Quote:
Originally Posted by philip  YES, correct in theory but it has no practical use
1) you don't know the polarity of the source, the source is the mix wich can be and often are serveral tracks combined, you don't know the polarity of every track. Eg, you got a bassdrum and a bassline, the bassline is inverted to the bassdrum, do you invert the mix?
2) the loudspeaker itself changes the phase, sometimes up to several thousand degrees, there is no possibility for you to know the polarity of the end users system.
So, now you understand how it's different from a EQ. |
1. The kick drum is too bassy, the bass needs more kick, what's the correct answer? No one can tell you, listen to what the song needs.
2. THe loud speaker at the consumer end has a big null@1.8k (make believe), but you just pulled that down 1.5dB and now it sounds great on your reference monitors! What're you going to do?
Your argument for point 1. is completely flawed. You're still trying to attain technically correct polarity. I'm arguing for artistically effective polarity. Perhaps the track calls for less punch in the drums and more in the bass? Or more in the bass and less in the drums? Now you've got an interesting choice to make
Maybe it's just me, but out of all the decisions in the mastering process, this seems the simplest one - flip the polarity, does the song feel better? If so, keep it, if not switch it back. Would take all of 10 seconds. The hardest part to me seems to be establishing the reference, but I think the work would pay off in the long run.