Hi,
I’ve been using BFD for years and today thought “I wonder what happens if I invert phase on the snare bottom?”. It made a huge difference… and a good one at that. Is this the way it is meant to be used? When recording live drums I would naturally invert phase but never thought about it for sampled drums. What are peoples thoughts on this?
I’ll have to give that a try and see what happens, I’ve heard of it but never tried it. Thanks for this post.
I would have to say - If it sounds good then it is good. Use it.
I haven’t mixed a full song in a DAW for quite some time and have been learning the AI aspect or as Benoni Studios Video refers to it as DAIW…Like it or not is fast approaching.
I have been more focused on using BFD with E-Drumming but you could “Phase EQ” and you hear more variance if you adjust as a Group(s) for example…Kick/Snare… as the bottom snare mic is closer to the kick.
Load a preset with groove , one with multiple Kicks/Snares will provide a wider range you can hear…under “Tweaks” go to the Master Channel…experiment/adjust the Direct and the Kick/Snare Bleeds while going back and forth between the Kit pieces In/Out Phase and the Master Channel while the groove is playing…You’ll get more snap/crack out of the snare and/or a “clickety” kick…typically for Metal without going in and messing with a compressor and transient effect etc.
…as Murt posted “If it sounds good then it is good. Use it.”.
As far as Live mics goes the top hit (Batter Head) on a snare moves downward away from the mic but the bottom (Resonant Head) the hit on the batter resonates on the lower head and moves towards the mic
Nice description, I’ll be sure to test it out when I get a gap. Thanks for that!
Even with BFD, I still always try flipping the polarity of the OH, Kick and Snares summed) to see if I can get a fuller kick sound. Force of habit in my routine. I normally don’t mess with the polarity of say, just the Kick In, or Snare Top, at least with samples. You never know though… mistakes could’ve been made. That’s why I like to print multitracks for drums. The waveforms don’t lie.
This sounds interesting and I’d like to give it a try…but how/where do you invert phase in BFD? Thanks!
The polarity button is just above the mute button on channels in the mixer.
Ugh - duh - thank you!