# Reference 4 and Abbey Road Studio 3



## schrodinger1612 (Oct 7, 2019)

Hey guys, I'm feeling like a right idiot....

I recently purchased both Sonarworks Reference 4 and Abbey Roads Studio 3 for my headphone mixing, not knowing that in addition to spatial frequency response, the latter _also_ has frequency response adjustment for my DT880 Premium Editions! seeing as my headphones are supported on Abbey Road, should I ask for a refund on Reference, or does it excel over Studio 3 in its ability to level out the frequency response curve? If not, it's pretty pointless me keeping both. I've heard of people using both simultaneously but I don't know if it's because their headphones aren't supported in AR, or whether the levelling is more accurate in Reference.


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## aaronventure (Oct 9, 2019)

I don't have Abbey Road Studio 3, but it seems to be attempting to emulate listening in Abbey Road's Studio 3. Binaural impulse responses and all that jazz. And so it takes the headphones that you choose and adjusts their frequency response so they match that of Studio 3 in the sweet spot and so you get the imaging and acoustics. 

It seems like a different piece of software.

Reference 4 will take the frequency response of your headphones and attempt to flatten it out so that the sound isn't colored anymore. It will do the same thing to your monitors if you measure the frequency response of your room.

I don't see a point in using both at the same time. Both software's headphone models are based on the average frequency response of stock models. You either want the simulation of Studio 3 or a flat frequency response. Unless there's an option to enable flat frequency response in the Studio 3 plugin, you can't really get it while using Studio 3 (unless Sonarworks creates a profile for your headphones running through Studio 3). 

See how you like each, and consider keeping both. I'm not a big fan of headphones and am happy to be in a position where I can use my main monitors 24/7, therefore I have no need for Studio 3 (although it does seem interesting). Keeping both nets you another referencing point. And I personally love Reference. I use the room correction for my main monitors, and in the rare situation where I have to switch to headphones, the switch feels very natural. Everything translates so well. Truly amazing piece of software.


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## rollasoc (Oct 10, 2019)

I use reference and Waves NX. They are both in my template. I generally end up deleting the Waves one, since the head tracking window keeps popping up on project open. I don't have head tracking. I wish the window would stay hidden.
So Reference 4 is my headphone mix plugin of choice.
(I use Arc for monitor correction).


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## Raindog (Oct 10, 2019)

rollasoc said:


> I use reference and Waves NX. They are both in my template. I generally end up deleting the Waves one, since the head tracking window keeps popping up on project open. I don't have head tracking. I wish the window would stay hidden.
> So Reference 4 is my headphone mix plugin of choice.
> (I use Arc for monitor correction).


I do the same (using Reference 4 and NX). Love the combination of frequency response correction and adding a room component which makes listening with headphones much less fatiguing. I had the same problem with NX which was annoying. I asked Waves support to help me. They sent me the following reply and it worked.

In order to avoid Waves NX Waves HeadTrack application from opening every time you launch a session in Logic, please move the WavesHeadTracker file from its original path *Applications > Waves > Plugins V10 > WavesHeadTracker >* move the *WavesHeadTrack* file to the Waves folder.
Once this is done, you can manually open the application after loading your Logic session.


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## sumskilz (Oct 10, 2019)

Reference 4 will be useless to you if you don't have supported headphones.


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## rollasoc (Oct 10, 2019)

Raindog said:


> In order to avoid Waves NX Waves HeadTrack application from opening every time you launch a session in Logic, please move the WavesHeadTracker file from its original path *Applications > Waves > Plugins V10 > WavesHeadTracker >* move the *WavesHeadTrack* file to the Waves folder.
> Once this is done, you can manually open the application after loading your Logic session.



I will have to try that!


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## artomatic (Oct 11, 2019)

I have both. They're different. AR S3 claims that you are actually there listening to their near fields, etc.
I wanted my phones/speakers as flat as it can be. And I got that with Reference 4.


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## steveo42 (Oct 12, 2019)

artomatic said:


> I have both. They're different. AR S3 claims that you are actually there listening to their near fields, etc.
> I wanted my phones/speakers as flat as it can be. And I got that with Reference 4.



Same here.
I don't have the headphone head tracking plugin though. I tried the demo and it got me dizzy.


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