I simply thought by the thread title setting the benchmark low it only leaves plenty of room for the opposite.

I used Auto-Align first version on a 14 microphone drum kit and its phase correction was exceptional so this new release I am looking forward to trying it out. It corrected audibly in real-time so on a full real-time export it did exactly the same thing with 14 inserts without having to adjust the buffer.
Not everyone's goto but it is very good. This new one is targeted more at post-editors because I guess that's where the money is in film for plugins like this but I have no doubt it will be great for engineers who record live bands in the studio or multi-mic drum kits doubled with triggered drums.

 

What a pain in the butt and a time consuming chore it is (was) to line stuff up and figure it all out so tracks don't phase. Tedious is yesterday's burden. This seems like a chorus of prayers have been answered and is worth whatever the price of admission, full stop.

 

oooh... nice! Version 1 is lovely, but the UI looks a bit dated tbh. The GUI on this looks very nice

 

Even the first version which happens to coincidentally be on the sister site is really good which is what I used. This one the second seems to have the facility to not only do what its predecessor did, but also correct tone loss. That is huge.

I agree the earlier one was a bit dated in GUI but it was an easy learning curve. I hope in their attempts at making it more modern they kept the simplicity of use.

 

Possibly one thing they could have added which will add to the sales is that it tells you exactly how many samples out the tracks are from the chosen reference track. In other words in the drum kit I selected the overheads as reference. Every time it was within one sample of repeat analysis on the snare (top and bottom), hats, kick,sub-kick mic, ride and each tom. It even adjusted the room mics well which was the most surprising, even though they were more for natural ambience.

 

Tried the first version with BFD2, and I can confirm it works..

I don't know if I did it right tho, or if it would be 100% necessary in this case,
but I can certainly hear/feel how the track has a little bit more Low End, impact and Cohesiveness.

Everything sounds more "together" indeed,
but also a little bit less "natural" and spacey.. so, is it really necessary for a BFD2 track?

In any case,
I placed it as the first effect on the Group Bus track, before the Bus Compressor.. (Neve 609)
And as the first insert on every drum track (snare, bd, hihat, toms, cymbs, mics..),
before the individual SSL Channelstrip and Compressor (Arousor)..

Then I set the Bus instance to Send on channel 1,
and all the other track instances to Receive on channel 1..

Pressed play, clicked on Detect, and there it goes.

Is this how it shall be done in this case/scenario?
Wouldn't each track need to use a Separate Channel to avoid Interference between tracks?

Or is adjusting all tracks equally/on the same channel what's desirable?


(Like lets say..
Bus instance is listening to the final result,
and determines Mic track needs this/that phase/delay adjustment.
Then it sends the correction to the Channel 1..

But wouldn't this correction be affecting all the others tracks on Channel 1?

Maybe say the Hi-Hat track doesn't need the same correction as the Mics track, right?
So how does the program distinguish between them instances, if they are set in the same channel?)

 

Last edited: Oct 30, 2021

Guys, remember this day for years to come.
An interesting topic with an anti-clickbait title.
@BaSsDuDe you're my new hero

 

I thought the title reflected my creativity as of late being unspectacular. A truer statement I could not elucidate no matter how I tried.

 

It is designed for real instrument recording, real voices in open-air film sound mixed/replaced with studio overdubs and things like real drums where microphones are placed at variable distances causing the phasing issues.

In BFD and Superior drummer, if they were out of phase, nobody would buy them. They have already been phase adjusted. In using triggers from real drums a similar phasing can occur due to latency though not quite the same thing. So testing with triggers will probably give you a more noticeable result.

 

There's a simple method to get any phase-correction plugin that is good to work on spilled audio tracks (naturally recorded bleed).
Highlight the section on the track (I'll use floor tom as an example) where the tom hit has a big boost (noticeable) in the wav file. Then loop that small section leaving a bit on either side with the reference track and solo only it and the reference file(generally overheads). It's painful to listen to as it's like a broken record....just leave it until the phase adjustment matches it. BOOM...done. Same for hats, snare passages etc...

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 30, 2021

Right right..

BFD is very well made indeed, very Natural sounding,
but perfection doesn't exist, and one could also be adjusting the mic positions and relative levels..

So since I don't have real multi miked material, I though the BFD scenario could be worth a try.

Also it's usually not the warmest sound,
so I thought maybe this alignment could take it all one step further..
(and well as I said, the effect is clear/apparent)


Now that I think about it tho, there's one library with very apparent Phasing issues, Afflatus..
Maybe it's worth a try too, if this could correct it for good the library will be one step closer to *perfection..
(alas it still won't have proper staccato tho..)


But in any case, can you confirm this is the right way of using it?
I mean, having all sub tracks receiving on the Same Channel..?

 

Exactly, what a cheeky little scamp @BaSsDuDe is…

 

Ok think of it this way - One way - One sends and every other in the single group (drums i.e.) are the receivers. You can of course make a second 3rd, 4th 5th sender... You will have to know which is which then. That becomes complicated. If you were recording say an entire percussion section in an orchestra and also had multiple overhead and room mics, you would definitely go the more complicated path as there would likely be more than two pairs of overhead microphones.

SO - In a single drumkit - The most common overheads are either a single stereo file or two mono files.
The strongest OH is the reference. You then phase-align with the second OH. That should be the smallest adjustment. This is if the overheads are going to be way up in the mix. (Some people use the snare) - Then everything else next.
It is designed to work with natural recordings as it's primary selling point, not because it cannot fix phasing in samples being played in the same manner, but because it is the most common area that phasing issues occur. and where it is targeted at
You will know if you have fixed a phasing issue by ear if you have good monitors. The sound will not only be cleaner, but you will also hear the tonality improve.

The worst sample phasing I have seen and I am sure someone has seen much worse, was where it was out by 900+ samples. That's not much in the scheme of 44.1Khz or 48Khz, but in terms of phasing, that is a lot for the same instrument from the same recording session in the same room.
The underlined above is the key reason to use it.

If you can get hold of an unmixed real drumset that has even small phasing issues, this is the best test of all.

P.S - In two OH files, the strongest or the better choice unless the entire tune is on floor tom is the OH with the snare most prominent as the KD being centered should be in both.
A small order that works for me as the default unless the drummer is all over the kit (not too often).
1. Main OH (Send)
2. 2nd OH (1st receive and 2nd send if desired) - everything else receives (for me i.e. as all are in overheads)
3. KD (and sub-kick mic too)
4. Snare top
5. Snare bottom
6. Hi-hats
7. Tom 1
8. Tom 2
9. Tom 3
10. Tom 4 (if more do these next)
11. Ride cymbal (if extra mic)
12. Room mic1
13. Room mic 2 (these last 2 are not critical as they're more for ambience and for most recordings should not be too loud)

See below vid for multiple sends.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 31, 2021

This guy though he does not cover everything does a good job for most people in this site and forum who want to see it in action working on a real drum kit and how to set it up.
He also probably explains it better than I do and I learned a different way to do it by using multiple sends which is what you may have been asking.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 31, 2021