Room Correction Plugins
 

What Room Correction Plugins do you recommended for use with Pro Tools 10?

Mid 2012 MBP
16GB Ram
1T Spool Drive (Original)
OSX10.3.1

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

You will need to check with all companies to make sure you can get RTAS or AAX32 to work on PT10. I have used ARC1 and ARC3(IK Multimedia) and Sonarworks. Of those 3, ARC3 gets my vote. While Sonarworks uses many more readings(I think 35 compared to ARC3's 7 readings), ARC3 sounds better to my ears. Plus, Sonarworks can be a PITA to run as it must run the readings at 44.1K(can use at higher sample rates once you have a measurement file) and it can be very picky when it comes to the interface for doing the measurement. My 003 would not complete the process at all, but a borrowed Behringer USB interface worked fine.

More to consider:
1-using the correction plugin is likely to drop your output volume some(ARC3 can be turned up on the plugin), and may also eat up headroom(depending on how extreme the boosts are, and how loud you listen).
2-You MUST MUST MUST remember to bypass the plugin when you bounce your mix(you DO NOT want the correction curve "baked" into your final audio file).

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

I would recommend plugging real room treatment into the room, that works with whatever PT version.

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

Thanks for all your replies.

My small 11X13 Studio is treated with a design that was configured by Auralex & utilizes their Product.

I'm also using a PreSonus 16.4.2 Interface Mixer..

This Setup is Really Old School by today's standards but has been pretty much bulletproof so if it ain't broke.... Sonarworks, ARC, IK & the others seem to require newer OS & a more Powerful Computer..

It appears none of the Plugins will work..

I'll probably gave to get an RTA Mic. & something that creates Pink noise.. Then with an outboard Graphic Equalzer between the Monitors & the Interface Mixer manually adjust EQ on the Graphic Equalizer...

Am I missing anything?

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

I agree. Plus, use great reference monitors that are not too big for the room.

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

Well, the best monitors in the world can still suck in a bad room:o Your best route is probably a combination of treatments and getting a really accurate reading of the total response at mix position(you are really only going to be able to correct for a single point in the room). There are some very clean digital signal processors on the market, and even the inexpensive Behringer UltraDrive 2496(not the LE version) can do some very customizable EQ to tame room issues. Having said that, at the end of the day, a good set of speakers(which you never mentioned) and a decent set of headphones(for checking the bottom 2 octaves) will likely do fine, once you "learn" your room(and whatever issues it may have).

You can learn a lot about your room by bringing up the signal Generator plugin on a mono aux track, set a reasonable volume with a 1K sine wave, and then slowly lower the frequency and have a pad and pencil handy. As the frequency moves downward, make notes if any suddenly gets louder, or softer. Those frequencies are where your listening setup has issues(listening setup being the combination of the speakers, the room, the treatments and anything that might contribute physically, like a big desk surface). I bet when you get down below 200Hz, you will probably find at least 2 frequencies that nearly disappear, and 2 others that poke out a lot(on the order of 10-14db in the few small rooms I have measured). Cutting where you have peaks is fairly easy with a parametric EQ before your speakers, but boosting to fill the nulls is not as easy(a couple of 10-14db boosts would chew up a ton of headroom in your speakers). Nulls are better solved with acoustic treatment, moving things around(sometimes inches can make big changes).

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

My Room has Auralex Acoustic Panels, Bass Traps, Diffusors etc. As recommended by Auralex for my Room.

My Monitors are older Roland DS90's & I just got a pair of Kali LP-6 Monitors..

I'm sure there are higher quality Setups but I should be able to get pretty darn good Mixes with what I have..

Today I calibrated the volume levels to 80 dB at Unity on my Kali LP-6 monitors using Pink Noise & an SL Meter.. That seemed to help..

I would like to tune my room to Flat.. I need a Reference Mic, RTA App or Software but not sure what would work with my PT10, mid 2012 MBP & PreSonus 16.4.2 Interface Mixer.. Recommendations are appreciated..

Because my System is older I anticipate using an outboard Graphic Equalizer between the 16.4.2 & the Monitors.. Any EQ corrections would be done on the outboard Graphic Equalizer....

If there's a better way I'm all ears...

Thanks

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

Sadly, the best way is to update software so you can use current plugins. Graphic EQ is a double-edged sword. The way they work fudges with phase, so the more sliders that are away from -0, the more phase shifting goes on, which smears audio(and the cheaper the unit, the worse this will be). Many digital EQ's can do their thing with less or zero phase shift(which is why I recommend a digital solution):rolleyes: Alternately, learn your setup by listening to lots of commercial releases(and not just in your favorite genre). If possible, listen to uncompressed audio whenever possible(MP3's are often pretty bad sounding).

Let us know how the Kali's work out. Lots of great reviews out there:D

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

Phase shifting is just as much theory as it is practice. Say you have curtains on your window, moving them a foot makes more phase shift than tuning EQ. Or moving your monitor speaker 5 degrees while you wipe dust off it.

I have been in a room that is acoustically as perfect (dead) as possible. It takes 15 minutes to get nuts of all the silence. Point being you need to mix where you are comfortable and once finished give that mix to another person (ME) to make the final call.

Re: Room Correction Plugins
 

The Kali LP6's are better than I anticipated. I did calibrate their volume levels via Pink noise, SL Meter & Unity Settings on the PreSonus 16.4.2. I'm anxious to tune the room to Flat & see how good they are.. I'll let you all know my review of them..

Upgrading my OS any higher than OSX 10.8.5 isn't an option for my perpetual PT10.3.10.. And for this Computer I'd like to keep the perpetual PT10..

Are there any other options? What about using the Signal Generator in PT10 & the Graphic EQ on the PreSonus 16.4.2 Interface Mixer? What about Room measuring Apps or Software & what reference Mic to use?

Thanks