The ARC System an EYE Opener

[johnmix]

I will admit , slowly but surely as an "amateur" mix engineer, I had read every forum imaginable, hung out at GearSlutz like a rabid dog waiting for that one morsel of advice that would set me, in my little bedroom mix-studio over the edge. Little by little buying monitors, slightly better interfaces etc. Then I start reading and studying posts on "rooms" and their pitfalls. What I gleaned from the debates was, basically you have to either have a 15 by 15 control room with better than 12 foot high ceilings , to eliminate or severely reduce buying bass traps or diffusors. In this state of mind in my practical closet of a studio, I would have to Bass Trap and diffuse until the cows came home. This is so you can achieve as flat as possible listening experience.

I chose IK Multimedia's ARC system and the results have been mind boggling. You measure your room, up to 32 measurements. Slap it on your master-buss mix. De-Activate it when you bounce down. Watch the instruments and voices come to life!! Here are some recently mixed songs from my brothers band Wicked Society:

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download FORGOTTEN SON.mp3

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download PIECES.mp3

And a licensed Led Zeppelin cover:

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download IMMIGRANT SONG.mp3

These were mixed without ARC:

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download FORGOTTEN SON.mp3

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download IMMIGRANT SONG.mp3

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download PIECES.mp3

Your comments are welcomed and appreciated!!

[black]

I myself am very keen to know everything about the arc system. I really want to like it but I have to say that I really like all your mixes without the arc system better. Sorry to say that. I like them because they are kind of rawer better suited for this type of music. The arc mixes have a certain 'tubby' sound - the non arc mixes are fatter and more direct. I only listened to them over powerbook speakers though!

[johnmix]

Originally Posted by black

I myself am very keen to know everything about the arc system. I really want to like it but I have to say that I really like all your mixes without the arc system better. Sorry to say that. I like them because they are kind of rawer better suited for this type of music. The arc mixes have a certain 'tubby' sound - the non arc mixes are fatter and more direct. I only listened to them over powerbook speakers though!

cool thanks!!

[Jules]

I liked the demo of ARC I was given at the last AES show.

That and those recoil pad monitor pads from Primacoustic.

Both seemed V good products.

[greatgreatriver]

Listening to forgotten.

The arc version is more filled/busy in the low end - on the other version without the arc the low end is a little too distracting with the kick etc - but have nicer high end. I think you should try to find something in between...

I do think the arc version have too much low end -

Hard to know cos both mixes are not perfect - but on the other hand I love the rawness...

And,

I ****ing love the music - this is giving me a hard on... Rock on guys! Is it your song?

[markesims]

As to why you "ARC System" mixes might sound a little tubby check out: studiotips - tips on studio design, acoustics, and wiring and choose the Understanding RTA link... I personallly do EQ my space, but I'm using mid-field monitoring. I found this tip to be the solution to getting my room sounding right!

[johnmix]

Originally Posted by markesims

As to why you "ARC System" mixes might sound a little tubby check out: studiotips - tips on studio design, acoustics, and wiring and choose the Understanding RTA link... I personallly do EQ my space, but I'm using mid-field monitoring. I found this tip to be the solution to getting my room sounding right!

Checking out now. Thanks

[johnmix]

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Listening to forgotten.

The arc version is more filled/busy in the low end - on the other version without the arc the low end is a little too distracting with the kick etc - but have nicer high end. I think you should try to find something in between...

I do think the arc version have too much low end -

Hard to know cos both mixes are not perfect - but on the other hand I love the rawness...

And,

I ****ing love the music - this is giving me a hard on... Rock on guys! Is it your song?

The band "Wicked Society", it is all there original music. I am the hunch-backed cotton eared Mix AE.

[greatgreatriver]

No need to bend your back brother! I think you done a good job keeping the vibe - and man there are no good mixes anymore since they killed analog tape for digital. My best advice to you my sweet brother is to start a fire and forget about that plugin on the master... Cos your ears are unique... I want to hear the music from your ears not a ******** plugin... Just shine brother you are one of the good guys!

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by johnmix

Your comments are welcomed and appreciated!!

i put my findings about ARC in this thread (starting at #11):
IK ARC exposed my room, can anyone help?

i posted lot's of links to reviews of users and shared my personal thoughts.

no matter what the bass trap sellers say:
the ARC did help me a lot!

maybe you wanna check out that thread too.

[johnmix]

I Love ARC too myself. I noticed Mr. Winer tries hard to shoot down anything that threatens his lively hood. That is to be expected though, I don't think ARC is going to put Bass Traps and Diffusors out of business yet, even KRK has come out with hardware for their speakers.

JT

[johnmix]

Screwed up my gain-staging.

new mixes coming.

-----

[johnmix]

NEW Links in first Post. Here they are repeated:

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download FORGOTTEN SON.mp3

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download IMMIGRANT SONG.mp3

4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download PIECES.mp3

Jmix

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by johnmix

I don't think ARC is going to put Bass Traps and Diffusors out of business yet

i think stuff like ARC will NEVER put real room treatment out of business.

my room was treated before i used arc:
i tried to get the basic things done (reflections, 6 bass traps and so on).
but i was not satisfied at all. it was ok but still far from professionall.
the only thing the sellers said: you need more bass traps!
but i don't think that i want a room with like 25 bass traps.
so i tried arc and it worked very cool.

imho arc does a great job and only get's better
when the room is somewhat treated!

there is no need to bash stuff like arc.
it's just another cool tool someone can use.

the funny thing is that people still get the product wrong.
just like the member greatgreatriver - he said:

My best advice to you my sweet brother is to start a fire and forget about that plugin on the master... Cos your ears are unique... I want to hear the music from your ears not a ******** plugin... Just shine brother you are one of the good guys!

arc will not turn shitty mixes into great ones.
and it won't change the sound of your mix.
it just let's you hear stuff more flat.
therefore you will mix different to get the result YOU want.
arc is just another "bass trap" in your room.
so it is more likely that mixes translate better on another system.

that said i sure would like to spend 10k $ to pay a professional to tread my room.
but i simply can't ... so arc will help me till i can ;-)

[johnmix]

Neither can I, your post, the YouTube video's and Craif Anderton's review sold me!!

[Audio Hombre]

how do they ever manage mixing all those classics without the ARC SYSTEM!

[duvalle]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

how do they ever manage mixing all those classics without the ARC SYSTEM!

maybe they have very well treated rooms, better skills and better ears ...
so what's the point?

[johnmix]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

how do they ever manage mixing all those classics without the ARC SYSTEM!

This is truly a different beast, the ARC package helps get the playing field in order. The DAW premise is to mimic or get as close to the "real world" studio environment. Digital is supposed to be more accurate, bit depth affords better headroom and we could go on and on. The Classics were made in Top Notch Pro Studios, designed by professionals, probably with accoustic treatments in the more "cutting-edge" Pro rooms. Believe me the home recordist knows where the Classics were made.

[greatgreatriver]

You should have stayed with the music -

The band rocked anyways...

Be cool!

[JtotheB]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

how do they ever manage mixing all those classics without the ARC SYSTEM!

Are you referring to the classic one that were made before home studios started putting commercial facilities to bed? Probably with a huge budget to afford to build a room made for mixing. I don't know about you but I don't work out of that type of facility nor can I afford to have one built. What I can afford a 400 dollar tool to help my room sound a little better.

[greatgreatriver]

Ethan Hulk's bedroom dot com

[toodamnhip]

Audio Hijack Pro used on entire Comp Out with Audio Hijack Pro-Questions:

I want to use ARC strapped across the outputs of all audio coming out of my computer, in REALTIME, without having to use it as a plug in in my DAW.

Before trying AH Pro, I had been referred to Neutrino as a way to process system audio going through my mac in realtime. But I found NO way to do a complete Hi Jack of audio in REAL Time. It seems that Neutrino is good for AFTER the fact.
I want to insert the ik multimedia ARC speaker adjustment system on my whole system AT ALL TIMES in Real time so I don;t have to bother with it as an insert on my master bus in my DAW.

So I have been playing with Audio Hijack Pro and have found out a few things. Please chime in anyone if you have any comments about these things:

Latency-Audio Hijack Pro does introduce a tiny amount of additional latency in addition to the latency created by the DAW one might be recording in. I found some latency adjustments deep in AH, (under “source type” advanced/buffering) but they seem to only apply when putting the program in record mode. They really didn;t improve realtime throughput nor worsen it.
So the total Latency in AH Pro seems to be this: DAW Latency, (set by the buffers of one’s DAW), +Audio Hijack’s Latency+any given AU effect plug in used INSIDE of AH Pro, which in this case will be the arc system’s inherent latency.
Thus I have 3 questions:
1) Anyone have a solution to improve the Latency of Audio Hijack Pro. I would describe it as making any realtim audio played to feel a bit spngy instead of crisp.
2) Certain AU plugs don;t seem to work right in AH Pro, I hope arc works right. For ex: Izotope Ozone loads but doesn;t open in AH pro.Anyone tried ARC in AH Pro?
3) What is the added Latency of the ARC system if any?

The last thing is HOW to use AH Pro.

The way I have it set up is to hit “Hijack” and strap any given effects across the effects bus of AH Pro.
This means that if I have to record a drum or guitar part, I can just take AH Pro OUT of Highjack mode , which will eliminate any latency while tracking.
The problem with that is I am afraid ot will make my ears a bits nutso to shut off the ARC filtering while tracking, going back and forth. Obviously, for mix down, using ARC is easy as latency is not an issue. Anyone have a better solution for all of this to avoid latency while tracking parts?

[Gentleman]

I get invalid link? Why not upload to Gearslutz?