Do you use a plugin or phase align manually?

[jesse g]

I was watching some videos and came across one about Phase Alignment.  I use Waves "Inphase", I've used it so long, it's part of my arm now.   I began wondering how others are dealing with phase alignment in their studios.  What other plugins are being used or are you doing it manually?

[Shane_B.]

I've never understood the purpose of phase alignment or how to implement it. Probably should have paid attention during DAW class I guess.

Is it a track by track, bus, or master thing?

I know my best mixes have always been on all analog, and there's no phase thingamabobs on it, so I never looked in to it on my DAW.

[pwalpwal]

In short, some stereo things can sum to nothing in mono
🤪

[jesse g]

45 minutes ago, Shane_B. said:

I've never understood the purpose of phase alignment or how to implement it. Probably should have paid attention during DAW class I guess.

Is it a track by track, bus, or master thing?

I know my best mixes have always been on all analog, and there's no phase thingamabobs on it, so I never looked in to it on my DAW.

Shane, 

When signals from different microphones (or sources) arrive at slightly different times, they can interfere destructively, leading to a loss of low-end punch, a weaker sound, or a "hollow" or "thin" sound, especially with instruments like drums where multiple mics are used

[henkejs]

I don't track drums, so multiple microphones are rarely an issue for me. If I use two microphones on an acoustic guitar, I'll adjust the positions by ear.

[Cookie Jarvis]

I fix phase correlation issues with either iZotope Imager during mixing or with the Imager Module in Wavelab Masterrig. Phase correlation is very important to make sure a mono listening environment doesn't drop out. It also helps to balance frequency content.

[jesse g]

3 hours ago, henkejs said:

I don't track drums, so multiple microphones are rarely an issue for me. If I use two microphones on an acoustic guitar, I'll adjust the positions by ear.

Read it carefully,!!

When signals from different microphones (or sources) arrive at slightly different times, they can interfere destructively, leading to a loss of low-end punch, a weaker sound, or a "hollow" or "thin" sound, especially with instruments like drums where multiple mics are used

Do you mix drum kits that were recorded by others?  Do you use drum samples?  Do you have two kicks with one being heavily compressed? what about a recorded bass via DI and amp?

Not supporting Neutron, I just like the video.

 

Edited April 3 by jesse g

[henkejs]

57 minutes ago, jesse g said:

Read it carefully,!!

When signals from different microphones (or sources) arrive at slightly different times, they can interfere destructively, leading to a loss of low-end punch, a weaker sound, or a "hollow" or "thin" sound, especially with instruments like drums where multiple mics are used

Do you mix drum kits that were recorded by others?  Do you use drum samples?  Do you have two kicks with one being heavily compressed? what about a recorded bass via DI and amp?

Yes, I understand the concept. I have such a simple approach to recording this just doesn't seem to be much of a problem for me. I don't play drums, so I use AD2 and EZD3 most of the time. No added samples. No double kicks. I almost never mix an amped and a DI signal for guitar or bass. However, I do watch (listen) for instruments that are competing for sonic space in the mix, and I always check my mixes in mono before exporting. 

For me personally, phase alignment is pretty far down the list of problems with my recordings. 😄

[jesse g]

10 hours ago, henkejs said:

Yes, I understand the concept. I have such a simple approach to recording this just doesn't seem to be much of a problem for me. I don't play drums, so I use AD2 and EZD3 most of the time. No added samples. No double kicks. I almost never mix an amped and a DI signal for guitar or bass. However, I do watch (listen) for instruments that are competing for sonic space in the mix, and I always check my mixes in mono before exporting. 

For me personally, phase alignment is pretty far down the list of problems with my recordings. 😄

Ok, I understand 👍

[Mr No Name]

if you know how to mic a drum kit properly and with the right type of microphones this won't be an issue. on overhead mic won't need phase aligning.

[craigb]

It's just a phase.  You'll grow out of it!  😁

[Gswitz]

On 4/3/2025 at 3:07 PM, Mr No Name said:

if you know how to mic a drum kit properly and with the right type of microphones this won't be an issue. on overhead mic won't need phase aligning.

I measure from the center of the snare to the mics using a mic cable so they are close. 

I use mautoalign by melda. It usually accurately tells me how far apart mics were. Kinda fun. You can tell if a mic was moved two feet to the left at Set break. 

[Bapu]

I use Sound Radix Autoalign-2 on live drums on all tracks but the "rooms". Somewhere I heard that kind of defeats the purpose for those tracks.

Edited April 18 by Bapu

[jesse g]

On 4/8/2025 at 3:19 PM, Gswitz said:

I measure from the center of the snare to the mics using a mic cable so they are close. 

I use mautoalign by melda. It usually accurately tells me how far apart mics were. Kinda fun. You can tell if a mic was moved two feet to the left at Set break. 

Gswitz, 

I just tried a demo copy of MAutoAlign by Melda, and I have to say it is good  and easy to use.  It is much easier than my Waves In Phase, I must say. 👍

[Gswitz]

@jesse g

I usually pair certain mics. You don't have to have a single group. Like what bapu said about room mics... phase alignment kinda defeats the purpose.  You could align them together though. This will ensure the snare hit occurs concurrently from both mics. 

also, I tend to click analyze, then change the button for memory and do it again. Then I compare the two. You can usually hear the difference. 

Edited April 30 by Gswitz

[RBH]

I always align manually - visually looking at transient peaks.

[Starship Krupa]

On 4/2/2025 at 11:45 AM, Shane_B. said:

I've never understood the purpose of phase alignment or how to implement it. Probably should have paid attention during DAW class I guess.

The best way to understand it, IMO, is to just try it. For the most part, it only applies to multi-mic'd sources like drum overheads or stereo mic'd acoustic guitar.

So if you record such things, next time you do (or perhaps you already have a project that includes a track or two with something multi-mic'd), try either demo'ing one of the popular plug-ins or doing it manually by lining the waveforms up by eye. Zoom in all the way on the waveforms and you should be able to see if there's any misalignment. If there is, nudge one of them so that they line up.

If you hear a difference, then you'll know. If you don't hear a difference, then you're doing a really good job of placing your mics!

I find that it has the most effect on multi-mic'd sources where I want to pan the resulting tracks a bit, like with stereo acoustic guitar. I use MAutoAlign, and it can make a big difference in the perceived size of the instrument. The 10' guitar effect. This goes for not just left/right, but the perception in other dimensions.

I have (pardon the pun) mixed feelings about MAutoAlign. I usually like what it does, but I'm not so confident that it's doing what it says it does, aligning the sources. This is because it's possible to run MAutoAlign's analysis multiple times on the same source and get different results. I mean, if it were working properly, wouldn't the results be the same, or at least very similar, each time I run it?

Whatever, I don't trip on it, if it sounds good it IS good and MAutoAlign is either lining up my tracks so well that they bloom, or it's inducing a nice little Haas effect. 😄

I have Neutron, but since I haven't been recording acoustic guitars or drum overheads in quite some time, I haven't been able to compare its results with MAutoAlign's.

It is true that back in the analog days, they didn't have fancy high tech ways of getting phase alignment correct. It was managed by rolling a bit of tape, listening back to the results, and then adjusting the mic placement if anything sounded weird. As with so many things, this was more labor intensive than how its done now. Studios were more likely to have multiple engineers so that one could control the tape machine while the other would move the mics. Also, the engineers were more experienced and practiced. The explosion of home studios and recording as a hobby means that the "chief engineer" might go for months at a time without setting up a multi-mic recording.

So a purist might suggest that doing it the labor intensive way is the "best," and perhaps it theoretically is, but as I said, if it sounds good it IS good and who cares how you get there.

If you like how your recordings sound, there's a solid chance that they ain't broke. I think it's something to be aware of, but not trip too hard about. Of course asking computer recordists not to trip about something is a big ask. Me included.