I had a very satisfying experience the other day. I ran Sonarworks Reference 4 in my room with my EVE SC207 monitors. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the corrected curve wasn’t dramatically different than the “before” curve. In this article, I share some thoughts on what this experience confirmed to me....

The reason it was so satisfying is that the last time I ran Reference 4 here was a couple of years ago, with my old monitors. The correction curve sounded so drastically different than the “Before” curve that it felt too overwhelming to make the shift to mixing with Reference 4 in place. So I ended up mixing without Reference 4. Did my mixes sound good? Well, kinda, sorta. At least, I thought they did. 

This time was different. I have new (better) monitors, I have shifted the positioning of things in my room, and I have some additional sound treatment in place. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the corrected curve wasn’t dramatically different than the “before” curve. This experience confirmed a few things to me. 

First, my mixing has improved! The fact that there weren’t substantial tonal shifts when toggling the correction curve on top of my already mixed tracks confirmed to me that my mixing is in the intended ballpark. Well inside. Secondly, it confirmed that my combination of monitors and sounds treatment is working relatively well in my environment. 

Now I’m not here specifically to sing the praises of Sonarworks Reference 4 or my EVE monitors; we have plenty on the site on these subjects. Instead, I want to, very unscientifically, try and share the experience with you. In this video, I have set up a pair of Neuman KM 184 mics in my listening position sweet spot. I have then recorded the output of my speakers in my room, with Reference 4 both enabled and disabled using a few different clips I have mixed previously. 

My goal is to try and capture, as best as possible, what I was hearing. Sure, the KM 184 response curves aren’t calibrated precisely the way my ears are. And there are room reflections and resonances it picked up that I, or at least my brain, tends to mask out reasonably effectively. But it was an enlightening and illuminating exercise. 

Initially, Reference 4 seemed to me to require too massive a shift in what I was hearing. Now I realize that its strength is in making good speakers sound great, even when used in a relatively modestly treated environment.

I hope you’ll enjoy it. In the meantime, here are a few links if you want to read up a bit more on Reference 4 or EVE Audio speakers.