Phase issue: should the image of the wave invert on-screen when you hit the "phase" icon?

[Edward Allen]

Hi

I have 2 mics, one on each side of a snare drum, and I can see they are "out of phase" so when I click the phase icon on the snare bottom mic, should I actually see the wave invert on-screen?! Or just trust that Cakewalk has it covered!!

Many thanks in advance.

[Giorgio Gabriel]

16 minutes ago, Edward Allen said:

Hi

I have 2 mics, one on each side of a snare drum, and I can see they are "out of phase" so when I click the phase icon on the snare bottom mic, should I actually see the wave invert on-screen?! Or just trust that Cakewalk has it covered!!

Many thanks in advance.

Hi,

 

as far as I know, no. The phase button changes the phase of the signal but not the waveform.

You can easily hear the difference so you know that the phase has been changed...

Regards,

Giorgio

[Glenn Stanton]

"phase" is a somewhat overloaded term - in the DAW (and mix boards etc) the "phase" switch is really "polarity" (or 180° phase shift). mainly it was used as a quick check to determining is the polarity of the inbound signals where correct or if the polarity switch could [crudely] solve a problem. so no, you won't see the waveform shift, but you'll hear it (or not if it has no effect).

in complex cases where a multiple input source (like a drum kick with lots of mics and related bleed) some adjustments in timing can improve the phase relationship, but also shift the bleed to where it can sound worse - so reduction of the bleed over is key if actual phase / timing corrections are needed or desired. (to fix this, close mic'ing became popular when using 2-3 mics to record a kit didn't deliver the desired results).

i've been using InPhase from Waves to assist tweaking phase things as well as small track shifts (timing w/ 1ms increments) and RX to reduce bleed over. plus a lot more samples and drum replacement 🙂

 

[Byron Dickens]

4 hours ago, Edward Allen said:

Hi

I have 2 mics, one on each side of a snare drum, and I can see they are "out of phase" so when I click the phase icon on the snare bottom mic, should I actually see the wave invert on-screen?! Or just trust that Cakewalk has it covered!!

Many thanks in advance.

How does it sound?

[David Baay]

If you want to see/render the change:

- Temporarily freeze the track without FX (right-click the button for Freeze options).

- Copy the phase-inverted clip.

- Unfreeze and delete original clip.

- Paste the inverted copy and disable the phase button.

Only caveat is that any non-unity Gain will be rendered into the wave, so you'll want to zero that first if necessary.

Volume and Pan are not rendered so they can be left as-is.

Edited September 26, 2023 by David Baay

[msmcleod]

The phase and interleave are applied at the track level just after the track input gain.

What is shown on the clips view, is a view of the clip.  The only thing that affects the clip display is clip gain and pan automation, which happens before any clip effects and any phase/interleave on the track.