Chamber string quartet / small ensemble multi-mic phase: close spots vs tree/room fold
Close spots on violin I/II, viola, and cello feel detailed and present in the booth and on stage monitors. On studio mono fold or livestream, body, Mid, and bow attack often thin or cancel against Decca tree, ORTF, or room paths that carry the same phrase a few milliseconds later. That is usually polarity and arrival time between spots and secondary paths, plus a stereo bed that was never folded before send. Fix polarity and small delays first. Frequency-aware phase repair belongs only after residual L/R fights remain on stereo beds before mono fold. Distinct from large string-section stacks and full orchestral spot-vs-section pages: this page is about chamber quartet / small string ensemble alone. Cross-links: string section, orchestral, choir, piano stereo.
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PHIXER is free stereo phase-repair (VST3/CLAP/AU · Win/Mac/Linux) from Riverflux Audio. Frequency-aware phase rotation for leftover L/R fights on stereo material. It is not a compressor, not a widener, and not a substitute for mic placement or mono audition of the stream or mix bus. Polarity and timing first; PHIXER after residual spectral fights.
What chamber quartet / small ensemble phase failure sounds like
- Spots huge in cans, thin on phones. Close violin/cello spots and tree/room share the same bow a few ms apart.
- Body and Mid hollow on livestream. Spots + tree + room stack cancels Mid when the platform folds.
- Cello fundamental thin under violin spots. Spot vs tree without polarity and timing hygiene.
- Bow attack present in booth, gone on phone. Hard L/R quartet beds or wide board dumps collapse on mono fold.
- Fine on stage monitors, broken for remote viewers. Same destinations as string section, orchestral spot vs section, OBS livestream.
Fast mono audition (about 60 seconds)
- Solo the stream / mix bus (not only booth headphones). Flip a utility to mono.
- A/B spots muted vs open under tree, ORTF, and room. Note what disappears: body, Mid, attack, sustain.
- Solo pairs: violin spots vs cello, spots vs tree, stereo bed vs mono fold.
- Check correlation on the delivery bus, then with the quartet muted vs full.
Order of operations (before spectral phase rotation)
1. Polarity between close spots and tree / room
Flip spots vs tree, or cello vs violin spots, when body or Mid return immediately on a clear bowed phrase. Guide: polarity vs phase. Cousins: string section, orchestral spot vs section, piano stereo.
2. Small delay align secondary paths to the hero tree or hero spots
Close spots often arrive earlier than the tree or room. A few samples of delay on the spots (or pull on the tree) often restores body better than EQ for "more string."
3. One hero quartet image to the stream or mix bus
Do not send all four spots, tree, ORTF, and room all hot into the livestream or print. Pick a hero Mid-safe image (often tree or a focused spots+tree blend), keep extras muted or low. Parallel stacks are classic thin-quartet on phone fold. Related: overhead & room.
4. Prefer hero tree (or balanced blend) as the tone; quieter color spots
Secondary closes should color detail and proximity, not replace the hero image for the stream mix. If every spot sits at full level under a loud tree, mono fold almost always hollows the ensemble.
5. Skip wideners and Haas on quartet beds before fold
Short-delay width and stereo imagers make booth headphones wide and phones hollow. Keep critical low-mid and cello body centered for stream and print.
6. Only then audition residual L/R spectral fights
If a stereo bed must stay stereo and fold still hollows a band after the steps above, gentle frequency-aware phase rotation can help. Prove it with mono A/B, rotator bypassed vs engaged.
Path types and typical failure modes
| Path | Common mono failure | First fix |
|---|---|---|
| Close spots + tree / ORTF | Body / Mid cancel on stream | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter spots |
| Violin spots + cello spot | Cello fundamental thin | Polarity + timing; hero Mid-safe blend |
| Ensemble + room / hall | Attack and sustain thin on phone | Polarity + delay; hero image |
| Stereo pair hard L/R | Huge in cans, thin on phone | Center critical lows; simplify width |
| FOH / matrix → OBS / print | Fine in booth, hollow for viewers | OBS livestream / live FOH |
Studio / livestream checklist (to send)
1. Label spots vs tree vs room
Name violin I/II, viola, cello spots, tree/ORTF, and room so operators know what hits the livestream or print. Ambiguous stacks get left open and comb on fold.
2. Mono-check delivery bus alone, then with full quartet
Solo body and Mid in mono. Then open bow attack and sustain in mono. Note fights between secondary spots and hero tree.
3. Watch phone, social, and archival destinations
Most remote viewers hear mono or near-mono. Guides: live FOH, OBS livestream, choir & ensemble.
4. Re-check after seating or stand moves
Player position and mic angle change distance and bleed. Flip polarity again after you move stands, change tree height, or reseat the quartet.
When PHIXER helps
- The material is already stereo and must stay stereo (stereo tree, stereo room or board print), not a mono close you fake-widened.
- Polarity, delay align, and hero-path levels are cleaned up, but fold still hollows a band of the spectrum.
- You can A/B mono with the plugin bypassed and hear clearer body or Mid without wrecking the image.
- You are not using it to "fix" unaligned spots under tree, or to replace a time-align edit on the matrix.
Decision table
| You notice… | First try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Body thins when spots open under tree | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter spots | Arrival-time fight |
| Cello thin under violin spots | Polarity; timing; hero Mid-safe blend | Spot vs spot dual-path |
| Fine in booth, thin on phone | Mono delivery bus; pull extras | Booth ≠ viewer fold |
| Stereo bed still cancels by band | PHIXER on that stereo bed | Residual spectral L/R fight |
| Mono quartet alone is dull | Tone / EQ / gain / mic choice | Not an L/R repair job |
When NOT to use PHIXER here
- You have not mono-auditioned the stream / mix bus yet.
- The fix is obviously polarity, delay, one hero image, or quieter spots under tree/room.
- You want PHIXER to make the quartet louder, wider, or "more lush." Wrong job.
- The path is mono and the print problem is balance or EQ.
- See also when not to use PHIXER.
Quick path: Solo delivery bus in mono → polarity spots vs tree/room → delay-align secondary → one hero image → quieter extras under hero → skip Haas/imagers → mono-check with full quartet → PHIXER only for leftover stereo cancellation on a stereo bed → fold again for stream / studio print.
Related guides
- String section / violin multi-mic phase
- Orchestral spot vs section mic phase
- Choir & ensemble multi-mic phase
- Piano stereo / spaced-pair phase
- Lever / pedal concert harp multi-mic phase
- Overhead & room mic phase
- Polarity vs phase rotation
- When not to use PHIXER
- Twitch / OBS livestream mono fold
- Live FOH / foldback / stream phase
Watch
- PHIXER tutorial + how it sounds (walkthrough with audio examples)