Post Description

Reference 3 and 4 uses a microphone to measure the frequency response of your room. It then builds a complementary EQ curve that corrects any tonal imbalances. You listen through this curve while mixing and hopefully hear a more accurate representation of your mix. This will ideally lead to better mixing decisions, and a track that sounds great on a variety of different speakers.

You’ll need an omnidirectional condenser microphone, an audio interface with an XLR input, and a mic cable with plenty of slack. The Reference 4 standalone app walks you through the entire process, which takes less than 10 minutes. While Sonarworks says you can use any omnidirectional condenser microphone, I got much better results when using their mic.

During the measurement process, Reference 4 instructs you to move the mic around your sweet spot while playing a series of odd noises. The software tracks the mic’s position using echolocation, and automatically starts taking the next measurement when you move it into the right spot. This is by far the coolest part of the process!

Reference sound combined with true zero latency processing
Calibration profiles, predefined simulations and filter modes for every usecase
AAX Native, RTAS, VST, AU