Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio Edition Review, Setup & Giveaway - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro 

Been using the reference 4 for about half a year and the difference they make is insane, even in a far-from-ideal room I can mix with a fair amount of confidence and the mixes don't fall apart when checking on headphones and other systems. The price of admission is worth it for the piece of mind alone.

I would love to test my Neumann 120's and my room with this kit. Currently, my room has more reflections than a narcissist's bathroom

I have Eris8’s... just cheap monitors...but the Ref4 software allowed me to get mixes that translated to other listening systems MUCH quicker than without it. My room and monitors have low end issues and mid range mud.... this software dealt with that and got me closer to final mixes way quicker. I love it!

Warren! Thank you so much for the video. We started using Sonarworks Reference 4 several months ago and it has been a game changer. Our control room had originally been rung out to within a respectable 3dB of the test tone, except for a -4.5dB dip at 79Hz and a 4dB bump at 129Hz... Pretty easy to work around when you are aware of it. However, we later added a Toft ATB32 console with meter bridges to the room and re-arranged our outboard gear racks. This negatively impacted the room acoustics and everything started to get ugly. Enter Sonarworks Reference 4. We rung out the room on our Yamaha HS8 and HS8S subwoofer system with SW Ref 4 and have been blown away! It is such a timesaver because we now rarely receive mix notes from clients who are referencing on their car audio systems or at home. Our first mixes are translating properly wherever they are listened to. Sonarworks Reference 4 has enabled us to make better mix decisions, save time, money, and delight our clients. Highly recommended! Peace and Love and Ringo from Chaz at Electric Owl Works.

What I like about this guy is he’s 60% Steve Cumberland, 30% Partridge and 20% David Brent. It’s like watching a sitcom and learning about products.

I've used sonarworks for almost 2 years now, absolutely incredible piece of software and I couldn't imagine mixing or just enjoying music without it now. I've moved rooms with dramatic differences in size / dimensions and it's cut down on my room learning time a lot, I know I can trust what I'm hearing out of my monitors (focal shape 50s w/ sub) and it helps me get the quirks of my room that I used to obsess over out of the way and ultimately has me focusing on mine and my clients' music.

Hi Friends, Sonarworks has such a wonderful reputation amongst my friends and colleagues! Barry Rudolph for instance has been telling me about it for some time now! I've used it with Headphones now for a couple of months during the Live Streams and it's worked miracles! I had never mixed on headphones before and Sonarworks made it possible! So today I get to try it out for speakers and it did an AMAZING job!!

i wouldn't be without Reference 4. The additional clarity and tightness it provides is absolutely mind blowing, especially in a room that is not well acoustically treated

I bought Sonarworks with the mic a few weeks back - thanks for the recommendation and the academy discount! It properly EQ'd the schnizzle out of my speakers, dealt with the stodginess, and you guessed it - made a Massive difference. Thanks Warren. : )

Been using the headphone edition for a couple months now and almost mix solely with my DT 99O's now. My mixes sound better a lot faster now. One of the best investments I've made for my studio.

Hi Warren, as a member of academy, I was watching your video about how to treat the room acoustic today and was very disappointed since I really cannot do any of those modifications in my room. By watching this clip tonight I got really cheered up and decided to get the Sonar ref. if I didn’t win of course 🙂 Thank you so much for helping us and lighting up the darkness. Wish you all the best.

Glad you finally got a chance to fully test Reference 4. I've been using it for quite a while now and it made my spare bedroom turned into studio into a viable mixing space. I dont even go check my work in my car or earbuds anymore. It really allowed me to trust my speakers. Cheers

I have been using sonar works for about 2 years I think or almost but yes it got me from spending thousands on studio monitors for sure, I highly recommend sonar !!

Just got mine today! It is indeed a marvellous product, much much better than i expected!! I'm totally amazed by the results and i agree with everything that Warren said on this video!!

Sonarworks is a huge help in balancing (flattening) the monitors in my small studio room. I’m glad you reviewed this Warren. I’m a fan of Sonarworks and of course a fan of you! :)

Best review I've seen of this! I've had the headphone edition for a while now and looking forward to the studio version. Thanks for the step by step demonstration!

Ordered it on the last day of the black friday sale. Can't wait to get started as soon as the mic is here, since the results with my Sennheiser HD600 are pretty convincing already!

They're delivering my Sonarworks and Mic today. Can't wait to give it a go with my Adams and Blue LolasSoftware is truly getting amazing

Absolutely great review! You’re one of few that actually show the installation and calibration process. The trial is unbelievably great for my headphones so far. Can’t wait to tune my speakers.

I got this in the black friday sales so haven't had a huge amount of time working with it. I seems amazing though. Instantly my spotify tests seemed great. I didn't know I had huge problems but it made everything sound better. I had a huge low hump and some highs cut. It's be interesting to see mix feed back in the next few weeks. I'm mixing with more confidence now though :)

As someone who did a lot of beta testing for sonarworks, I can tell you it flat out it works! (no pun intended) That goes without saying treating your room and using sonarworks goes hand and hand

I love sonarworks and i hope they make a hardware version one day, imagine having a little box between console/interface and speakers that has the correction on it. that would be so cool imo :)

surprising your room was in not so great shape aswell. I was using sonarworks for a year now and cant praise it enough. brilliant piece of software. I've found that most of the time especially on high harmonic content instruments such as vocals/distorted guitars/cymbals I was actually equing my speakers rather that the sounds aswell. this sorted it out.

Hi Warren, Nice to hear you so positive on the improvement that Sonarworks Refenece4 brings. I'd like a copy. :-)

I've been using it for 1 year, I can't live without it now!

I bought the headphone edition to try and I love the results I’m getting. Next step for me is to buy their headphones. That is something you should test and make a mix of and compare it to your gear :)

Such a great product!! It's insane what softwares can do!

As a none mastering engineer I have No idea of what this guy is talking about..but I enjoy watching him doing his thing.

I tried the Sonarworks headphone demo for my AKG K702 cans and the results just seemed SO way off... I mixed with it and the results didn't sound good at all - I generally mix with Alesis Active M1s and the AKGs, and they're not THAT different in sound. So I'm wondering if there was something not quite right with the reference pair of headphones they used... If the analysis for this software is as thorough as it seems, it could be worth investing at some point

sonarworks really helped me speed up my mixes ...i can even see when i started useing it in my mixes in the academy

I've been running Sonarworks for a few weeks now. The first thing that jumped out for me was the removing of the low-mid mud. I don't use a console but the desk my equipment sits on is likely causing the the same issue (my monitors are raised up as if they were on a console meter bridge). The big issues the software was showing in my listening position was a dip at 90 Hz & 1K, a boost around 60Hz. I expect the low freq issues are standing wave between walls and floor/ceiling. There was a much better clarity in the stereo image & centre detail and overall depth of field - that is, I could better hear what was forward or pushed back in the mix. One of my speakers was louder than the other. With it being corrected (as well as having a 1 sample delay added by the software) I assume was also part of improving the stereo field. It just seemed to make all my mixes and any music sound better. When panning, I could better hear where I was placing tracks. When adjusting EQ I was able to hear small changes better with Sonarworks activated. I have treated my room and built it out as a proper studio with sound isolation and treatment. It's set up for mixing and tracking but is a compromise being a home studio in a basement with a low ceiling. So, I'm working with limitations from the get go. Sonarworks will not fix your room. It is important to first take the time to place your speakers in the best possible listening position. If you are also able to treat the room this will make a great starting point before introducing Sonarworks into your listening chain. I'm monitoring through mid price "vintage" Mackie 824 (American built in 2000) and inexpensive iLouds. I expect whatever speakers I monitor through would see similar improvements using Sonarworks provided they are first placed in the best possible listening position. I will keep using Sonarworks - it's easy to use and well thought out software that does a thorough job. But don't put the cart before the horse and first take the time for proper monitor placement/room treatment and then put on the finishing touches with Sonarworks.

The Seeds of Love. One of five CDs sitting on my ref. monitors specifically for tuning my ear...and for that very song. Bought the CD for their Beatlesque Sowing Seeds of Love. Fell in love with Woman in Chains and Badman's song. What a way to start an album....

This is a complete new world for me, I should try this with my ADAM t5vs, very interesting!

Software is truly getting better and better!!

Great video as always Warren. Cool to watch you actually going through the process and see the results. I wonder if it will cause me to mess up my mixes - having mixed for so long with a bad reference.....

I simply can't live without Sonarworks headphone edition (been a user since version 3/March 2017) and Sonarworks True-Fi (which is also totally amazing) on all of my (regular use/non-studio) computers.

I bought the reference 4 software last black Friday of 2017. I use hs5 with a sub on iso acoustic stands, and have some treatment in studio, bass traps, diffuse, ceiling treatment. and this software took my mixing room from a 5 to a almost perfect 10. i was about to go and invest $5000 for PMC speakers. now I wouldnt dare mess with my monitors at all. its perfect for me. I dare to say you can get a more affordable monitor system and ref 4 with some treatment and get a better result than buying just a $5000 set of speakers for a 10th of the cost.

I tested sonar works and I feel it better for headphone mixing because most people don’t have treatment which is used for room balance and proper sound pressure levels and removal of standing waves and since headphones don’t need treatment it’s more accurate

Thanks for the review. I recently bought the headphone edittion and it made a huge difference in the most positive way.

Liked the video and entered into the giveaway! Thank you Warren and SonarWorks!!

i tried it with my Nad headphones and compared them to my real monitors and i was quite impressed, suddenly you got all the midrange details without midbass hump that is typical consumer headphones. But i will also say that neutral can be shock to most people that is starting to understand mixing, they all used to the huge bloaty bass with a midrange scoop and overemphasized highs, but in the process it will sound more lively and exciting. I get it, i like both worlds for different reasons, so my perfect speakers would be a happy middle ground with slight bass hump to make you feel the kick but without overshadowing the vocals, careful scooping the nasty mid frequencies 3k / 7k with a nice gentle shelf boost at 10k / 12k and up to make it sound more lively

I'm definitely sold on it. Feels like unless you are in a place where you know the crap out of your space and monitors, they are an absolutely essential tool. Hope i win!

I have been using a relatively inexpensive pair of Mackie 824s. I know this speaker well. Interestingly when I test my mixes in different environments like the car or someone else’s consumer system, it seems to lack in the low end. Most likely this is because the low end is boosted for the 824s so my listening experience as a mixer is “more pleasant”, but I am probably artificially cutting the low end more than I should to compensate for this boost. This software seems to level the environment so I am not misled by my “pleasant listening environment”. Thanks for the tutorial.

The best way to deal with acoustic problems in a home studio or professional control room is with bass traps and other acoustic treatment. All rooms have peaks and deep nulls, and their amount and frequency changes radically with position. Even at very low frequencies, below 80 Hz, the response can vary as much as 12 dB or even more over a span of just a few inches. Besides a skewed response, all rooms also suffer from modal ringing at the peak frequencies. This causes those frequencies to continue after the source sound stops, then decay over time. Unlike reverb that extends all frequencies more or less evenly, modal ringing extends only those frequencies that are related to the room dimensions. The additional energy that lingers makes musical notes at (or near) those frequencies even more prominent, exaggerating the peaks that are already elevated. Modal ringing also harms music clarity because multiple bass notes sound at the same time. If you’ve ever played chords in the low register of a piano, you know they sound much less clear than the same chords played above middle C. When bass traps are added to a room, all three of these problems are reduced. Peaks come down in level, nulls are raised up, and modal ringing decay times are shortened. Nulls are especially problematic because they can be very deep - 30 dB or even more is common. So raising a null by 20 dB, which is typical after adding bass traps, makes a very big improvement. Thin, weak bass suddenly becomes rich and full sounding. Bass traps also reduces the response variation around the room. But good bass traps are large, and you need quite a few of them for a home size room to sound clear and be accurate enough for professional mixing. Likewise for home theaters and hi-fi listening rooms - the audible benefit of bass traps is undeniable, but the appearance of a dozen or more traps might be unacceptable.

I’ve used Arc2 in the past on Focal CMS 65. I had a love/hate relationship it. Wonder how Sonarworks would compare. Marvelous video Warren! Sonarworks, thank you 🙏🏾. Hopefully I get my hands on one of these bad boys!!

would love to win! i got some HS8's a couple months ago after years of listening to junk speakers. this would be great before i get to used to my new sound!

So excited to get my copy tomorrow! I ordered it on Black Friday and I’ve been loving the demo with headphones.

Perfect revew and plus giveaway, perfect. This will change a lot of my work. If I win it. If not probably buy it.

This is timely. My copy is on the way! Thanks for your videos Warren. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience.

Wow! What an amazing and so versatile piece of software. It really determines the current situation very accurately. I really like it! Will you use it more for mixing or for referencing? Amazing video, as always!

This is really cool! Amazing technology

"... even out their issues, however those issues are inherent in the room and just being amplified by the room.." Warren, that is a near perfect description of what Sonarworks does. Notice how the profile for your 3 sets of speakers were actually quite similar in characteristic (other than bigger boosts/cuts, but in general the same places)? I think that is mainly the affect of your room and console. I have been using Sonarworks now for a couple of months, and did not realize you had done a review last November on it. I am so happy you did, and so happy your review agreed with the results I am getting with the system. I have a highly treated room (GIK bass traps, custom made 'cloud' trap), with two monitoring systems, a nearfield (Vanatoo Transparent One, with REL T-Zero sub) and midfield (ProAc Studio 100, with Rythmik sub). Debated for months about whether to try room compensation software, and researched IK ARC versus Sonarworks, which both generally get positive reviews. However, I had already had been using Sonarworks Headphone edition (with Senn HD600 phones), so I decided to upgraded to System edition, mainly because it offers the 'Systemwide' app that allows compensation to be applied no matter what source I'm listening to (e.g. Logic Pro, iTunes, RU-vid, etc). It's been amazing. Midrange is so much clearer and balanced, and low end is tighter. I have, however, boosted the low end in Sonarworks as I simply want to 'feel' the bass a bit more. I feel like I'm hearing everything with better detail, and have increased confidence my mixes/masters will translate better now. Thanks again for your excellent product reviews and, as always, sharing your deep experience and insight so articulately.

Incredible video, definitely something I'll keep my eye on for purchase. Once I continue on practicing and getting better. Bless you Warren.

I’m planning to get a new pair of speakers and tried my speakers with sonarwork. I think I need this especially in my crappy room. A night and day difference

Sick might pick this up to help with my room.

wow that is an incredible amount of difference. very cool software Great video! Thanks

Pretty awesome review! I'm strongly considering buying this software, maybe as a Christmas present from my children 😉

Hey Brother I hope you are doing marvelously well! , I have to say, I bought the sonar works kit and I can literally mix all day without the major fatigue I used to feel. (with frequent breaks of course). Also...My mixes are 1000 times more accurate when referencing the car. I know its so old school, but you know I am an 80's metal guy who started on a four track. Thank you again for another amazing piece of advice that totally upgraded my sound. Also, I was mixing on a set Dynaudio for years. Then a great friend of mine Bob Rosa (I'm sure you know him) recommended that I try the MX8's by sterling which I was very skeptical of....however with the sonar works it is really something else. I really appreciate how you teach us how to make great stuff without breaking the bank. I thought these speaker might be worth a video. Not the 5's the 8's.

Amazing software! Sonarworks is the great leveller!

I'm using the headphones free trial and it's a game changer for mixing. I need that stuff for my monitors too

Yes, getting to be a no brainer! I'm ordering mine now!

Are the passive radiators on the focals, pushed up against the genelecs or kalis being severely affected, during the test?

I would love to win this I had a demo copy which is a one use deal would love get a proper version and properly set up the new room I'm in. (Say new been in a year and still tinkering with things) It would also help with The eq and clarity of the mix Thanks Mr H and Sonarworks

Hello Warren. thank you for your videos I use sonarwork reference 4 with eve Audio sc207 (smile). it did the job .and it is true that there is a lot of difference. I just use it to control and refine the work done on other monitors. ..

Thanks warren! I was on the fence about getting the Sonarworks R4 but you solidified it for me. Quick question... Does making it system wide apply directly out of the DAW? Does it have to be on your mix bus? I remember something like that being the case when you did the headphones test. Thanks again... love your videos!

16:40 resonance is the right word for it

Hey warren great vid. Can you get into mid/side stuff please? You and Rick Beato Are great teachers, you personalize everything so well it makes it seem like a freind showing me.

Sounds fun! I'm gathering more information coming in late, within all the comments. This would be a nice thing to have.

i absolutely love the idea of "room eq" but there are a few things you should always keep in mind: 1. you only change the eq of the room not the decay time, which is often very misleading. 2. it can create phase issues in the lows. actually i spoke to 2 friends of mine who tried it (20x+ platinum mastering engineers) and they had serious phase issues with and without subwoofers. i wonder why this is. 3. there is no 3 :) will definitely give it a try myself though.

I'm not sure the low bumps are coming off the desk - more likely room issues but they don't look too bad on the better speakers.

I tried GLM for my Genelecs but i never rly felt a huuuge difference on my 8260s. Always wanted to try out Sonarworks.

Great product, you can also mix wet signal with dry one, in my case the best result is around 88-90%.

HI Warren was waiting for this one …..i find that sonarworks makes things overly bright …...so i dial to 85% ..and for me it sounds better ...Great video ...thank you so much

Would YOU actually use it, Warren? Your mixes might be flatter but still, you learned how to mix in it's current state. Also, would it be possible to post the clips of you listening without the speedup on your website? I'd really like to hear the differences.

Love your stuff Warren, I've been wanting to get Sonarworks for a while!

I have the Sonarworks Reference 4 and don't really like it or use it. I have pretty flat surroundings and sure it corrects some issues but somehow i feel the sound isn't as good. I'mean In theory sure it's "better" but it does something to phase or something I just happen to dislike. Same issue with speakers and headphones.

You pinpoint a very important point, and one that I completely agree with and which leads me to greatly want an extra feature in the software.... being able to adjust the "mix" of the correction across a variety of frequency ranges. You say how great the software is at sorting out the low end, imagine if you could apply the correction 100% to the bottom end, gradually down to say 20% for the high end? On my PMC twotwo8s, correcting the low end is great (flat down to 30Hz, -3dB at 25Hz!) but the 2kHz region becomes a bit too aggressive.

Holy moly! That is some nice software! Especially for the bedroom producers that didn't ring out their room! And not even that expensive (299€ I see). Awesome! And you mentioned Queen :D Of course ;)

When it says that you have to use a single audio interface for mic in and speaker out, does that also work with a more complex signal structure? I use a RME Madiface USB connecting to an RME M32DA and an RME M32AD. They are then going into an Allen &Heath GSR24M console which is connected to the speakers. Does that anyhow work or do I have to simplify it any way? Thanks for any ideas.

I use it. and becouse my room characteristics, I get better imaging when I active the Listening Spot calibration. I use the Linear Phase too becouse sounds more natural to me.

Got mine on preorder.

Great vid............... sending you lots of great vibes from a Londoner living in the south of France. Keep up the great works....

Hi Warren! I missed a comparison between the three monitors with the correction enabled, do they sound as similar as the graphic seems to show (flat)? Thanks!

Pretty sure the low bump will move based on your room, like room modes. It might bump at 80 and 160 in your room based on dimension and level of bass trapping, but might be 60 / 120 in my room. I'm thinking the console doesn't have a very big measurable bump, i'd put a Kombucha on the that a console is less than a db (measurable) bump at any frequency.

Sonarworks is nothing short of amazing. The stereo just Image snaps into place. Who knew?... Just get it.

Great video. That’s made my mind up on getting this. Cheers

Also again, it would have been interesting to see how the speakers compared while using the Sonarworks and switching between the different speakers. I.e., did they become more similar.

Warren - any chance (or did I miss it?) of a look at the process of finishing an album? Sequencing tracks, finalizing the mix and exporting out for reproduction or mastering. Thanks - and thanks as always for the great content!

Thank you, great video! Would be really nice to hear a recording of the listening position whith or without sonarworks eq.

The only thing I don't like about the software is that you have to use it as an insert in your DAW on the master buss therefore turning it off before you print your mix. I wish you could have a visual of the eq curve to maybe add to an external eq. I run one set of speakers through a digital mixer and it would be great to just set the eq there. If that makes sense.

I'm surprised to see your monitors sitting on a shelf, it causes several internal anomalies in the cabinets. I would like to see you review the DMSD monitor mounts (not stands) and try this again, they make a huge difference especially in the mid-range where smear disappears. Pretty sure you would be glad you did.

Thanks Warren

I have just bought this looking forward to using it

I am not quite sure what this product is able to though Ive seen the vid. Is the point that I can see the frequency response of my speakers to avoid boost highs, if they are shown too high in that area, or is it made so I can emulate different speakers to check out mixes? Can someone really point out the reason to go with this product? :)

How do you do this when I have a subwoofer with my monitors?

What if you correct the corrected speakers again (running SW on another computer) And then again with another system. And so on, like infinite. Will it correct its own previous correction? Do you reach a point it can't measure any differences due to audio resolution of the mic or something like that. Or is it like you just add more 'errors' with each run. Because any measurement system has errors. What if I run SW on ten computers at the same time using ten microphones for the same pair of speakers? Would that mean the average of each correction is the much better corrrection? Seriously interested. Where does it end? I mean it's obvious you get any differences by tweaking freq responses (and let's say with an infinte amount of bands --which SW sure does not have) But do you really get closer to the acoustic truth?

wouldn't the preamp need to be corrected as well. i know its probably not a huge deal but if you going through the extra trouble with the mic calibration you might as well do at least a rough calibration for the most used interface preamps ex. apollo,focusrite,presonus, and so on.

Love the approach of expensive, modest, and cheap speakers and the benefits for each. Do you ever adjust the mix ratio to keep some of the character of each monitor pair? Or always at 100%?

Been really wanting this Software. Great to see a good review of it. Thank you! Oh and maybe I will get lucky and win a copy? Cheers!

Great stuff and interesting that you got improvements with all 3 speakers but they kept their personality. I had the headphone version already but got the Reference 4 Studio with the PLAP discount (thanks!) and it's great. I am doing better mixes then ever. I use a 16 track summing rig so I have it on my 8 stereo output groups. The only issue I have is I sometimes forget to take it off when I record a summed mix ... I guess I will have to just get used to double-checking before I bounce!