[LAU] inverting phase of one channel - bad idea?

[Reuben Martin]

Back on Tuesday 27 May 2008, Atte André Jensen was like:
> Hi
>
> A question came up on the chuck list today, regarding how to invert the
> phase of one channel. The poster wanted to use this "trick" to widen the
> width of the stereo image, and it sure does.
>

NOOOOOOOOOO. This stupid trick is EVIL.

> However now I'm thinking if it's a good idea in the first place. Besides
> loosing mono-compatibility, I have a gut feeling that audio treated this
> way will become very uncomfortable or even annoying to listen to after a
> while.
>

It is VERY annoying. When listening to it with headphones, the side where the 
phase is inverted causes my ear to "itch".  It's very annoying and 
uncomfortable, and I notice it immediately.


> Does anyone have any thought about this? Should this "trick" simply be
> avoided or are there situations where using it on some parts of a mix
> would be ok (keeping in mind that the tracks in question will disappear
> in mono)?

Avoid this, and shoot anybody who tries to do this. It is annoying on 
headphones, and causes all sorts of frequency cancellation problems when 
played from stereo speakers.


-Reuben