Studio One: Reading the Phase Meter

A number of the large format consoles of the big studios had a vectorscope built in to them, but how did anyone know what that thing did? What's with all the wavy lines and circles forming while the music was playing.
This video explains how to read and understand what the Phase Meter is trying to tell you, inside Studio One! This video isn't limited to S1 and can be used to learn what a phase meter is telling you in any DAW
Have a question about Presonus Studio One? Ask in the comments and I'll make your question into a video for everyone else to learn from!
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#Presonus #StudioOne #phase

[@zipperhead101]

Hello Tim. I wish I had another 'Like' button to click! I came back to your vid for a refresher. (Sometimes my grey matter don't matter much lol). Thanks again, Tim!

[@TimTalksAudio]

Thanks for that!

[@craig7810]

Tim, I absolutely love your channel. Keep up the good work.

[@nastyninjata]

Great tutorial by Tim. He deserves a lot more subs!

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Great tutorial. I now understand the phase meter better.

[@rickdeaguiar-musicreflecti7692]

Super tutorial on the Phase Meter. Thank you for taking the time on this :)

[@TimTalksAudio]

You're very welcome!

[@andrewjacobs5579]

Crazy how I've always understood this but now I comprehend it after this way of explanation. \m/ \m/

[@TimTalksAudio]

That's awesome to hear! Thank you!

[@EzPeasZ]

super helpful tutorial. Had absolutely no knowledge of what this tool was or how to use it -- but I saw it in the effects tab and knew it would be a useful tool, provided I understand how to use it.. I would've struggled for some time to try and figure it out on my own, but after your tutorial I feel actually prepared to put it to use (you saved me a good day of random button pressing, thanks!!)

[@TimTalksAudio]

You're very welcome!

[@ismaelcortesjr9281]

Thanks for this . Great breakdown

[@TimTalksAudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@askwho69]

Thank you

Thanks for the information!

[@TimTalksAudio]

You bet!

[@MrLuismizraji]

Muy interesante... Gracias! Suscripto...

[@nickheymann5517]

Thanks Tim!

[@TimTalksAudio]

You're welcome!

[@ScopeMR1]

Thank you bro 🙏🏿

[@TimTalksAudio]

You're welcome!

[@TheBurntWill]

that was really really usefull !!! thanks !

[@TimTalksAudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@coffeesoundstudio706]

Thank you al ot)

[@zazoomatt]

Thank You

[@TimTalksAudio]

You're welcome

[@oXjqd8ljGAUCx5Hy1oicy2Sc]

good!

[@gtizzle101]

This was very helpful for me, thank you!

[@TimTalksAudio]

Thanks for watching!

[@BrennaLynn]

great video!! thank you! now how do i fix the phase issues??

[@TimTalksAudio]

Hunt them! Solo sets of channels and see when you start to experience phase issues. Maybe it’s all your drums mics together. Maybe it’s the di track to the microphone track of a guitar or bass, maybe it the kick to bass relationship. There’s so many factors that could cause an issue that there is no easy answer!

[@BrennaLynn]

@@TimTalksAudio thanks! I'm glad I found your channel!!

[@georgezorbas6422]

Hello, I am fan of your channel!Please can you make a tutorial about gain staging, and something than no one has told, is..does the busses need gain staging and the mixbus, I mean we should be at 0 VU meter in ever channel, but when I have 4 tracks of guitar and maybe some plugins that giving some db, and these 4 tracks are going to a bus, so the bus also needs gain staging and how much gain staging neess, again 0 VU meter (-18)?? That no one has explained, about the buses and the mixbus, if also should be gain staging it?????....

[@krismarsel]

What song is this? This is sweet

[@tikemyson4685]

So to be clear the cor meter should be more so to the right and mid instead of to the left?

[@TimTalksAudio]

Generally speaking, yes!

[@earlkeith4135]

My Meters Not Changing when I move Levers?? They Use too!?? How Do I Fix it So I can combine Visual and Audio During Mixing??? Thanks

[@ILaxative]

Great video. So now that I notice a phase in my mix, what do I do to fix it? Meaning what is the next step in fixing it? Do I use a certain plugin or tool to fix it? Do I move a certain left it right channel over a couple of milliseconds or? Can panning resolve this? Just lost after I notice the issue but I can never find a video explaining the solutions to fixing the issue bringing something back into phase

[@TimTalksAudio]

You said all the things to try to resolve the issue. Start with the easy steps of flipping the polarity of a track and listen if it sounds better or worse. If that doesn't help, you can try nudging a track forward or backward in time by a few milliseconds here and there to get things into better alignment. If that also doesn't help, or you just can't get it right, you can try a plugin option. Something like the Waves InPhase, Melda MAutoAlign, SoundRadix AutoAlign, UAD Little Labs Phase Alignment tool, or just google search for a free phase alignment plugin!

[@ILaxative]

@@TimTalksAudio thanks so much..i have the little labs bundle. ill have to try that out..

[@papanasu]

Hi Tim, thanks for the explanation, very useful. For a while now, I've been noticing that the correlation meter in all my mixes is half-red, although always above 0 and mostly higher up above 0. Any idea why the red indicator? Does it mean anything or is it just a bug? Thanks!

[@mohokios]

many things depend on that... imho the best is always staying over +0.5, going to the negative side isn't always necessarily bad, if it goes for just a second and comes back to ++++, this could be caused by an effect or some short sound you imported and usually isn't of a really big problem... if you correlation meter stays on the red side for long well... probably you have to check your mix and the relation between channels for start.... an element or more than one go really out of phase and you have to fix it, thing is that there are many solutions that could be applied to fix and help it.. some of them are mid/side EQ, Stereo Width Plugins, Left Right EQ, change polarities, panning change, switching the problematic sound to mono .... among possible solutions... there are many ways but depending on occation some will work better, some not at all, there could be other solutions too... all depends the situation the problem is in...

[@georgezorbas6422]

I need more explanations..how can I understand if I am out of phase when I have panned hard left and hard right some tracks?

[@380stroker]

As long as it doesn't go to the left you're good.

[@mohokios]

phase and stereo image two different things... phase is about cancellation of signal (you could have 100% cancellation even in Mono), stereo image is mostly a representation of what's happening in your mix, but a very very wide mix can also cause phase issues... while you have to keep in mind that NOT all sounds take the same space inside the stereo field, big plus that some effects like a very large reverbs, or stereo widenners can cause phase issues too when overused), but the most basic way to understand if you have phase issues are the correlation meter that goes low, or when turning to mono sounds go very thin or even dissapearing... balancing all this stuff comes with experience since there isn't a standard motive to do and when there are phase issues there are many solutions depending on the situation you're dealing and the goal you have to achieve

[@resslerartstudios]

Overall, do i want to be in phase or out of phase? Can you explain the difference between the two?

[@TimTalksAudio]

Over all you want to be in phase, because out of phase has a very hollow and unbalanced sound. In a full mix, things will be out of phase at times, but that's ok.

[@LamassuMedia]

Thanks so much for the video. I do have a question I have noticed some top 40 songs go into the negative just a little bit is that ok or is it something I should avoid?

[@TimTalksAudio]

It's fine for songs to head into a negative phase correlation. I would advise against staying there for long, but you may have a cool phasey section of the song which will make the meter travel.

[@LamassuMedia]

again thank you

[@DiNunno3284]

Good look dude ...

[@TimTalksAudio]

You bet

[@idothings6923]

So I’m having trouble my phase meter is indicating it’s completely in mono so I tried to re record a guitar part and now it’s out of phase it’s either one extreme or the other and so far panning isn’t helping either I’m just getting the same result it’s just one small line on the phase meter and it’s just mono or completely out of phase.

[@TimTalksAudio]

Do you only have one guitar track? If so, that could explain why it's showing up mono. When you can, jump into my Discord server and share some screen shots in the general channel and the community can help you further! discord.gg/NphbA5r

[@coldwarunicorns]

Question: how do you make these DeepFake video personalities?

[@fret2fret221]

So how would you use this to fix drums?

[@TimTalksAudio]

You can look at this while listening to your spot mics and see if they are out of phase, but I would just zoom into the waveform and visually look.

[@fret2fret221]

Tim Talks Audio so when you zoom in real close what are you looking for? I’ve always been told to line up the transients as best as possible. I do that and it doesn’t make much difference at all. Also. What do you do when they don’t line up? Or if the transients are opposite? Like if ones going up and the other is going down? Dipping where another is peaking.

[@TimTalksAudio]

Fret 2 Fret if the transients are opposite, then they are out of phase/polarity by 180 degrees and canceling the most frequencies.

[@michaeldavid1198]

Good Beard!

[@TimTalksAudio]

Thanks, haha!

[@cesar_m.p.]

"El Canelo" talks audio 😂