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Author Topic: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?  (Read 10225 times)

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Offline JonG

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Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« on: April 20, 2017, 09:40:14 PM »
Excuse my lack of technical terms--I'm no sound engineer.

The more I tape, and the I more I work on editing the shows, the more I notice that there's a significant variation in what I *thought* were balanced channels between shows. Say I'll go between shows and find several that each favour either the left or right channel to varying degrees--at least when compared to each other--despite my thinking the balance was good for each show at the time of editing.

I try to balance the channels according to where the bulk of the waveform is when looking it in Sound Forge, but this is mostly eyeballing and listening for it to sound "right." This isn't a problem with every show, and I *think* it's more of a problem at amplified shows rather than acoustic ones. I especially have trouble when there's a significant differences between the channels from the outset, as in when one channel's peaks are significantly lower than the other's due to dampening from the bodies around me. I'm wondering if there's a better and more accurate way to handle this.  ???

Let me know if this reads confusingly and if samples would help. Cheers guys.  :cheers:
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 01:35:04 PM by JonG »
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Offline Gordon

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2017, 09:44:53 PM »
in wavelab you can pick individual channels and check the gain of each.  figure out the difference and raise the lower one to match as best you can.
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Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2017, 10:13:08 PM »
Thanks for the tip. I'm messing around in WaveLab Elements now, should I be looking at the average value int he "Global Analysis" window?
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Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2017, 09:59:05 AM »
Here's an example.

According to WaveLab, this sample's right channel's average loudness is just .1dB lower than the left and has peaks roughly .5dB quieter than the left, yet the right channel sounds louder to me.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/700hso2c4d2ub7j/

And this is what I came up with in Sound Forge several days ago, which sounds more balanced, at least in comparison, to me.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bo8848p16b96ct8/

Are my ears made of tin? Is it because the right channel is "clearer" than the left?

For reference, here's something completely different that both my ears and WaveLab agree is balanced.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dy6aanfsso374h1/
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 10:09:41 AM by JonG »
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Offline TheMetalist

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2017, 04:44:09 AM »
I have the balance problem with my AKG CK63 capsules as well. It's really annoying. I guess it's caused by the different freq curves between left and right channel. I have tried to eq each channel on their own to find the right balance but so far I can't say I have succeeded. I would need some advice as well.

By listening to your samples, the last one (dy6aanfsso374h1) sounds way more balanced to me than the other two. Seems like you removed some of the bass mudd in left channel?
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Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2017, 09:53:50 AM »
Yeah, in comparison to the third sample, neither of the first two sound well-balanced. I actually hadn't thought about trying to EQ each channel separately for things like this, so maybe I'll give that a shot, too.

After going through most of my tapes, I think, for most part, it's related to people around me acting as sound dampers. For the majority of my >:D shows I'm in the balcony and the seats are tiered enough that my the way my mics are mounted puts them above everyone in front of me--like in the third sample above. Fixing these shows has been easier. In the past, I just went by ear, which isn't precise enough. So going through and balancing them in WaveLab as Gordon suggested has proved beneficial.

On the other hand, the biggest offenders that I have problems with, as in the first two samples, are at shows where there were lots of people in front of me that were at or above mic-level--one show was super >:D and the mics were mounted lower than normal, and several others were taped from the floor, and I'm on the shorter side of things. Maybe I'd have to EQ the dampened channel separately in those cases? Bass usually isn't effected, but mids and treble usually are.

Edit-
Here's a sample from way earlier in the night. Barely anyone was in the venue--nevermind on the floor--and I think it sounds better. In comparison to the third sample I posted earlier, it still sounds like it favors the right channel. Again, though, WaveLab says the right channel is the quieter channel.  ???
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dha518xlk29bat1/

I might need to be more certain that my mics are as close to facing the same axis as possible. There are times where the mids and treble seems to come through more clearly in the left channel, probably related to my head swiveling.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2017, 10:04:29 AM by JonG »
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Offline bombdiggity

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2017, 05:05:33 AM »
Here's an example.

According to WaveLab, this sample's right channel's average loudness is just .1dB lower than the left and has peaks roughly .5dB quieter than the left, yet the right channel sounds louder to me.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/700hso2c4d2ub7j/

And this is what I came up with in Sound Forge several days ago, which sounds more balanced, at least in comparison, to me.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bo8848p16b96ct8/

Are my ears made of tin? Is it because the right channel is "clearer" than the left?

For reference, here's something completely different that both my ears and WaveLab agree is balanced.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dy6aanfsso374h1/

I didn't listen to samples but yes the average volume in a statistical analysis is a good indicator of reality.  On a mono signal it would be unlikely anyone can perceive a difference of .1 dB.   

I suspect your problem is phase shift between channels.  Phase shift will make channels roughly equivalent in volume seem quite different.  The channel that is ahead in phase will be what you perceive almost regardless of actual volume. 
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Offline kuba e

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2017, 06:09:13 AM »
I think the problem may be how you angled the microphone pattern when recording. When the microphone pattern is not pointed to the acoustic center, the recording has shifted stereo. This is related to the channels volume and the phase shift of the channels. Gutbucket has well explained it and how to fix it in post-processing. Read these posts:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=178161.0

I have the balance problem with my AKG CK63 capsules as well. It's really annoying. I guess it's caused by the different freq curves between left and right channel. I have tried to eq each channel on their own to find the right balance but so far I can't say I have succeeded. I would need some advice as well.
You can test the microphones roughly. Generate a sinus sweep from 20 hz to 20 khz in Audacity. Then place the microphones verticaly as close to each other and put them close to the speaker. Play the sine sweep, record it and then compare the two signals. They should have approximately the same response. When you play the recording as a stereo, the sinus sweep should sound exactly in the middle.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2017, 06:51:39 AM by kuba e »

Offline TheMetalist

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2017, 05:15:17 PM »
I might need to be more certain that my mics are as close to facing the same axis as possible. There are times where the mids and treble seems to come through more clearly in the left channel, probably related to my head swiveling.
I downloaded the complete Katatonia from Dime. Thank you! To me that version sounds more balanced than your sample. Did you do anything different to it?

You can test the microphones roughly. Generate a sinus sweep from 20 hz to 20 khz in Audacity. Then place the microphones verticaly as close to each other and put them close to the speaker. Play the sine sweep, record it and then compare the two signals. They should have approximately the same response. When you play the recording as a stereo, the sinus sweep should sound exactly in the middle.
I did this. Too my ears it sounds like the sweep is in dead center. Didn't look at the recorded file. Maybe I should.
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Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2017, 05:54:46 PM »

I didn't listen to samples but yes the average volume in a statistical analysis is a good indicator of reality.  On a mono signal it would be unlikely anyone can perceive a difference of .1 dB.   

I suspect your problem is phase shift between channels.  Phase shift will make channels roughly equivalent in volume seem quite different.  The channel that is ahead in phase will be what you perceive almost regardless of actual volume.

I think the problem may be how you angled the microphone pattern when recording. When the microphone pattern is not pointed to the acoustic center, the recording has shifted stereo. This is related to the channels volume and the phase shift of the channels. Gutbucket has well explained it and how to fix it in post-processing. Read these posts:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=178161.0

I think you guys are on to something, and thanks for the link kuba! Fooling around with the right channel's phase yields a more pleasing, though still imperfect, result to my ears. I gather that's the rub: it's not about trying to reach perfection, but is about trying to choose the next best fit.

Nearly all of my taping is stealth, and although I tend to keep my head facing forward, precise positioning and angling of the mics is impractical. I'll see if I can do something about my setup to minimize this issue in the future, for sure.

I downloaded the complete Katatonia from Dime. Thank you! To me that version sounds more balanced than your sample. Did you do anything different to it?

The one I shared here is a little different than the one I decided to seed. You can hear why I made this post!  :yack:
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Offline bombdiggity

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channels?
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2017, 09:07:40 PM »

I think you guys are on to something, and thanks for the link kuba! Fooling around with the right channel's phase yields a more pleasing, though still imperfect, result to my ears. I gather that's the rub: it's not about trying to reach perfection, but is about trying to choose the next best fit.

Nearly all of my taping is stealth, and although I tend to keep my head facing forward, precise positioning and angling of the mics is impractical. I'll see if I can do something about my setup to minimize this issue in the future, for sure.


You need to be aware of positioning and movement.  I can usually hear incidental movement on head mount recordings. 

I suggest collar/shoulder mount.  That is much easier to keep in consistent orientation and IMO makes more of a difference to the result than the relatively small additional height of head mount.  It also make the recording process less of a burden.
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Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2017, 10:11:21 AM »
All that really matters is how it sounds, not how levels look in the editor.  Best practice is balancing the stereo image by ear while listening, rather than trying to do so by eye looking at levels. 

If in doubt concerning the balance accuracy of your hearing, set the balance using headphones, then flip the headphones around (put the left driver on your right ear and vice-versa) to confirm that the balance remains centered even though the image will be mirror-image reversed.  You can use the same trick using speakers, but it's not as quick and easy.

Also it helps to listen to each channel in isolation as a basic timbre check.  When doing that, any obvious frequency balance problems in one channel should become more apparent.  If problematic enough, and if you aren't adverse to applying EQ, you can EQ the problematic channel to better match the response of the good sounding one.   The key there is to aim for matching the basic timbre of the better sounding channel, rather than going for any general overall EQ corrections.  If the entire recording will benefit from further EQ correction, do that later in a separate step using another EQ application to both channels.  This two step EQ process can often greatly improve the quality of a recording.

Here's my post in the thread Kuba e linked previously that sums it up- https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=178161.msg2192735#msg2192735

If you end up having to make the same corrections every time, it may indicate response problems with your gear (probably one microphone).
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Offline anr

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2017, 12:52:59 AM »


^ All of course great ideas.
 
If it is a phase issue, rather than (or combined with) other things, for those who have no familiarity with phase shift or phase cancellation I'd offer a few observations along those lines:

Phase shift is easier to get a handle on with headphones. 

Phase cancellation, which can occur when the channels are out of phase, usually manifests as the lows sounding weak when the two channels combine.  Of course if you're using headphones the channels are discrete (not combined in space) so you don't hear the cancellation you would when the two channels combine in a room through speakers. 

If your recording sounds considerably different and better in headphones than by speakers you likely have phase issues to address (and getting it sounding good on headphones may still yield a disappointing sound on speakers if you didn't correct the phase issues).

HTH
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Offline kuba e

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2017, 04:54:51 AM »
If in doubt concerning the balance accuracy of your hearing, set the balance using headphones, then flip the headphones around (put the left driver on your right ear and vice-versa) to confirm that the balance remains centered even though the image will be mirror-image reversed.  You can use the same trick using speakers, but it's not as quick and easy.
An interesting test is also to play the sine sweep as a stereo in the headphones. For example me, i do not hear some higher frequencies in the center but more to one side. At the highest frequencies, it again centers.


Phase cancellation, which can occur when the channels are out of phase, usually manifests as the lows sounding weak when the two channels combine.  Of course if you're using headphones the channels are discrete (not combined in space) so you don't hear the cancellation you would when the two channels combine in a room through speakers. 
You can also check visualy if the channels have flipped phase. This procedure does not apply to patterns with negative lobe, eg.  fig 8 or hypers. Find a short, independent clap, which is noticeable on the right and left channels. If the signal rises in the right and left channels, record should be in phase. If the signal in one channel rises and in the second goes down, the recording is out of phase.

I hope I use the correct terminology. Phase shift is a time delay of one channel over the other. It has an effect on the stereo image. Out of phase is flipped phase (flipped polarity) but no delay. It's interesting to play the mono signal in the stereo speakers with flipped phase in one channel.

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #15 on: April 25, 2017, 10:16:04 AM »
You can also check visualy if the channels have flipped phase. This procedure does not apply to patterns with negative lobe, eg.  fig 8 or hypers. Find a short, independent clap, which is noticeable on the right and left channels. If the signal rises in the right and left channels, record should be in phase. If the signal in one channel rises and in the second goes down, the recording is out of phase.

With crossed figure-8's (Blumlein) you can identify what quadrant the sound arrives from using that method.  The transients will first swing positive in both channels for sounds arriving from the front quadrant, negative in both channels for sounds arriving from the rear, positive in the left and negative on the left channel for sounds from the left quadrant, etc.  Blumlein has equal sensitivity to sounds arriving from all horizontal directions.  Only level and the polarity relationship between channels changes with direction.

Quote
I hope I use the correct terminology. Phase shift is a time delay of one channel over the other. It has an effect on the stereo image. Out of phase is flipped phase (flipped polarity) but no delay.

That terminology is popularly accepted.  Even though technically incorrect, it's common to refer to polarity inversion as phase-inversion or flipped-phase.  I always try to use the term polarity when referring to a positive/negative inversion (no time component, same inversion across all frequencies), and phase when referring to waveform alignment which tends to involve time delays and vary with frequency.  And it bugs me to see polarity inversion switches on gear labeled phase instead of polarity, due simply to widespread popular acceptance of the technically incorrect term.  Not too hard to print the correct word on label.  People will figure it out and that avoids potential confusion.

Note that in some special cases a true phase shift can have the same degree of shift across all frequencies and/or no time shift involved, but those are not the common phase-shifts we deal with ordinarily.  I won't go further into that unless someone is interested.
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Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #16 on: April 25, 2017, 10:30:37 AM »


Quote
It's interesting to play the mono signal in the stereo speakers with flipped phase in one channel.

Yes, and what you'll hear depends somewhat on the microphone technique.  The primary common denominator is less perceived low bass when polarity is inverted in one channel.  Above the low bass region, you'll hear more effect from a polarity flip with near-spaced and coincident mic'd recordings than with spaced omnis.  That's because with spaced techniques the phase relationship between channels becomes randomized above a certain frequency based on the spacing distance, yet even rather widely spaced omnis produce signals which remain in-phase at very low frequencies.

Some folks are more sensitive to polarity/phase differences than others.  For some an out-of-polarity or significantly phase-shifted channel will sound "uncomfortable", for others it may sound "phasy", while other still may not notice anything different except for the effects on the low bass.

All that is based on the phase of the two signals (from two speakers) combining at the entrance to the ears.  The phase cancellations are far greater, and will be far more apparent if the signals are combined electronically before being reproduced.  The mono signal of the combined channels with the polarity of one channel flipped is the difference signal.  It is equivalent to the side-channel of M/S stereo.  Its also basically what is routed to the surround speakers from any surround matrix decoder when a two channel signal is played through it.  In fact, the old Halfner surround technique of wiring up an extra speaker or two by connecting it (them) across the Left and Right positive  speaker outputs of the amp and placing them in the back of the room is a simple difference signal extraction technique.  It can be highly effective on live music recordings that aren't primarily monophonic.  If you have a speaker or two and some wire laying around, give it a try.
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Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2017, 03:25:26 PM »
Thanks for all the tips and info guys, I'll be messing around with things as time allows!

Thanks to anr for giving it a go and uploading your result, that's something for me to go off of, too.

Cheers.  :cheers:
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Offline kuba e

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #18 on: April 26, 2017, 03:01:49 PM »
Quote
Note that in some special cases a true phase shift can have the same degree of shift across all frequencies and/or no time shift involved, but those are not the common phase-shifts we deal with ordinarily.  I won't go further into that unless someone is interested.
Nothing comes to my mind. Maybe electronic filter? I would be very happy to learn more.

Quote
In fact, the old Halfner surround technique of wiring up an extra speaker or two by connecting it (them) across the Left and Right positive  speaker outputs of the amp and placing them in the back of the room is a simple difference signal extraction technique.  It can be highly effective on live music recordings that aren't primarily monophonic.  If you have a speaker or two and some wire laying around, give it a try.
Thank you for a good tip. This is a great cheap method to try surround sound. I was looking for it on the internet, a good search term is the Halfner hook. I'll check if my amplifier can handle this configuration and i will try it on the audience and onstage recordings.

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #19 on: April 26, 2017, 07:06:30 PM »
Quote
Note that in some special cases a true phase shift can have the same degree of shift across all frequencies and/or no time shift involved, but those are not the common phase-shifts we deal with ordinarily.  I won't go further into that unless someone is interested.
Nothing comes to my mind. Maybe electronic filter? I would be very happy to learn more.

Yes, a linear-phase "constant group delay" filter.  I didn't phrase it correctly above, it's not that there is no time shift involved, but that the time shift varies in a linear way with frequency so that the amount of phase-shift remains constant across all frequencies.  By contrast, a simple constant delay across all frequencies produces increasing degrees of phase-shift as the frequency rises.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/understanding-linear-phase-filters/

Here's a Voxengo plugin which can do that kind of phase manipulation- http://www.voxengo.com/product/pha979/

One common example in audio are matrix surround encoders, where surround channel information is processed with a 90-degree phase shift before mixing with the main front left & right channels to produce a matrix encoded 2-channel output.  +90 degrees for surround information mixed into the Left surround channel and -90 degrees for the same mixed into the right channel.  The surround decoder detects the phase shift and routes the phase-shifted stuff to the surround outputs.  If played back in mono, the left and right channels are summed, and the +90 and -90 phase rotated stuff cancels out leaving only the left, right and center info represented in the single channel output.


Quote
Quote
In fact, the old Halfner surround technique of wiring up an extra speaker or two by connecting it (them) across the Left and Right positive  speaker outputs of the amp and placing them in the back of the room is a simple difference signal extraction technique.  It can be highly effective on live music recordings that aren't primarily monophonic.  If you have a speaker or two and some wire laying around, give it a try.
Thank you for a good tip. This is a great cheap method to try surround sound. I was looking for it on the internet, a good search term is the Halfner hook. I'll check if my amplifier can handle this configuration and i will try it on the audience and onstage recordings.

I wouldn't try it with a tube amp, but it works with basically any solid-state amp.  It's a lot of fun.  I used to put the  difference signal "ambience" speakers in the back of the room and orient them so as to reflect off the back wall or off the ceiling, which adds a bit of delay, increases diffuseness and lowers the level a bit so those speakers didn't stand out as obvious point sources but rather just filled the room with surround ambience.  Its mostly room reverb and applause that ends up back there, anything panned away from direct center will excite them somewhat, more so as the sound is panned fully left or right, maximally for the stuff that occurs in both channels but with opposite polarity.


JonG, my apologies for all this OT material in your thread.

« Last Edit: April 26, 2017, 07:09:51 PM by Gutbucket »
musical volition > vibrations > voltages > numeric values > voltages > vibrations> virtual teleportation time-machine experience
Better recording made easy - >>Improved PAS table<< | Made excellent- >>click here to download the Oddball Microphone Technique illustrated PDF booklet<< (note: This is a 1st draft, now several years old and in need of revision!  Stay tuned)

Offline kuba e

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #20 on: April 28, 2017, 04:44:47 AM »
I am sending an apology to JonG too.

Quote
linear-phase "constant group delay" filter.

I've noticed similar things recently. I spoke with Moke about his recording of the Poway Symphony Orchestra. He made a records with cards and omni. When he mixed cards and omni together, it did not sound good. We tried to mix only LPF part of omni and HPF part of cards.
The result mix must have flat frequency transition between LPF and HPF when mixing together. First idea was : 1.Omni - make LPF 2.Cards - get HPF by subtracting LPF (HPF cards=cards - LPF cards). 3. mix it together. On this occasion I noticed that LPF and HPF cause a phase shift for individual frequencies (I'm not sure if this is a linear phase shift, I have to look more on theory). So it is not possible to get HPF by subtracting LPF from original signal. The conclusion was that we can use only "true" LPF and HPF with the same cutoff frequency and 6db slope. Filters with these settings creates a flat frequency transition and the phase shift is the same for both parts of LPF and HPF.

But if there is filter that can regenerate the LPF and HPF phase shift, then we could use the first idea with subtraction (HPF cards=cards - LPF cards) and we would not be limited by 6db slope of HPF and LPF.
Here is the original post:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=post;msg=2222325;topic=181444.0

Quote
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/understanding-linear-phase-filters/

Here's a Voxengo plugin which can do that kind of phase manipulation- http://www.voxengo.com/product/pha979/
Thank you for links.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2017, 04:54:27 AM by kuba e »

Offline JonG

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Re: Is there a trick to balancing channel volume?
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2017, 03:56:31 PM »
No problem, guys! All the details are beyond me at the moment, but it definitely adds to the wealth of information that TS has, and I'm sure others will appreciate them.

After some more experience with a more recent show I'm working on, I want to thank you guys for turning me on to WaveLab. It's way more user-friendly (and thus powerful) for someone like me than Sound Forge, and I'm having way more success with it! I'll post some comparisons after everything's done with what I'm working on.

If anyone comes across this thread and is looking for tips on editing programs, WaveLab Elements gets a hearty recommendation from me.  :guitarist:
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