Premier Rock Forum

does anyone know how to reverse the phase of a track in Pro Tools 6.2.2.?

i'm not sure about version 6, but in 5 there is an audiosuite plug-in called "invert" that will flip the phase. check out your audiosuite menu, and i'd imagine you'll find it.

thank, i've got it figured out. i was trying to avoid using audiosuite to save diskspace.
there's a realtime plug called trim which looks to be just a simple volume fader with a phase switch on it. that'll work for me!

So let me get this straight:

Pro Tools doesn't have a little button that reverses polarity like any self-respecting analog setup? You have to run extra software to flip the goddamn polarity?

Who writes this stuff?

Not only that. Because each Trim Plugin incurs a delay in the audio that passes through it you have to put the same plugin on every track to avoid phase problems because of the latency.

They didn't tell you about that in the store.

PS. The solution is to use the Audiosuite version of the Trim plugin on the track

Isn't that incredible?!? They can engineer this amazing software (at least from a coders perspective) yet they don't have the foresight to include a phase switch. I use the phase switch more often EQ cuz I'm always doing M/S and double mic'ing drums (top/bottom) It's just a given that you should have a phase switch. It's like phantom power. It just HAS to be there sometimes.

I guess they don't include the phase switch because that's an "advanced technique"
You wouldn't believe the looks I get from some people in my class when I start talking about phase reversal and room mics and acoustical stuff. They only know what they learned in class. They just want every instrument on one mic, totally isolated for an easy mix. Close mics, EQ, and reverb. Then some compression on the master mix. That's the extent of knowledge most of my peers have about recording.
They think it's "crazy" that I sometimes use compression as an effect rather than a sweetener. They only know how to make things sound "good" and "warm."

By the way, Steve, if you read this, your article "What's Wrong With The Music Industry" is re-printed in our text book. Actually, 90% of the text are re-prints from trade magazines. But I'll guarantee that nobody else in my class has actually read the text beyond the required reading for exams.

No HTML allowed on this forum? Boo!

not having a phase switch on every channel is definitely one of the dumb things about protools. and the latency plug-ins cause is certainly among the dumbest things about protools. i can't imagine why they can't program protools le to compensate for this latency. it gets old real fast having to nudge tracks x number of samples to align them properly. and then if you change your plug-in setup, you have to recalculate latency and re-nudge. fun! i'll be glad when i'm set up to mix through my (crappy) board. i did get my digi 001 for $25.00 though, so i can't complain too much.

1) how much of a delay are we talking about when you apply a plug? Is it the same for every plug or is it dependant on the complexity of the plug?

2) If the delay is under 30 ms the brain can't perceive it as delay, but only as a phasing effect given that it's rubbing against another track with identical waves. But since I'm creating an m/s matrix it wouldn't matter because the two tracks are already 100% out of phase with each other, right?

It depends on the plugin. If you apple-click on a tracks level number twice it will display the plugin delay in samples. Some of the more complex plugins have delays up to half a second.

The whole latency thing with digital systems is its achilles heel. If you listen to a lot of records today you'll here a large degree of comb-filtering on stuff like cymbals and guitars because the protools operator failed to compenstae for the delay induced by the plugins. Latency also rules out any proper simulation of compression as that requires the input and the output of a circuit to be at the same place in time. The irony of course is that the protools proprietary plugin format is called REAL-TIME audio suite!