It may be blasphemous to say, but not every piece of audio that makes its way onto the air is mixed under ideal conditions. Several years ago, IK Multimedia released ARC (Advanced Room Correction System), an inexpensive package that consists of a microphone and software designed to help correct acoustical errors if the space worked in wasn’t designed by a top audio architect.
I reviewed ARC at the time, and was extremely impressed particularly by the way it rounded off some boomy low-end that had always bothered me when I listened over a mid-sized set of speakers I own that were (and still are) quite popular.
IK Multimedia has now released an update to ARC. The company claims that Version 2 has greater frequency resolution. (I’ll give an opinion when I get the chance to take V. 2 out for a spin.)
Remember those trusty old Auratone speakers? The market won’t give up on these babies. Designed to give engineers a realistic idea of how audio will sound coming out of tiny television speakers and car radios, Auratones (and the competition) remain a mainstay in many broadcast recording studios. IK Multimedia claims that ARC Version 2 can replicate the sound of multiple environments, eliminating the need for multiple speaker sets.
Of course, all work is done by the imposition of eq curves, and purists may object to audio correction software that behaves in this manner. For $300, however, I say whatever works. If your room is less than perfect, you might want to head over to www.ikmultimedia.com/arc, and take a look at the video material devoted to this product.
