Using EQ to align track phase

[mjbphotos]

I swear I read it (here) at some point, but maybe it was in one of the 'how to' articles, that by putting an EQ plug in on each track it would align the phase of all tracks.
Or was adding the EQ on each one doing something else ..... my mind is a wasteland, full to overflowing, so now I keep losing information as new stuff goes in!

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I swear I read it (here) at some point, but maybe it was in one of the 'how to' articles, that by putting an EQ plug in on each track it would align the phase of all tracks.
Or was adding the EQ on each one doing something else ..... my mind is a wasteland, full to overflowing, so now I keep losing information as new stuff goes in!

What? Okay, maybe on some stone age DAW that doesn't have automatic plugin delay compensation you would have to do this.

 

[mindsound]

Absolutely not.
In any way, an eq can't align phase. More than that, analog eq induce phase shifting. Even different eq plugins on the same 2 track (duplicate) will not null completely (except if they are linear).

To help match the phase, you have to use a phase aligning plugin (voxengo and uad makes one) that allow you to time align and rotate the phase between 2 tracks. But even with this plugins you can't solve phase cancellation 100%.

Hope it helps your mind

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Absolutely not.
In any way, an eq can't align phase. More than that, analog eq induce phase shifting.

In theory eq could be used to correct phase. But I'm pretty sure we're talking about plugin processing latency rather than filter group delay.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

What? Okay, maybe on some stone age DAW that doesn't have automatic plugin delay compensation you would have to do this.

And technically you'd be time aligning. Phase refers to signals that are sufficiently alike to begin with, like the snare drum's sound in its own mic and in the overheads.

 

[snus]

I believe that older ProTools versions needed a plugin on every track to keep plugin delay compensation straight or something. I can't imagine this would be an issue today.