Figure 8 info

[frist44]

Is the back lobe of a figure 8 mic out of phase?

So if it is, how would that be usefull if you're recording two vocalists (one on each side of the figure 8)? The singer singing into the back side would have their track out of phase right?

How does the out of phase track sound different?

Thanks,
Brandon

 

[eeldip]

the two singers wont be "out of phase" because they will be two different sound sources, therefore phase wont matter.

 

[Light]

No, the phase is not reversed as there is no such thing as reversed phase. The POLARITY is reversed. Look HERE for the difference. It is something you need to know.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[frist44]

good link thanks...so the polarity is reversed on the back lobe of a figure 8 mic. If you change the polarity of a single sound source does it change the sound?

Brandon

 

[frist44]

^

 

[eeldip]

it should sound the same.

you run into trouble when two identical or near identical soundwaves are in reverse phase (or nearly reverse phase).
or the electrical equivalent being two identical signals being in opposite polarity.

to hear what phase does-- wire your speakers with reverse polarity (one with red to red, black to black, and one the other way) put a mono signal through them, aim them at 45 degrees pointing at eachother. in the sweet spot you should hear some sort of strong phase cancelation. now either rotate the speakers, or move your head around. you are going to hear all sorts of strange things going on. all of which come from different degrees of phase cancellation.

[by the way, if i am fucking this up, someone please correct me. i am a bit weak on this subject]

if you put your speakers back to back, you have a sort of reverse figure 8 mic (instead of picking up sound it is projecting it). the signal should sound totally normal in the front and back, but as you move to the sides, you will hear more and more phase cancellation. this is equivalent of the pickup pattern of a figure 8 mic.

is this helping? i have sort of confused myself....


what the hell is my point here....? uhh....

 

[frist44]

I was reading up on the figure 8 pattern some more and came across some info on the royer R-121 ribbon. The page talks about using the back side for things like acoustic because it's a little brighter, but they say when using the backside, flip the phase even if there's no source on the other side.

http://www.royerlabs.com/backwards_technique.html

I mean, i've hit the phase button on my sytek pre before and noticed a change and I understand that with reversed polarity, the same sound will cancel, but what about a single source?