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I'm currently demoing Sonarworks reference 4 calibration software. It's pretty cool. Massive difference between "Calibrated" and off. Anyone else have experience with it?

Comments

kmetal Sun, 08/12/2018 - 18:57

one thing about room correction with EQ. The nulls in a room- cancellations of the physical soundwaves in a room, cannot be correct by eq. ie, you cannot boost what isnt there in the first place. so when you boost any eq for room correction, your making the nulls deeper/worse relative to the rest of the frequencies. ie the boost makes something louder, the nulls stay exactly the same, silect/canceled. this is why its most often suggested to use subtractive eq in room correction, to bring peaks closer down to the nulls.

Chris Perra Mon, 08/13/2018 - 06:52

It's different.. Mixes are translating well. It's very different though. For me it sucks the life out my mixes but when you put the life back in it translates far better on different systems.

Flat is really boring sounding. It shows me how speakers are designed to colour sound is big way, even studio monitors.

I'm running the demo, but I bought a mic from them. They measure each mic before selling it so when you run the calibration software the mics idiosyncrasies are accounted for.

The software does 37 mic positions around your listening area. It's only flat in your listening position.

It has a plug in for Daws and a Systemwide one as well. It also comes with headphone calibrations for a ton of high end studio headphones.

If your room is a washy combfiltered mess I don't think this would work. You need some reasonable starting point but for many people it's cost prohibitive to get a flat room with construction/sound treatment.

My room is 15 by 30 with a low ceiling. concrete floor and cinderblock walls. So I made it completely dead with carpeting, insulation in the open roof/floor rafters with fabric on top and blanket type material on the wall. It's pretty dead. I also have bass traps..

My calibration showed me that I had a huge low end spike around 40 to 50 hz. Also too much top end around 6 to 1ok and a dip in low mids around 300 or so.

They was also phase differences between left and right speakers. There's a rack with preamps to my right and ductwork above that as well vs the left.

I calibrated a set of Adam A7s with a Sub 8. It's adjustment was pretty big. Much of top and bottom end gone and stuff sounded more solid re the phase issues. As my right side had polar opposite eq curve vs the left in some frequency ranges.

For me it fixed many issues as my mixes tended to be dull and I'd have to add a lot of higher mids than I'd like judging from my uncalibrated setup.

Also If I find a sweet spot where it sounds great calibrated and also great uncalibrated with nothing weird happening it translates well. Most of my comparison music sounded fine on the uncalibrated setup with the exception of some mixes having too much top endlike Sia material.

It's free to demo for 21 days, worth checking out. I'd get the calibration mic from them though. Unless you have one that has it's own calibration data which you can enter in before doing the calibration.

Or even try the headphone one.

They are doing a giveaway..

https://wn.nr/ptqR5t

mixedbymatty Thu, 08/23/2018 - 06:58

I used Sonarworks for quite a few years and had fantastic results. I recommend to anyone with a home studio. It can really help you hear the mix better. I now own a Trinnov room correction computer which adds more features for a rather steep price but it's worth every penny to me. I have a professionally designed room, and it still improves the translation quite a bit.

DonnyThompson Sun, 09/16/2018 - 13:06

I’ve used the SW Ref 4 for heapdphones with good results; though I’m really only using HPs to work with late nights when I don’t want to wake my girl.
I can get a decent percentage of the mixing done with cans, but I can’t wear them - any model - for more than about an hour or so, as a result of surgeries I had on both ears when I was about 18, any physical pressure on my ears can become very painful after awhile.
But, for the time I’ve spent working with cans and the software, I’ve been fine with what I’ve done inside the cans, after I flip over to speakers to continue.

miyaru Mon, 07/01/2019 - 04:31

Bringing up an old topic: I was in the market for a new mic, but thought, what can I get better in my mixes - that starts with decent monitoring. My music room is far from being ideal. So now I consider buying Sonarworks 4 with the mic to have a better monitor sound. I've read the comments so far, and read many reviews and I think it is worth it!!!!

Still it is a bit of money to spent, but I think it is good spent........

miyaru Thu, 07/04/2019 - 01:44

Yesterday I received the package. Opened it, and it seemed to be used before. Microphone dented, package thorn....... I called and mailed the the supplier, and they offer me a new one, and I have to send the other back - so no testing for now......... I'm a bit frustated by this, I must confess!

miyaru Thu, 07/04/2019 - 11:24

They haven't yet provided me with a discount, but I will ask for it. It will take a week or so for I get the new package I guess. It has to come from Germany, and I live in The Netherlands. It happended to me before with them, when I bought my studiomonitors. They gave me a discount then anyway.........

These guys must understand they are not selling toys, but professional tools for people who make a living with it normally. I don't live from my recordings, but still you are disapointed :-(

kmetal Sat, 07/06/2019 - 17:25

miyaru, post: 461400, member: 49780 wrote: I told them, they can keep it, and that I want my money refund. Will find another supplier.........

Good luck. Maybe its a sign to look into how REW compares directly with Sonarworks. Ive only used it for testing, but i am not sure if Rew has some eq for room tuning.

Chris Perra Sun, 07/07/2019 - 14:43

I bought the mic first from a local music chain online as I didn't have a measuring mic anyway. Then I ran the 24 day demo to see if I liked it. Then bought the software. I found it to be around the same price as buying both together.. The software that you get with the package is only the serial number anyway.

I think any retailer brick and mortar store that carries Sonarworks should have demo mics so that people can rent them to check out how it works without investing a fair amount.

kmetal Sun, 07/07/2019 - 15:57

miyaru, post: 461413, member: 49780 wrote: The problem is I have no measering mic right now. I ordered the Sonarworks packege with a mic in it. I will see if I can download it and use it with LDC in omni mode, but I guess that is colouring to much.........

I know with REW, there is a calibration process so any mic and soundcard/interface can be used.

miyaru Thu, 07/11/2019 - 13:42

This afternoon my money was refunded. Tonight I ordered a new packege from a different supplier. Tommorow I will get it, and this weekend is going to be for testing etc. I have to do it twice, as I have two pair of speakers in my music room. The main pair are Presonus Eris 8's, the second pair are cheapo PC speakers to compare the mix in the worst case scenario. This speakes don't have any lows, and are middy and shrill. It is an art to get a mix right on them! I will calibrate them too, to make my life a bit easier.

I have thought though about Ollo Cans, but then again it is easy to take everywhere to mix on them, but I prefer mixing on monitors. My solution will span two pair of speakers and my cans - Beyer Dynamic DT 770 pro's.

I'm excited about it, and can't wait to set the system up, and make it ready for use!

miyaru Sun, 07/14/2019 - 14:24

Setup was easy and flawless, as expected. Took about an half hour to install and measure. Man was it needed in my space! Things sound clearer now, more focussed and the stereo image is wider....... broader. My cans are supported too, so that is all ok now too. I listened to some of my mixes, and I decided that for a great part of my songs, I can start over with mixing. I take what I find my best songs and do these first. I also noticed it is not fatiqueging anymore to listen for a few hours. It used to be OK, but now it is much better.

What can I say about it....... sound is tighter, bassresponse is tighter on both the cans - Beyerdynamic DT 770 pro and my Presonus Eris 8 monitors. The last are a steal for the price, tested a lot of monitors but in the cheaper segment these where found the best by me. But now they sound better then ever.

Of course will my system and room not sound like a pro mixing room with Adam's, Dynaudio's or Genelec's, but I'm content with it as it is now with the combi of my PC, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 interface , Presonus Eris 8 monitors and Sonarworks Reference 4.

kmetal Sun, 07/14/2019 - 14:44

Great to hear your happy with your first impressions! Ive heard some good stuff about the eris monitors. The dt770s are on my personal hitlist.

Im curious to know how your mixes translate to the rest of the world. Im not exactly sure how Sonarworks operates under the hood. I know when it comes to eq on monitoring, you can end up making the nulls in the room worse, and narrowing the the sweet spot. It would be great to hear from you when re mix some stuff.

Cheers!

miyaru Fri, 07/19/2019 - 12:14

Haven't done any mixing yet, but listening to reference songs to get used to the "new" sound. Sometimes it sounds so different of what it used to be before Sonarworks......It is better, but takes some time to getting used to it. It is told by many users that it takes some time to get comfortable with it.

I'll keep everyone informed!

Have a nice weekend!

miyaru Mon, 07/22/2019 - 12:40

Yep, sounds flat as a desk right now....... But that is the good side of it - you are indeed forced to work harder on the mix to get it vivid on the monitors.

The bad side is it took away a fair amount of low end, where I was used to. But it was to much, I know, but it was fun though LOL........

pcrecord Tue, 07/23/2019 - 05:07

miyaru, post: 461558, member: 49780 wrote: Yep, sounds flat as a desk right now....... But that is the good side of it - you are indeed forced to work harder on the mix to get it vivid on the monitors.

The bad side is it took away a fair amount of low end, where I was used to. But it was to much, I know, but it was fun though LOL........

I'm also used to mix with a bit too much lowend. It tricks my ears and force me to mix more accuratly.
In you case, you'll have te re-learn or can you tweak your sound too?

miyaru Tue, 07/23/2019 - 12:42

Can mix it from 0% to 100% wet/original. So for some that might be a solution. I prefer to relearn.

Yesterdaynight I discovered that one of the rolloff dipswitches at the back of one of my monitors was engaged........... So two different sounding monitors!

I recallibrated today, and sounds so much better as Reference hasn't got to equalize for the false setting........dumb me!!!!!!!

Played some reference tracks fo myself, and it felt ok now.

kmetal Tue, 07/23/2019 - 12:51

miyaru, post: 461568, member: 49780 wrote: Can mix it from 0% to 100% wet/original. So for some that might be a solution. I prefer to relearn.

Yesterdaynight I discovered that one of the rolloff dipswitches at the back of one of my monitors was engaged........... So two different sounding monitors!

I recallibrated today, and sounds so much better as Reference hasn't got to equalize for the false setting........dumb me!!!!!!!

Played some reference tracks fo myself, and it felt ok now.

I tracked mixed for years on a set of meyer hd1 speakers before learning that the pins on the balanced connection jacks were reversed on those speakers. So they in phase with each other, but were polarity reversed, flexing inward when bass hit instead of outward. How professional of me huh?..

pcrecord Wed, 07/24/2019 - 12:42

kmetal, post: 461570, member: 37533 wrote: I tracked mixed for years on a set of meyer hd1 speakers before learning that the pins on the balanced connection jacks were reversed on those speakers. So they in phase with each other, but were polarity reversed, flexing inward when bass hit instead of outward. How professional of me huh?..

I think we all have our moments.. Bought new DI a year ago.. First use, I checked everything before I found I forgot to turn on phantom power. Never did that mistake since tho ! lol ;)