Identify and Fix Phase Issues in the Mix

I can't stress this enough... many soft synths and pro samples have phasing issues, and never take it for granted that they don't! I have witnessed it first hand in "Omnisphere" for example, as well as MANY piano vsts, kontakt instruments and so on..
I find checking in mono is the best way because a sound just disappears.
I use "StereoTool" by Flux on every channel to dial in each sound to ensure the width of each sound never exceeds 45 degrees.
If you do this on every channel and then switch the entire mix between mono and stereo, you will see a massive difference.
Inverting the phase can work in some stages, but you also need to control the stereo width of each channel.
Just to also add... IzoTope RX has a "Phase" tool that features a "Suggest" option that will analyse a stereo file and make a suggested rotation for left and right channels.

somebody help me with this. i have condenser mic with balanced out. my preamp amplifies and 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 ?

So we have to do this for all samples like Kick, bass, snare, perc, and vocals and synths

Great explanation, thanx

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

what a difference! thank you for making this so clear and understandable with a good example like this.

it's an excellent video. 🙏🙏

I use mid/side eq and remove some of side info key word “some”. That fixes it for me.

🕊

great video. Thank you :)

second part is really helpful, thank you! for anyone who doesn't have access to DrMS, I used MSED which is free and had the same effect.

I'm getting bad phase effect from parallel processed mono vocals. It's the same take on two different tracks. Would this method in video work for that?

For whatever reason this never works on any pads i use. Usually nexus or serum. I have tried mid-side eq and stereo delaying but to no avail.

really really helpful video. I finally understand in detail about this aspect of music production. Thanks very much!!

Hey Sean, thank you so much for this explanation. Some of these techniques i've recently discovered myself through trial and error so the reasssurance is great to know I am on the right track. But theres one thing I am not certain about and that is: what should the end goal be when correcting phase issues while looking at the goniometer? Should we be aiming for a consistent +1 result or anywhere between 0 and + 1 is fine as long as it sounds good and sums to mono is enough to pass?

The reason I ask is that stereo recordings from my Virus TI2 synth usually have phasing and mono compatability issues. Using the techniques outlined in this video, I can get them back into the positive again but it seems I can't get them to a solid +1 on the goniometer without killing the width and impact of the sound. I do find getting the phase of the sound back into the positive (waving around between 0 and +1) fixes mono compatability and maintains the movement and width that made the sound fit in the first place. Is that enough? Or should I be really trying to aim to have the sound +1 in phase?

Cheers mate, Sam

phase anomolies are sometimes important parts of a mix especially in the bass or kick drum - so you shouldnt make judgement based on meters alone any more than you would mix with a graphic display - there's two qualities which always indicate problematic phasing issues - 1 - the source sounds kind of papery and hollow - this is common on multi micd snare drums /toms and acoustic guitars.
there's a nasty comb tooth effect where whatever you do on the eq it sounds horrible - really common with guitar amps when the mic is a bit off the grill or vocals in a bad tight room
A meter is not going to show you this - you need to be able to hear it and you should fix it at the source - not really in mix down.
Dont forget that if you're mixing on headphones then you are not going to hear certain phase issues like you would on speakers because there is no way that the wave fronts can interact with each other.

Thank you so much for this video! Exactly the information i needed!

Thank you! Very clearly!

Does anyone know if FL STUDIO has a similar type of analyzer as he was using here? Where it shows the Correlation meter

Ok so I don't make my beats on studio one so I'm having trouble figuring out how to get the phase meter correct , the beat seems to be the problem

I'm trying to create a sampled drum kit (like to play on MIDI pads) and I keep hearing that "phaser guitar pedal" sound...never on individual samples, but every so often when I'm playing a full pattern. I don't remember hearing this on other (not my own) sampled drum kits....is there something I can do different to keep this from happening?

Yo, can I use your vocal take to sample on something? Especially when you switch to mono, I can make it work on something.

How to achieve the same results using third party plugins?

what about if it goes out of phase for a second.

Solid theory. Solid example. Solid video. 👍

Thank you

thx

I am currently mixing an a cappella song. There were phase issues on the doubled vocals (which I usually pan far left and right to give enough space for the solo and bass which I stack in the middle). What I did on other a cappella projects was I either narrow the side (from 100% to 85%), or I EQ the subs on the sides using MS processing, or both. It works fine on most of my projects but It didn’t work for my present project. Invert phase did not work as the corr. Meter always jump between positive and negative. Is there any other tricks i could try?

Great to see someone presenting a real life example rather than showing sound waves.

Good info, thanks

what if Native Instruments Noire piano stock settings is showing me that is out of phase in some notes ? what is that normal for a VST

I found it weird that with the word “there” it sounds metalic,but once you phase shift the audio ,it seems to disappear,mmm.

I love You Videos Sean they are so practical and helpful, you have helped me improve my mixing skills drastically in the past months and I thank you for that.

TYSM <3

thx bro

I have this happening in a single take without another stack, it's so weird.

Flipping the polarity and inverting the phase are not the same thing, right?

Would of loved to see this on a whole mix

What is the name of this plugin? The analyzer

why the L invert button and not the R(ight)?

Always love the content. Question for you though. This has been troubling me for some time. I tend to use a lot of synth sounds in my production and create patches from scratch. I don't always want to rely on my meters specifically but looking at a phase correlation meter with my synths it shows them mostly always being out of phase. I know if certain sounds are too wide, detuned and have many voices there can be phase issues present. I always check the mono capability and the synths themselves don't seem to lose any punch or anything and then I always wind up correcting the phase issues the meter reads for my synth sounds to find the synth sound then sounding dull and having no width when in stereo. Once I check the mono capability once I put the synth in phase as the correlation meter would read it, it doesn't lose any punch or anything as it didn't earlier when the meter read the sound to be out of phase. Im not sure if I should just entirely trust my ears on this issue because the synth sounds don't sound bad when the meters show the sound to be out of phase, and sound worse when put them in phase. Im trying to get my mixes to translate well via phone speakers but I know very wide sounds can cause issues for mixes to translate well on the phone. When I address the phase issue simply on my synth sounds, the sound becomes lifeless. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

it helps a lot

Thanks for this - the phase issue is something I often have problems with in my projects

BRUH you just fixed my whole mix for me thank you

Can you please explain my phase problem:

I recorded tracks from a song in ableton live through UAD console into my mpc live. When i press mono there are no issues.
When i import these tracks into pro tools and press mono everything is off 😞 drums and synths disappear.

But i dont understand why?
Please help ❤️

Btw i use a lot of effects in ableton but like i said there are no issues when listening in mono

Do you have any tips on how to fix vhs audio phasing issues that I have picked up from recording the tape because the tape sounds fine on TV but, it sounds phasing in VHS recorded mp4

Very great and well presented material, thanks! 😁

Mixing in mono like a pro