phase scopes/stereo width

[banjo71]

I'm sort of a newbie at mixing, even more a newbie at mastering at home with Pro Tools. My question is "What is the optimum phase for full sound?" Right now I've got the AIRStereoWidth plugin set so the phase scope bounces from -1 to 1, averaging out at about 0. Is this what you want? I mean the sound is great, but I'd like someone to explain what's going on here with the phase changes.

 

[Massive Master]

Turn the meter off and use your ears. If you can't tell what it sounds like without the meter, well, figure out why and fix that.

 

[Mo Facta]

What Massive said.

However.

For pop/rock an elongated football-type shape on the vertical axis of the meter is common to see. A narrow football would indicate a tighter mix with most of the information in or near the centre. A wide football would indicate a wider mix with more stereo information. There is often erroneous stereo information that will cause the meter to jump, which is ok momentarily.

Most recordings will hover somewhere between +1 and 0, indicating a strong mono phantom image and stereo information that is generally in phase. It is a good rule of thumb to keep your mix somewhere in this region. Read this for more information:

http://http://www.izotope.com/support/help/ozone/pages/meters_correlation.htm

Hope that helps.

Cheers

 

[MrWrenchey]

I'm sort of a newbie at mixing, even more a newbie at mastering at home with Pro Tools. My question is "What is the optimum phase for full sound?" Right now I've got the AIRStereoWidth plugin set so the phase scope bounces from -1 to 1, averaging out at about 0. Is this what you want? I mean the sound is great, but I'd like someone to explain what's going on here with the phase changes.

No. If you're using the PhaseScope plug-in, you never want it to go below 0. It should bounce between 0 and 1. I think it even says that in the documentation for the PhaseScope plug-in.

If it's always at 1, it's a perfect stereo image, always at 0 is a perfect mono image, always at -1 is 180 degrees out of phase. The further below 0 it is, the more phasing you're going to get.

Of course, if all you want to know is how to make it sound "full," listen to the other guys. Use your ears, not a phase meter to tell you that.

EDIT:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/user_guide/en419211

Documentation, Pro Tools 10 Documents, under the Plug-ins folder there's a .pdf called "Audio Plug-ins Guide." Page 360 and 361 talk about the Phase Scope plug in.