The software produces bursts of clicks, which are used to calculate the mic's exact position in the room, along with short frequency sweeps, which measure the perceived acoustic power, or apparent frequency response of the speaker in that room. In use, the Reference 3 software (Windows and Mac OS) walks the user through the steps of setting up the reference mic, choosing appropriate monitor levels, and measuring the room response at 24 positions around the main listening area. Alternatively, an "average" curve, derived from many sets of a particular model of headphone, may be applied to match your existing headphone. Each headphone comes with a unique plug-in preset which matches that exact headphone. Headphones with individually measured response curves may be purchased directly from Sonarworks.
#SONARWORKS REFERENCE 3 FULL AAX PROFESSIONAL#
The headphone plug-in will correct the response of many commonly used professional headphones. The software walks the user through room analysis and then generates a unique plug-in preset which provides correction for the specific monitors as measured in the room. Additionally, the full kit includes a Sonarworks calibrated measurement mic.
Sonarworks Reference 3 software consists of three components: speaker and room calibration software speaker correction plug-in and headphone correction plug-in. Reference 3 allows novice and seasoned users to calibrate their speakers and headphones. Sonarworks, a new company from Latvia, has developed a product to simplify the process of bringing our playback system to the highest level of accurate playback. Even in world-class rooms with the most esoteric systems, providing the most accurate playback requires lots of expertise and time spent adjusting speaker placement, acoustic treatments, and possibly room EQ. For most of us, however, there are practical limitations to the type of monitors we use and the amount of room treatment we can employ. Once our speakers have been chosen and the room has been acoustically treated, we listen, adjust, tune, equalize, re-treat, and repeat until our mixes translate (reasonably) well to other playback environments. Recently, the technologies of speaker system design and advanced materials have allowed manufacturers to produce accurate monitors at every price-point.
It goes without saying that our studio monitors, be they speakers or headphones, influence the sound of our productions more than any other processor, instrument, or device.