Anyone know what's going on with this waveform?

[chronochromie]

I'm having a weird issue with phase. Need some help, if you're familiar with the issue.
When I add this mono track (mid) to an XY pair (sides), I get weird results:
when I flip the phase, the mono track seems to affect (boost) one side, resulting in a seriously lopsided stereo image,
but the stereo is perfectly normal without the addition of the mono track.
Then I looked at the mono track, and noticed that the waveform is itself lopsided (see image),
and it occurred to me that maybe this is the cause of the original issue.
The mono track route:
NT-1 => UA pre => interface

Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

[losthighway]

I'm having a weird issue with phase. Need some help, if you're familiar with the issue.
When I add this mono track (mid) to an XY pair (sides), I get weird results:
when I flip the phase, the mono track seems to affect (boost) one side, resulting in a seriously lopsided stereo image,
but the stereo is perfectly normal without the addition of the mono track.
Then I looked at the mono track, and noticed that the waveform is itself lopsided (see image),
and it occurred to me that maybe this is the cause of the original issue.
The mono track route:
NT-1 => UA pre => interface

Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

Hmmm, looks kind of like DC offset. How does it sound? Do you have a DC offset tool to apply and then listen?

But also this is an image of a mono track, so it's oddities are independent of the stereo pair.... wait that's what you already said. DC offset can be caused by some strange gear in a signal chain (I remember a cheap mic pre once did this a lot not that it describes your UA), but sometimes some sources create lopsided wav forms and it doesn't matter.

Perhaps a truer audio engineer (in the scientific sense) could weigh in here.

[digitaldrummer]

it could also be the source - is it a drum or something with a large initial transient? Or it might even be the mic. Maybe the diaphragm/capsule does not swing the same distance both positive and negative?
I've seen this kind of thing before too but as long as it sounded OK I moved on.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Waveform looks fine, it's not DC offset, it just has bigger peaks on the negative side than the positive. Very common.

[Nick Sevilla]

Waveform looks fine, it's not DC offset, it just has bigger peaks on the negative side than the positive. Very common.

This.

[chronochromie]

Thanks for the replies.
If the weird waveform of the mono track (vocals by the way) isn't a problem, then what is causing my initial problem?
-Three mics on a singer (1 for mid, and 2 for sides).
-All three waveforms are in phase.
-Without phase reversal, everything sounds good.
-But when I flip the phase on one of the "side" mics, suddenly everything is seriously lopsided, and it seems that the "mid" mic is only heard on the side without phase reversal. Hense boosting that side (lopsided).
-Mid is panned center, sides are hard left and right, BTW.
-I've tried bouncing the 2 sides mics into a single, mono track, then making a copy of that track, panning them L & R, flipping the phase on one: but I get the same exact (lopsided) results.
Anyone else gone through this?

[A.David.MacKinnon]

What is the side mic? I've had M/S problems when the side mic is not truly fig 8 but hears slightly differently out of the front and back.

[Magnetic Services]

Waveform looks fine, it's not DC offset, it just has bigger peaks on the negative side than the positive. Very common.

Yep, this.

I struggled with this a lot before realizing that some sounds/recording methods just naturally produce waveforms like that. If it really bothers you, try phase shifting by a few degrees (but don't just flip the polarity 180, that will only give you the opposite problem). Good luck!

[Nick Sevilla]

-Without phase reversal, everything sounds good.

Then... why mess with it?