Why bass disappears in mono
If your kick and bass feel huge in stereo but thin on a phone, you are hearing phase cancellation — not a bad EQ decision.
Educational Mono compatibility Mixing
What phase cancellation is
When left and right channels carry the same frequency at opposing phase, they cancel when summed to mono. Low frequencies are especially fragile: a small timing or phase offset between layers can erase the fundamental that carries weight.
Where it shows up in real sessions
- Stereo bass / synth stacks — wide processing that drifts phase across the spectrum
- Layered kicks and 808s — similar content fighting in the low band
- Doubled guitars and vocals — hollow mids when collapsed
- Dual-mic or dual-DI takes — capture-time offsets that become cancellation later
Polarity flip vs phase rotation
A hard polarity invert is all-or-nothing. It can help one band and wreck another. Frequency-aware phase rotation nudges problematic bands so mono energy returns while useful stereo width stays intact. That is the approach behind PHIXER.
Quick check: collapse your master (or bus) to mono. If low end collapses, you have a phase problem — not just a loudness problem.
A practical fix
- Insert a stereo phase-repair tool on the collapsing bus or layered group
- Target the hollow band with From / To
- Raise Amount until mono bass returns; back off if the image gets too narrow
- A/B in mono and stereo — trust ears and meters
PHIXER is a free stereo phase-repair plugin for Win · Mac · Linux (VST3 / CLAP / AU). Early downloads are already in the wild — grab it and check your next mono bounce.