Topic: Looking for options to fix channel imbalance

[Popmarter]

Hi guys, this has been discussed before, but not found something yet that really worked for me.

My right channel is a bit louder than the left one. You heard it well when listening on headphones.

Sample of the problem
https://soundcloud.com/user-620536679/sample-rightproblem16?si=c923414ec38948fbb164d87098cf72be&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This sample is the raw version. Resampled to 16 bit and normalized to 2db for listening pleasure.

Probably causes
- From the tapespot it sounded just like the mics picked it up. Either the PA was louder on one side, or I was not 100% in the center. I was sitting right in front of the main mic.
- Mics (Milab vM44) were mounted in the hat at 50degrees (maybe bit too close to eachother?)

These things I tried, but it is not really doing something.
- In Izotope use Azimuth
- In Izotope use Phase
- Raising the gain on left channel

Converting to mono fixed it all, but I prefer a more stereo sound.

What options are there to try left?

[nulldogmas]

This doesn't sound dramatically louder in the right channel to me. But in any event, when I raise the gain on the left channel by 3 dB, it centers the sound a bit more to the left without noticeably changing the mix. What is it you don't like about the results from raising the gain?

[EmRR]

It's not unusual for an off-center recording to be frequency dependent.  Sometimes you want to leave the bass alone, and boost above a certain frequency, or find the frequency holes in the lower side and boost those areas.

[Popmarter]

It's not unusual for an off-center recording to be frequency dependent.  Sometimes you want to leave the bass alone, and boost above a certain frequency, or find the frequency holes in the lower side and boost those areas.

How to do that? (in Audacity?)

[Popmarter]

Here is a sample (7days) for those who want to give it a try.

https://we.tl/t-QPSw6tNIrf

That freq. thing did something. Thanks for mentioning it, so I can dig into that.

I also (in Audacity) tried to play with the balance and then mix it to a new stereotrack. After that in Izotope use the Mixing module to get the stereo a bit wider again. Sofar this seems to work best.

[capnhook]

You are correct to be hearing a slight channel imbalance, but it is very slight, and you can fix it


A good look with Ozone Imager shows your "firehose" pointing off to the right





Bring the left channel up a bit and the image will come to center

[Popmarter]

that is a cool tool. thanks again! now all i need is a cracked version of ozone 🤪

[capnhook]

There is a free VST plug-in that you can use in Audacity

[opsopcopolis]

This doesn't sound dramatically louder in the right channel to me. But in any event, when I raise the gain on the left channel by 3 dB, it centers the sound a bit more to the left without noticeably changing the mix. What is it you don't like about the results from raising the gain?

That's the easiest way to do it (same as just panning the louder channel a bit to the center.)

Sometimes if this happens to me in a drastic way, I'll use the Waves plugin Vitamin, which allows you to alter the stereo spread of specific frequency bands. I find that centering the low end, and slightly narrowing the low mids, allows me to less drastically pan to get the rest of the freq spectrum more balanced.

[Popmarter]

The free plugin can be downloaden here. https://www.izotope.com/en/products/ozone-imager.html
It works with my Izotope RX9 and it will probably do with others.

[nulldogmas]

The free plugin can be downloaden here. https://www.izotope.com/en/products/ozone-imager.html
It works with my Izotope RX9 and it will probably do with others.

Thanks, this looks interesting!

One question: Once I've downloaded and installed it, how do I use it in RX? The instructions just say "load Ozone Imager in your host software," which is a little unspecific.

[Popmarter]

once you installed it go to the plugin section in rx and do a scan orbsomething. after that is available in the dropdown menu under plugins

[nulldogmas]

once you installed it go to the plugin section in rx and do a scan orbsomething. after that is available in the dropdown menu under plugins

Got it, that worked! Cool toy, thanks.

One thing I assume it doesn't do is account for any perceptual imbalance due to sound arriving at one mic before the other, right? I have a few recordings where the amplitude of each channel is similar, but it still sounds skewed because I was off-center and one mic was closer to the speaker stack on that side. (I've occasionally tried addressing this by adding a smidge of delay to the "louder" channel, which can help but has its drawbacks.)

[Popmarter]

once you installed it go to the plugin section in rx and do a scan orbsomething. after that is available in the dropdown menu under plugins

Got it, that worked! Cool toy, thanks.

One thing I assume it doesn't do is account for any perceptual imbalance due to sound arriving at one mic before the other, right? I have a few recordings where the amplitude of each channel is similar, but it still sounds skewed because I was off-center and one mic was closer to the speaker stack on that side. (I've occasionally tried addressing this by adding a smidge of delay to the "louder" channel, which can help but has its drawbacks.)

Yeah, i have recordings which are more offcenter, i guess this is the problem and have not found a -always works- solution.

[rumbleseat]

I've found that delaying one channel works wonders for off-center recordings.
I posted an outline of the method a few years ago, and I think the free plugins are still available if you want to give it a shot.
Here's my description:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=191900.msg2314215;topicseen#msg2314215
Hopefully that link gets you to the right place.

There was also a thread on "Fixing an off-center recording" a while back, located here:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=204393.0

I'm sure there are a whole host of tools that can accomplish the same objective.

Delaying one channel, even by 0.07 msec (~ equivalent to moving one microphone an inch back) will move the apparent center of the sound stage.
Good luck!