| after only 2 weeks of using it, arc seems to be my best investment this year. biggest problems for me were a +9db hump at 125hz and a -20db dip at 60hz, both to do with the height of my ceiling. i've done some diy basstrapping (2 floor to ceiling ones and 6 smaller ones on the wall), which improved the room somewhat, but i figured that if i wanted to get rid of the 2 aforementioned problems, i'd need to spend more than 500 euros on expertise and materials. so i went for arc. (and i got it for cheaper as i already had another ik product, and they also gave me csr reverb for free!)
i'm aware that it's not a total solution, that i still can't totally trust my room, but for my budget and the space i have, it seems to be the best solution. before i had no trust in my room (or i wasn't even aware of how bad it was), now i'd say 90% trust. and i know where the quirks are.
as for using another mic... every measurement mic is supposed to be linear, but one man's linear is different from another's. weird as that may seem, just listen to different linear monitor speakers. i can imagine that the arc measurement software internally corrects for the quirks of their mic, thereby effectively turning it into some sort of dongle for their software. another mic might get you 90% of the way though. but it's not about a better mic, it's about the mic best suited to the software.
and just a little last remark about one of the pros here that said that anything below 80hz is not that important because most music hasn't much energy there... what about house, techno and hiphop? it's especially the stuff below 80hz that is important there. i do mainly house and techno and arc does tons of stuff for my mixes. but the funny thing is, if i put it on a rock mix, the sound doesn't change too much. |