Flamenco / classical nylon guitar multi-mic phase: close body/neck vs room and OH fold
Close mics on flamenco or classical nylon feel detailed in the booth and on stage wedges. On studio mono fold or livestream, body, golpe slap, and nylon attack often thin or cancel against room and OH paths that carry the same guitar a few milliseconds later. That is usually polarity and arrival time between close body/neck and room/OH, plus a stereo nylon 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 nylon beds before mono fold.
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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 nylon 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 flamenco / classical nylon phase failure sounds like
- Body and low strings thin on livestream. Close body and room/OH share the same energy a few ms apart.
- Golpe and nail attack huge in booth, hollow on phone. Hard L/R nylon layouts disappear when the platform folds.
- Neck mic fights body mic. Same content twice with different delay into the matrix.
- Studio or recital fold cancels midrange bloom. Stereo bed never checked in mono before send.
- Fine in cans / wedges, broken for remote viewers. Same destinations as acoustic guitar multi-mic, OBS livestream, live FOH.
Fast mono audition (about 60 seconds)
- Solo the stream / mix bus (not only booth headphones). Flip a utility to mono.
- A/B close body/neck muted vs open under room/OH. Note what disappears: body, golpe, nylon attack, shimmer.
- Solo pairs: body vs neck, guitar vs room, stereo nylon bed vs mono fold.
- Check correlation on the delivery bus, then with guitar muted vs full.
Order of operations (before spectral phase rotation)
1. Polarity between close body/neck and room / OH
Flip body vs neck, or guitar vs room, when body or golpe return immediately. Guide: polarity vs phase. Related: acoustic guitar, guitar dual-cab.
2. Small delay align close to the room / OH image
Close body and neck mics often arrive earlier than room or OH. A few samples of delay on the close (or nudge to the hero room image) often restores body better than any widener.
3. One hero nylon image to the stream or mix bus
Do not send body, neck, room, and OH all hot into the livestream or print. Pick a hero image (often a focused body+neck blend or a strong room), keep extras muted or low. Parallel stacks are classic hollow-body on phone fold. Related: overhead & room.
4. Prefer hero body/room as the body; quieter color neck
The neck should color string detail and proximity, not replace the hero image for the stream mix. If the neck sits at full level under a loud body or room, mono fold almost always hollows body. Pull the neck first.
5. Skip wideners and Haas on nylon beds before fold
Short-delay width and stereo imagers make booth headphones huge and phones hollow. Keep critical low end, body, and golpe centered for stream and print.
6. Only then audition residual L/R spectral fights
If a stereo nylon 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Body + neck close | Body / golpe cancel on stream | Polarity; delay neck; quieter neck |
| Guitar + room / OH | Nylon attack disappears on phone | Polarity + delay; hero image |
| Close + stage bleed | Attack combs or thins | Bleed control; polarity; one hero |
| Stereo nylon pair hard L/R | Huge in cans, gone 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 body vs neck vs room vs OH paths
Name body, neck, room, and OH 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 nylon
Solo body and golpe in mono. Then open nylon attack and shimmer in mono. Note fights between neck color and hero body.
3. Watch phone, social, and archival destinations
Most remote viewers hear mono or near-mono. Guides: live FOH, OBS livestream.
4. Optional null / mono workflow before show
Host-agnostic habit before you go live or print: master bus mono checklist.
When PHIXER belongs on nylon-related stereo
- The material is already stereo and must stay stereo (stereo nylon pair, stereo room 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 golpe without wrecking the image.
- You are not using it to "fix" unaligned body+neck under room, or to replace a time-align edit on the matrix.
Decision table
| You notice… | First try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Body thins when neck opens under body | Polarity; delay neck; quieter neck | Arrival-time fight |
| Golpe + room collapse on stream | Hero image; polarity; delay | Stacked identical content |
| Fine in booth, thin on phone | Mono delivery bus; pull neck/room | Booth ≠ viewer fold |
| Stereo nylon still cancels by band | PHIXER on that stereo bed | Residual spectral L/R fight |
| Mono nylon 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 nylon image, or quieter neck under body/room.
- You want PHIXER to make the guitar louder, wider, or "more flamenco." 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 body vs neck vs room/OH → delay-align close → one hero nylon image → quieter neck under hero → skip Haas/imagers → mono-check with full guitar → PHIXER only for leftover stereo cancellation on a nylon bed → fold again for stream / studio print.
Related guides
- Acoustic guitar multi-mic phase
- Guitar dual-cab / multi-mic phase
- Pedal steel / country steel multi-mic phase
- Bluegrass / acoustic string-band 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