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| Photo by lechenie-narkomanii |
Sound, it must be remembered, is made up of a series of waves. Sound waves, like all waves, have peaks and troughs. The time between one peak and the next (or between any point on the wave and the next corresponding point) is one wave cycle.
When we record a sound source with two microphones in recording studios, those two microphones will pick up a similar wave pattern. However the difference in the placement of the microphones means that the waves are likely to be at a different point in their wave cycle when they reach the microphones. For example, microphone one might receive the peak of the wave at the same time microphone two receives the trough. The waves are now said to be out of phase.
In practical terms, this means a loss of sound information as the out of phase waves “cancel” each other out somewhat. The effect of phasing on sound is often described as “thin” or “weak”, and is not just a loss of volume.
This can be fixed simply with correct microphone placement. Most microphone preamps have a phase switch, which switches the phase of a microphone by 180 degrees (peaks become troughs and vice versa). Flick this switch. Now adjust the microphone placements until the sound is at its weakest. At this point they are as far out of phase as possible (in antiphase). Flick the switch again. Your microphones should be perfectly in phase!
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