If you’ve ever been working with a recording and found that it just sounded bad, it’s very possible that you were hearing phase cancellation. Phase cancellation is a an audio phenomenon where the waves of multiple tracks work against each other to eliminate certain frequencies. The resultant sound is often flat or dull.
Phase cancellation is often overlooked in the mixing process, but it can certainly have a major affect on the outcome of your mix and master. So we thought it’d be good to share some tips on how to fix it.
What is Phase Cancellation?
The basic description of phase cancellation is when you’ve got the waves of two or more signals out of phase with each other. Where the wave on one signal is in it’s peak, another is simultaneously in a trough. Because the peaks and valleys are out of sync, they work against each other rather than supporting each other. The frequencies are cancelled out and, acoustically, it causes a weak sound.
With pro audio phase cancellation can be either electric, where the polarity of the electrical signals are out of phase due to improper wiring, or acoustic, where with sonic waves of multiple tracks are out of phase. We’re going to focus on acoustic here, as getting into troubleshooting electrical phase cancellation requires technical understanding.
How To Prevent Phase Cancellation
You’ll get phase cancellation often when you’re working with multiple mics to record a single instrument, like drums. When mics are positioned improperly you can have an acoustic phase cancellation occur due to one mic being a little further away from the instrument than the other. As a result that mic receives the audio signal a little later than the closer mic.
The best way to fix this is to reposition your mics. If that’s not an option, many modern preamps and interfaces have a reverse polarity feature, which effectively flips the signal’s wave so that the peaks and valleys are inverted.
It also helps to keep your mics positioned a few feet away from walls and floors to avoid out of phase reflected sound bleeding back into your mix.
There are boxes you can purchase that will help fix your phase cancellation by inverting the polarity of the signal. And there are also plugins that can help do the same. However, it’s always better to try and catch it early, which is often a matter of proper mic placement. We’ll talk about that in our next post.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
