Identifying and Correcting Phase Issues and Polarity 🧰 Fix Mixes and Recordings 🔧

[@Archlegan]

So if recording 2 mics on a cab, would it be best to just flip the polarity of one mic while recording? Or only if a polarity issue seems to creep up? It'd be nice to know how to just prevent it from happening before it hits the daw

[@ToddUrban]

Eventually, you will learn to hear phase cancellation. If you mute one and it gets louder, you will know the other mic is taking away from the first mic. But in the meantime, ALWAYS invert the polarity to check for a phase issue until you can hear this. But the other point I make here is that a 180 flip doesn't always correct it. And in these cases, moving the 2nd mic or angling it will help to correct or adjust the combined sound you are getting. Just always make sure to check in mono, as the only time we usually hear these cancelations are when they are summed to the same signal.

[@Archlegan]

@@ToddUrban Thanks for the reply. I bought the UA IBP phase correction plugin that has variable phase and time correction, but it's a good idea to switch polarity when setting up to see if one sounds better. I guess if you look at the waveforms, you'd see it too right?

[@ToddUrban]

@Archlegan the IBP is interesting. The IBP was originally meant to commit the sound, so having it as a plugin is unique. But always use your ears. I do visually check phase, but once again, listening is my ultimate decider.

[@Archlegan]

@@ToddUrban thanks! =]

[@mrpicky1868]

somebody help me with this. i have condenser mic with balanced out. my preamp amplifies feeds it power but. i end up with stereo signal that is in opposite phases . i use "mic in" of my PC. i end up with irritating sound. OBS has mixing into mono but signals cancels each other into nothing. windows does not have anything to even pan signal to one channel. is there free vst that can reverse polarity or maybe even make true balanced conversion into mono ?

[@ToddUrban]

I don’t know why you are ending up with a stereo signal if you are inputting a single condenser mic. Is there a way to set your input to mono? As for phase reversal, most EQs and other plugins will have it available. But it sounds like you have something else going on. I’m not too familiar with OBS to recognize whether this is an issue. Maybe someone else can jump in.

[@mrpicky1868]

balanced wires go to left and right channel of mic input. and so i have two channels with flipped phase. OBS was a side note. obviously if i had just left channel i would press mono button there and wouldn't have this issue. yeah i can solder a wire with right channel unconnected. but maybe there is a software way to process this on the fly. any vst plugins that can flip one of the stereo channels? google didn't help me @@ToddUrban

[@mrpicky1868]

update. so i found vst pluging by khs that lets you rotate phase on channels. worked like a charm. also thinking about making a wire where right is unsoldered on preamps end

[@ToddUrban]

@@mrpicky1868 Great! I still don't know why you were getting a stereo feed from a single cable. But sounds like you have a solution!

[@mrpicky1868]

read prior answer@@ToddUrban

[@tedbahas]

Do everything in mono! Problem solved!

[@ToddUrban]

Only if you use 1 mic. 😜

[@WillieMCruz]

Tedious work but at the end all this work will take to a rich wide deep sounding mix, we need to appreciate all this people teaching this valuable lessons I used to duplicate tracks but it’s not the same thing, two different sounds out of an instrument will do it