phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

Post Reply
User avatar
michaelkerchner
ass engineer
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 4:56 am
Location: Royersford PA

phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by michaelkerchner » Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:30 am

anyone using them? the little labs one looks like the ticket but im looking for a VST. would like to hear any experience with any of em. thanks
sounds good, compress it
@thedarkchurchrecording

User avatar
Nick Sevilla
on a wing and a prayer
Posts: 5555
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:34 pm
Location: Lake Arrowhead California USA
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by Nick Sevilla » Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:32 am

I only have a need to use them when I am mixing other engineer's recordings. I do try to phase align, and make the source sound good with my microphones BEFORE pressing record, not try to salvage a lazy mic placement after the fact.

I do have the Little Labs IBP under the UAD label, and also the Waves "InPhase" plug in as well.

Now as to "phase" vs. "polarity" :

Phase is commonly misunderstood and confused with polarity. Phase IS 360 degrees of a signal within a transmission line. Polarity is either the negative or positive poles in an electrical circuit. Only negative or positive, two states, as opposed to 360 possible states of phase.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

TapeOpLarry
TapeOp Admin
TapeOp Admin
Posts: 1665
Joined: Thu May 01, 2003 11:50 am
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by TapeOpLarry » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:01 pm

Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com

User avatar
joninc
dead but not forgotten
Posts: 2099
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:02 pm
Location: canada
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by joninc » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:20 am

I use this a lot -

https://www.meldaproduction.com/MAutoAlign

works really well.
the new rules : there are no rules

User avatar
frans_13
takin' a dinner break
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:46 am
Location: Bavaria, Germany
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by frans_13 » Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:27 am

I use the Melda often. The topic can be a can of worms, though. It's not always possible to fix the issue in analogue or the real world. For example, multing a guitar and bringing the mics on the different amp/speakers into alignment is tricky if on one path there's something digital with latency and you have the band in the room... one mic is half a feet from the cab, the other should be three feet away to cope with the other lines latency. Without having more spill on that mic than speaker.
Then polarity and phase aren't put into stone on everything - in a signal, different frequencies may have time differences and phase differences at the same time and you may have a different distribution if you put your mic here... or there. So all the methods will work better with some signals and less with others. It's handy to have them around to try.
Due to luck and circumstances i am offering a limited run of Beyerdynamic M380 clones with unused Beyer capsules. PM me for info.

crow
steve albini likes it
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2003 10:57 am
Location: Austin, TX
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by crow » Mon Sep 23, 2019 8:56 am

I have the hardware and software ibp's, and though I don't use them all that often, when I need them, they're great. There are cheaper options, but since I already had the ibp when the others came along, I haven't tried them.

It's easy to go down the rabbit hole when something's just "medium" out of phase, as it can be hard to hear what the best possible solution is. I extrapolated some Steve Albini advice into the method of making it sound as bad as possible, and then flipping the polarity 180 (not that I'm claiming to have invented that technique or anything).

User avatar
digitaldrummer
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3476
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:51 pm
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by digitaldrummer » Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:25 am

I have the UAD IBP and also don't use it very often, however I used it this week on a recording that was 2 mics on acoustic guitar and another on vocal. Nothing was really out of phase, but there was some bleed in the vocal mic (and in the guitar mics) because it was all recorded in one take. I put the IBP on the vocal mic and just moved it around - it was really interesting how it could affect the entire tonal balance of the tune.
Mike
www.studiodrumtracks.com -- Drum tracks starting at $50!
www.doubledogrecording.com

User avatar
Brett Siler
moves faders with mind
Posts: 2518
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:16 pm
Location: Evansville, IN
Contact:

Re: phase alignment and polarity adjustment plugins

Post by Brett Siler » Thu Sep 26, 2019 2:08 pm

I bought Audiomere Polarity Maximizer about a year ago and it rules. Super easy to use and saves on time. Totally worth the $50 they ask for. If you use Harrison Mix Bus as your DAW it come built in. Pretty rad!

https://www.audiomere.com/polarity

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests