Just how critical is phase if you're single micing a source like voice?

Blue Jinn

Rider of the ARPocalypse
1. I just built a single sided G7 and didn't really pay attention to which transformer lead went where.

2. I have two Tascam boards which are both pin 3 hot so most mics I have are going to already be out of phase, (and one board doesn't have a selector to change phase.)

3. I do have a pair of "BigUgly's" that I wired with pin 3 hot for this reason.
 
I can't see how it would make any difference when using one mike to mike a single source.

In any case, most DAWs allow you to invert phase on a track.
 
1. I just built a single sided G7 and didn't really pay attention to which transformer lead went where.

2. I have two Tascam boards which are both pin 3 hot so most mics I have are going to already be out of phase, (and one board doesn't have a selector to change phase.)

3. I do have a pair of "BigUgly's" that I wired with pin 3 hot for this reason.

You mean polarity? It doesn't matter too much until you combine it with something else. A few kinds of sources, like percussion, could conceivably have audible polarity on their own due to the initial transients.
 
I've got loads of miswired cables and it's only when you hear a problem you realise what it is and do a spot of testing. Polarity between mics on different sources is often not even noticed as they're spaced in time, too.
 
The main reason it would matter, is mainly for consistency within all your gear...so you never have to wonder which one was wired this one way vs. the other way.
I've got some gear that is Pin 3 +/hot...and I've gone and changed it around, rather than remember which gear needs the reversing cables, etc.
 
If you are recording voice or any other source providing plosive sounds, it is worth to try reversed 180° polarity of mic (signal). Because this case plosive sounds will be reduced at reproduction - loudspeaker will reproduce them reverse - inside. This is a method how to reduce attack on some instruments too (if you need it). Newer use reversed polarity mics together with "right" polarity mics (in the same acoustic field). Such case ALL mics must be reversed, but it can work worse for some percussive instruments. Never do it for live sound, just for recording, or if loudspeakers are fully isolated from the microphone(s). Another moment - REVERSE singer's studio monitor headphone polarity too !
 
The debate as to whether we can detect 'absolute phase*' has raged in audiophool circles since time immoral.
Most sane folks say it cannot be heard.

The question does however have wider implications? More and more 'prosumer' gear now has balanced line ins and outs and when peeps start feeding sources around into mixers etc they can fall foul of a reversed connection. A few years ago I built myself a small box with TRS jacks and a switch in it that I inserted into balanced lines and mono'ed and then phase flipped them. You can buy XLR-XLR phase switch slugs but I have never seen one for TRS?

* Yes! Properly called "polarity" but like 'rms' bloody watts I think we are stuck with the Phase Phrase!

Dave. (should cap'n Kirk have been using a 'polaritor'? )
 
In your own setup it's good practice to make sure all your cables, adapters, inputs etc all agree or, at least, are labelled so you know.
In the wild you just can't know what's what; You can't even assume a matched pair of mics are wired the same.

My gear all agrees but, at the same time, it's never a big concern because polarity can always be reverse in the digital domain.
If I worked exclusively in analog and my board didn't have polarity I'd probably mod it in or, at least, throw a few XLR inline switchers in to my bag.

Polarity is critical if you have two mics on the same source, particularly at the same distance.
Stereo acoustic guitar/piano, drum overheads...that sort of thing.

With a single microphone there's nothing to be 'wrong' to so polarity really doesn't matter.
 
On a single mic there is no difference, I come from the world where consoles were wired pin 3 pos and some pin 2 pos, it made no difference. Its just like flipping the phase invert on some mics when micing drum kits, the channels flipped when soloed sound the same as if they were not.

Alan.
 
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How often do you get complaints about older Shure kit being wired wrong and sounding bad? Remember that they wired all their equipment the wrong way for years and few people noticed.
 
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