What exactly does the "inside out" preset do?

[hellobox]

What exactly does the "inside out" preset do? (effects/stereo/channel mixer)

I tried this on a small audio and then tried to add a delay to the audio. The delay doesn't seem to work.

Thanks for any inputs.

[Kummel]

"Inside out" inverts the signal of the right channel. If you haven't selected the "stereo" option in the delay, both channels neutralize themselve in the effect.

[hellobox]

Thanks, Kummel, for the response.

What would be the change in the "sound/audio" with "inside out"? I tried and it sounds as if the channels are disctinctly playing in L/R... Is this a commonly used audio effect in mixing?

Reg. the "delay" effect after "inside out" - I'll try today.

[DougDbug]

Except as a special-effect, this is a bad thing to do!

The acoustic phase cancelations sort-of confuse the direction-sensors in the brain and it can sound more spacious (or a bit "spacy"). However, the major down-side of your speakers working out ot phase is that you loose bass, because the woofers are "pumping" out-of phase. (One speaker pushes-out while the other pulls-in, and the waves cancel-out.)

This is not a common effect that's applied to a complete-finished stereo file. (If you play the file on a mono system, you will get silence!)

It might be used on one instrument for a special effect, or with the reverb signal, etc. This might be similar to what you are trying to do with the delay??? Mixing some delayed out-of-phase signal with the original? That might be OK... Just keep the delayed signal at a low-level, because delaying and re-combining a signal will create comb-filter effects, which are usually unwanted.

An out-of-phase signal processed by a Dolby Surround decoder (i.e. Pro Logic) will direct the out-of phase sound the rear speakers. This will work great if all of the signal is out-of-phase. But, if you mix some out-of phase sound with your "main", the surround-sound effect won't be as dramatic. (Pro Logic works by "steering" the sound, and the bulk of the sound needs to be out-of-phase to trigger the steering toward the rear.)

[hellobox]

Thanks for the response. It's very informative and useful!

I was actually thinking of using the option to "create" stereo effects for some percussion music. But now, I need to figure out how to get the same effect otherwise. Any suggestions?

[DougDbug]

I was actually thinking of using the option to "create" stereo effects for some percussion music.

Are you saying you have a mono file? The simplest way to simulate stereo is by using the Equalizer to boost/cut some frequencies on one channel and make complementary settings on the opposite channel. (First, you need to create a stereo file with identical left & right channels.)

Here are a couple of previous posts with more detail and a couple of other techniques: Click here and here.

The delay doesn't seem to work.

I forgot to ask what "delay" you were trying to use? The only built-in delay-setting I can think of is with the Echo effect.... You could manually insert silence at the beginning of one channel to create a delay (relative to the other channel). But, you probably don't want to do this with a mono file because it will be unnatural for all of the sound to "start" from the same channel. If you have a stereo file, you get some interesting effects by mixing a delayed-echo from each opposite-channel.

NOTE - Whenever you boost any frequency bands with the equalizer, you should Maximize before you save. Maximizing (AKA normalizing) sets the level so that the peaks are exactly 0dB... If you save a file that's boosted above 0dB, it will get clipped (distorted). There a lot of other effects that can boost the signal too, so I almost always maximize when I'm "playing around" with a file.

[hellobox]

DougDoug,

Thanks so much for the pointers and inputs. Very helpful!

I have been adding stereo effects by simply non-aligning one of the channels by about 0.02. Though the result is ok, I am not very satisfied. After reading your inputs, I changes the eq of one channel, the stereo sound is even better.

But here's more. I took the wav file with identical channels, did "inside out" and then mixed the original wav on top -- one of the channels went completely empty!! I understood what exactly you said in your eartlier post.

Then I did this:

-- Took wav file with identical channels.
-- Applied inside out.
-- Moved one of the channels by 0.02
-- Mixed the original wav to both channels.
-- The result is nice.

Question: Will this be sounding ok in all audio systems (mono/stereo/whatever) without any signal-related problems?

Also, I have another related-question about using digitally-produced sounds. But, I'll create a new topic for everyone's benefit!

Thanks, again.

[DougDbug]

Question: Will this be sounding ok in all audio systems (mono/stereo/whatever) without any signal-related problems?

If you want check-out how it will sound on a mono system:
Effect -> Stereo -> Channel Mixer -> Mono Mix.

I think something will get cancelled-out when you mix the left & right channels, but the sound might still be acceptable... You might even end-up with all of the delayed-stuff cancelled-out, and then you will have the original mono!

[DewDude420]

Inside-out inverts the waveform...peaks become valleys and vise versa. This can do two things, as stated, create a spacious sound that fools your ears into stereo (although it gives me a headache), but the real issue is you wind up with these waves cancelling each other out.

If you take a wav, invert a channel, move it .02 and mix the original back in...you're likely to wind up with some cancellation..although the majority of the new stuff will be "out of phase" and you'll wind up with..i don't really know.

Impulse Response is a good way to add dimension to your sound...the inside-out stuff might work well for you, but a discerning listener will go "eww".

[Kummel]

Mic the inside out with a 0.02 delay will cancel harmonics on one side and boost them on the other side, with a 50 Hz step on all the range. It is close to what I'm doing for mono-to-pseudostereo conversion, the only thing is to choose a level not low enough to get effect, and not loud too much because it might sound unnatural. This way to convert mono to pseudostereo has the advantage to be mono-compatible: mixing both sides will give back the original mono signal without harm made, what is not the case of all mono-to-pseudostereo.