Phase Reverse? Polarity reverse?

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Diffusion

Future Astrophysicist
I noticed these two little switches on my preamp... phase and polarity reverse... what exactly do they do?
 
Diffusion said:
I noticed these two little switches on my preamp... phase and polarity reverse... what exactly do they do?
Click to expand...
Both on the same preamp? That's odd, they're usually just a different way of labeling the same function, reversing the polarity of the signal, like if you were recording the top and bottom of a snare. I dunno, does the manual say?
 
well I thought both put the - where the + should be and the + where the - should be...
 
theres no such thing as phase reversal unless your are working with a sine wave at a fixed frequency that's the same as the frequency your preamp would want to reverse.......I think?(it makes sense in my head).

Are the two switches on the same channel!? If they are on separate channels then they're most likely different names for the same thing. If they are on the same channel than I have no freaking clue. Somebody just broke the laws of physics or something, I guess.

What preamp are you using?
 
actually, they are on two different pre's... the phase reverse switch was on the MIC200 I recently sold to reshp1, and the polarity reverse switch is on my new VTB-1...
 
appreciate the link man... really do.... but it seems too complicated for me.. i understood what it was saying, but i dont understand what polarity and phase reverse is actually used for when recording. what effect is it supposed to have on the sound?
 
Polarity shouldn't have any effect on the sound the sine wave is reversed 180 degrees thats it. Instead of going up it goes down.

Phase shift is differant. If the two sine wave are out of phase they will cancel each other meaning no sound but it also depends on how far they are out of phase in relation to each other.

Man I hope I got that right... :p
 
oh. so basically I just shouldnt fuck with it when im recording?
 
Well yeah sometimes especially with stereo (like drum overheads) pushing the button makes things sound better.
 
phase reverse or invert or whatever....is not the correct term to use. The company who has put that on their gear has done so incorrectly.
phase is a proponent of time. You have to have two signals in order to deal with phase and they must be of the same frequency. Two signals can be out of PHASE when one microphone picks up one signal and another mic further away picks up the same signal. Because of the distance of the two microphones the signal is conisdered to be out of phase....the sound arrives late to the second microphone. So in order to reverse phase you would have to be able to reverse time itself...which of course is impossible.

Polarity, however deals with one signal. We are taught that there is a +/- to our signal...or a compression and rarefraction in the waveform. This translates to pushes and pulls on the speaker cone. You CAN invert polarity. This just switches the + and - around.

Read the link I gave you. I don't think you could have read it that fast ;)
 
regardless of the terminological correctness here

when you hit the phase switch OR polarity switch, the waveform that WAS on its upward phase is now on its downward phase, so.......NEENER NEENER
 
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