ARC System corrects sound distortion caused by room acoustics, so you can trust the sound of your studio

The popularity of DAW-based systems have made them the most diffused recording and mixing solution for hundreds of thousands of professional, project and home studios worldwide. While much emphasis is placed on the gear and tools used for composing, mixing and mastering, one of the most critical factors influencing the quality of a music production is the accuracy of the monitoring system. In fact the combination of speakers and room acoustics prove to be the weakest link in the music production chain.

Near field monitor systems used in studio applications are designed to deliver sound without distortion or coloration. However when monitors are placed in a room, surrounding walls, ceiling, furniture, and other objects reflect and absorb their sounds, creating complex distortions specific to the room, causing them to lose the accuracy they have been designed for, and you end up hearing more of the sound of the room, than the music actually being produced. Here you can see some examples of how rooms distort sound in some typical DAW-based studio situations.

The traditional solutions to this problem so far have been acoustic treatments, traditional room correction EQ or, lately, advanced self-calibrated monitor systems. Unfortunately each of these solutions has some drawbacks, which may not be the best possible solution in many of today’s DAW-based music production studio situations.

Acoustic treatment requires a degree of expertise in its set-up that is not commonly available among musicians working in project and home studios. At the same time, it can be extremely expensive for studios to have, especially when a precise target result is required and the room is not optimally shaped. A complete and successful acoustical treatment usually means a hefty price tag for many, making it an option only for high-end studios.

Traditional room correction EQ and advanced self-calibrated monitor systems are also expensive, and generally are only able to correct the frequency response of a room, but not the phase problems that can be introduced by room acoustics. On the contrary, traditional room correction EQ will alter the phase response by itself, adding this to the already present phase room alterations. All these phase distortions summed up is why many turn off equalizers on the monitoring setup after briefly trying them. Moreover, traditional correction EQ calibrates the response by only considering one single position in the room (called the “sweet-spot”), usually making the listening experience in other zones of the room even worse. Lastly, all of these systems fail when it comes to easy portability and mobile situations, which is now the growing trend for laptop-based mobile studios and traveling musicians.

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