Quote:
Originally Posted by tnelson494
I was curious about the EQ thing too. I recorded some overheads and when I pulled some of the low end out of them the kick seemed to be out of phase more. Also can anyone explain the 3 to 1 rule? I've seen it mentioned a couple of times but I don't understand the reson behind it and when it would be used? Thanks
3 times further from the other mic, than each mic is to the source.
phase is the position in degrees of a sine wave in time ... 0, 90, 180, etc.
distance is time ... so different distances makes different time/phase relationships
so do frequency changes from different mics or eqs
if you recorded everything in mono, one track at a time, A+ phase. if you record looped stereo drums, and mono track everything else, A+ phase.
if you record 4 or 8 mics on a drum kit, or 2 mics on a guitar cab, or a bass mic and DI, you need to check phase carefully.
a X-Y scope, or a phase scope plug in works ... but the by-ear method is best IMO
the scientific methods cannot account for eq variations hi to low in the signal, and complex waveforms, your ear can hear phase at all the eqs if you train it.
to check by ear: mono everything by panning hard L or hard R, then bring up each fader from -inf to 0. as more signal is added there should be more volume and the tone should be as clear as possible, with no eq shifts.
phase shift will make the sound either drop in level, in extreme cases, as the fader comes up, or it will vary the eq response as the fader is raised ... because certain freqs are out of phase with the previous tracks, and other freq's are not.
perfect phase on 2, 3, 4 mics is impossible, even with the exact distance and perfect capsule matching (also impossible), plus the room changes the freq response in the mic ....
but you can get close enough by ear
eq at mixing changes phase ... in most eq's, that phase shift is part of the sound of the eq. so as this happens phase shifts in the dry tracks will occur at freq's in the boost/cut, making it important to be AWARE of phase once again, but not obsessed about it
if the basics are cool, you would haveto work hard to really whack the phase of a mix. triple tracked or double tracked guitars for example (if recorded one at a time) will be out of phase to each other each other in a way that can be too big to notice, or slight enough to create the 'depth' someone mentioned ... but this is the efffect. compressors in parallel will alter time and eq, thus phase.
phase shift in tracking is a hurt, in most cases
phase shift in general is part of the game