Hello, In Steve's excellent mastering videos he uses the gain plugin's phase invert setting to fix a problem with phase cancellation that was really bad. However what if (as in my current case) the Multi meter's phase meter hovers around the center point, mostly staying in the blue but occasionally dipping into the red? What is the best solution? Thanks John

I've been watching the new Mastering ToolKit tutorials, and I think this is what I've been waiting for. Really great!! I've got a question regarding "out of phase" situations. How do they happen? What makes a track "out of phase"? How do you avoid those situations during the initial recording? Thanks, Eddie

A correlation meter that hovers near the center and occasionally dips into the red simply means that your track is extremely stereo with very little correlation between the L and R channels. This also means that the track will probably sound timbrally very different in mono than it does in stereo due to the phase cancellation between the summed channels. Is this bad? It depends on whether the track will ever be listened to in mono. If not, don't fret it.

[quote:10357] I've got a question regarding "out of phase" situations. How do they happen? What makes a track "out of phase"? How do you avoid those situations during the initial recording? Thanks, Eddie[/quote] Usually it's bad wiring that causes the problem. Or an accidental phase reverse engaged in a channel strip or Plugin. When a speaker cable's polarity is reversed on one side of a stereo pair the track will sound out of phase even when it isn't!

Thanks Steve, Again, thanks so much for the ToolKit tutorial. It's just what I needed. I'm a knuckle head... I'm still trying to put my head around the "out of phase" thing. Can you tell me why panning tracks left and right would cause a phase problem? I guess I just don't understand what happens at the sound waves when the tracks are panned. (or am I on the wrong track all together???) Maybe it's the meaning of the word, "correlation" that I don't understand. Thanks, Eddie

Panning L&R doesn't cause phase cancellation. You're definitely not on the right track. Have you tried Wikipedia? I don't think I can provide you with the graphics from my iPhone at 35000 feet above the Rockies! It's cool having Internet on a flight, tho!

Sorry... I'm going to back slowly away now... I just saw your comment about bad wiring which explains things. When you were talking about stereo, I thought that meant panning the tracks. Anyway... enjoy your flight, and thanks for all the stuff that I did understand from your tutorial. Have a safe journey!!! Eddie