Recording - November 2019 - 71

I've tried several different room correction software products. I didn't like or
trust the results, and so I don't use them.
For the same reasons, I seldom use the
corrective EQ built into my studio monitors. While these products can correct
for peaks and resonances, they do very
little if anything to correct for the nulls in
the room; most often, all that happens is
some simple midrange carving and a perceived lessening of low end. These past
experiences made me a hard sell going
in. The Reference 4 process is different-
it appears to consider and correct the
entire frequency spectrum to make the
monitor response as flat as possible in
a given space. Rather than just shelving
and cutting frequencies, Reference 4 also
fills in the holes, and fills out and shifts
frequencies and nulls; the resulting curve
might add more low end, or gently bring
the highs forward, or shift the mids over
as needed. I expected a significant sonic
facelift in my home set up, and I got it,
but I was equally impressed by how Reference 4 interacted with the Trio11 Be
monitors in my treated space, providing
improved dimensionality and clarity with
no sacrifice of low end. The only time I
wasn't sure that I liked what Reference 4
did was with my Amphion One18 speakers, which got a little too toppy for my
taste; I may recalibrate them and see if
I get better results. This is an excellent
place to bring up the Tilt EQ and blending options; the latter helped dial the
sound to taste with my Amphions.

In the cans

Even if you don't desire Reference
4 correction for your monitors, what it
does for headphones is pretty stunning.
I tried it on four different Audio-Technica
models: ATH-M20, ATH-M50, ATH-M70,
and the R70x. Here the process actually evened out the differences between
models. Based on this performance, I'd
expect increased odds of getting trustworthy mix results on any headphones
with an available Sonarworks profile.

Things to be aware of

Reference 4 does its job and does it
exceptionally well, but you do need to be
aware of a few functional considerations.
Most importantly: always bypass the plugin
before you render a mix, so that the corrective EQ doesn't get printed. Second, if
you use a monitor switcher and multiple

FIGURE 2 - BEFORE

FIGURE 3 - AFTER
sets of speakers, Reference 4 adds the step
of switching profiles every time you switch
speakers. If you're in a scenario where one
person is tracking or checking a mix on
headphones, you will not be able to have a
different profile across your mains; likewise
you can't use multiple profiles with multiple
musicians working in unmatched headphones. Finally, Reference 4 will not work
natively with DSD, so with high-resolution
SACD listening, you may not be able to
take advantage of the sound of Reference
4. Again, these are all functional considerations that in no way subtract from what
Reference 4 does.

Conclusion

More and more, I've been talking
with studio owners and musicians and
producers big and small, who refuse to
mix without Sonarworks Reference 4-
see this month's interview with Jason
Soudah, for example. I used to think it
was hyperbole, but now I'm thinking
that maybe the hype is real! This software does what it claims and makes
mixing a more consistent experience
across disparate sets of headphones
and monitor speakers in both treated
and untreated rooms. You just need to
hear it and demo it for yourself.

Price: Sonarworks Reference 4 Headphone Plug-in $99, Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio Plug-in $249, Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio with Mic $299
More from: www.sonarworks.com
RECORDING November 2019

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Recording - November 2019

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