performance and potentially introduces latency, ARC Studio’s hardware processor independently manages the correction application, ensuring optimal efficiency and performance.
ARC Studio is engineered to adapt to any studio setup, regardless of the working environment or the system at the heart of your studio. It offers flexibility and future-proofing through updateable firmware, ensuring it remains compatible with evolving studio configurations and technologies.
Why Room Correction Is Important
Understanding the importance of room correction starts with recognizing the pitfalls of untreated spaces in audio production. Reflecting on the countless discussions within the audio community, it’s evident that while the advice to ‘know your room’ is ubiquitous, the way to achieving it through room correction is often convoluted with myths and misconceptions.
Room correction software fills these gaps, enhancing minimally and well-treated spaces and pushing them towards acoustic perfection. It is a fancy way to say your room is “predictable.” Theoretically, when mixing in a room treated with room correction, you can mix down a track and sound the same in any other listening environment; it won’t be clouded by wild colorations caused by phasing issues or bass buildups.
Room correction is a tool that empowers both new and experienced engineers. It provides a more accurate sound representation that lays the foundation for informed mixing decisions. Furthermore, with technological advancements minimizing concerns around plugin latency, incorporating room correction into the audio production workflow enhances sound accuracy without compromising efficiency.
What I Liked About The IK Multimedia ARC Studio
Its Price
When I invested in Sonarworks six or seven years ago, it was a healthy chunk of change. I had to save up for a handful of paychecks to afford its $500+ price tag.
This made me excited to see that ARC Studio is priced at a highly approachable price of just under $300. And while I understand that even that can be a bit expensive for some, it’s far more justifiable and reasonable and offers a ton of bang for your buck considering how much it affects your room and, thus, your mixes.
Zero Latency
One of the most frustrating things about using Sonarworks for all these years was the latency, sometimes upwards of 75ms or higher. This bogged me down even when I first used it, but the latency became evident once I upgraded to my M2 chip on my laptop, and that same 75ms felt all the slower compared to the speed of my new processor.
However, the fact that all the settings and calibrations are stored in the Arc Studio unit and are processed as the signal is run through the device means that no software is bogging down the process. Another added benefit here is that, because it happens outside of your DAW, you’ll never have to worry about rendering a project or bouncing down an entire project of mix stems only to realize that you forgot to turn the correction plugin off!
Again, this is another short and sweet but defining feature of this device that sets it apart from its competitors.
Calibration Was Easy!
When I opened the box and got ready to calibrate my room, I was bracing myself for an hour of hearing the obnoxious chirping noises from my monitors and for my arms to give out from fatigue holding the mic in place or moving my mic arm around the studio for the 30+ calibration points that previous room correction software has needed. I even warned my wife as much about the incoming noises coming from my studio.
But the ARC Studio required a short and sweet list of calibration points, about 10-15 if I remember correctly from when I set it up a couple of weeks ago, and my room was calibrated in about fifteen minutes from when I unboxed the unit to when it was all set up and ready to go!
Loved The Filters
I don’t think it’s an uncommon problem for room correction software from any brand to heavily alter and affect the most upper and lower frequency bands. It always feels like the wind is removed from my sails when so much of the sub is removed through the calibration. Even if it does “technically” make my room sound better, I say with a twinge of guilt that I like having that extra sub in there for mixing and producing my club-heavy music.
The way I combatted this with Sonarworks is through the Dry/Wet knob. But since ARC Studio lacks this simple function, which I’ll be talking about here in a second, the next, and arguably as equally excellent of a feature is the filter options! You can create a frequency band that blocks off only what you want the calibration to affect. So, if you want to leave the sub and the upper-frequency air of your room untouched, ARC Studio’s software can manage that with just a couple of quick clicks.
What I Wasn’t Crazy About=
Lack Of A Mix Knob
The software did not come with a mix knob, meaning that you either had your calibration on or you did not. Having a dry/wet function on Sonarworks was a nice feature, which I was sad to see not included in the ARC Studio.
Having some of the dry signals come through on my Sonarworks—I usually mix with about 65% wet and 35% dry—was a great way to get the best of both worlds: a highly calibrated and even signal combined with the boomier base of my room, which, sure, wasn’t perfect, but it sure was fun to mix in.
As I stated above, though, ARC STudio’s filters were a fantastic alternative to this, and once I dialed in where I wanted those filters’ cutoffs, I was back to being a happy camper.
Have XLRs On Hand!
The ARC Studio’s price point and overall use case make me assume that most people buying it will be early in their careers as producers and mix engineers (“early on” light-heartedly, meaning having done it for less than a decade).
This might be complete anecdotal evidence here, but it wasn’t until I had been producing for a half decade and when I started to mess around with mics and to record real instruments instead of just making beats and using VSTs that I used anything other than 1/4″ TRS cables. The ARC STudio requires XLR cables on its input and outputs, so be sure to pick up some fresh, quality cables online when ordering this!
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, IK Multimedia’s ARC Studio is a pivotal tool in modern music production, particularly for those navigating the complexities of imperfect studio spaces. The ARC Studio system presents a compelling case for itself with its affordability, simplicity in calibration, and zero latency performance. This advanced room correction solution democratizes professional sound quality and empowers producers and engineers at all levels to achieve pristine mixes that translate well across various listening environments.
While the absence of a mix knob and the requirement for XLR connections might pose minor inconveniences, these are far outweighed by the system’s overall benefits. The ARC Studio’s approach to calibration and correction filters, combined with its potential for future updates, ensures it remains a valuable asset in any studio setup, for artists and producers striving to make their mark in the music industry from bedrooms, garages, or makeshift studios, IK Multimedia’s ARC Studio offers a bridge to achieving studio-grade sound without needing a high-end, acoustically-treated room. It’s a testament to the idea that extraordinary music can be made anywhere with the right tools.
