Erhu / Chinese bowed multi-mic phase: bridge, body, and companion beds vs OH and room fold
Close spots on erhu bridge, snake-skin body, and silk strings feel huge and detailed in the booth and in cans. On phone speakers or YouTube mono fold, body, Mid, and bow attack often thin or cancel against stereo OH and room paths that carry the same stroke a few milliseconds later. That is usually polarity and arrival time between spots and shared beds, 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 sitar, concert harp, and general woodwind: this page is about Chinese bowed erhu (and yangqin/pipa companion beds) alone. Cross-links: sitar, oud, woodwind/flute, harp, kora, acoustic guitar, percussion.
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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 erhu / Chinese bowed multi-mic phase failure sounds like
- Silk-string attack huge in cans, thin on phones. Close bridge/body spots share the same bow stroke a few ms apart from stereo OH or room.
- Portamento and vibrato shimmer hollow on YouTube. Spot + stereo bed + room stack cancels Mid when the platform folds.
- Snake-skin body present in booth, gone on phone. Hard L/R across bridge and resonator paths collapse on mono fold.
- Erhu hero vs yangqin / pipa / dizi bed fight. Companion beds and erhu spots share low-mid energy without polarity hygiene.
- Fine in headphones, broken for livestream viewers. Same destinations as YouTube / social mono, OBS livestream, sitar, woodwind / flute.
Fast mono audition (about 60 seconds)
- Solo the stream / mix bus (not only booth headphones). Flip a utility to mono.
- A/B erhu bridge/body spots muted vs open under stereo OH and room. Note what disappears: body, Mid, silk attack, vibrato sustain.
- Solo pairs: bridge vs body, erhu vs yangqin/pipa bed, spot vs OH.
- Check correlation on the delivery bus, then with the full Chinese ensemble bed muted vs open.
Order of operations (before spectral phase rotation)
1. Polarity between spots and shared OH / room
Flip bridge or body spots vs stereo OH, or erhu vs companion bed, when body or Mid return immediately on a clear bow stroke. Guide: polarity vs phase. Cousins: sitar, harp, kora.
2. Small delay align secondary paths to the hero bow image
OH and room often arrive later than close bridge or resonator spots. A few samples of delay on the secondary often restores body better than EQ for "more silk."
3. One hero erhu image to the stream or mix bus
Do not send every bridge, body, neck, and OH all hot into the livestream or print. Pick a hero Mid-safe bed (often a focused stereo OH plus selective spots), keep extras muted or low. Parallel stacks are classic thin-erhu on phone fold. Related: overhead & room.
4. Prefer hero bridge / body as the tone; quieter color spots
Secondary closes should color proximity and silk-string identity, not replace the hero image for the stream mix. If every close sits at full level under a loud OH, mono fold almost always hollows the bowed bed.
5. Skip wideners and Haas on erhu beds before fold
Short-delay width and stereo imagers make booth headphones shimmer and phones hollow. Keep critical low-mid and 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge/body spots + stereo OH | Body / Mid cancel on stream | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter secondary |
| Erhu spot + room / OH | Hollow silk attack, thin vibrato | Polarity + timing; hero Mid-safe path |
| Erhu + yangqin / pipa / dizi bed | Hero vs companion fight on phone | Polarity + delay; hero image |
| Stereo pair hard L/R across bridge/resonator | Huge in cans, thin on phone | Center critical lows; simplify width |
| Board / matrix → OBS / YouTube | Fine in booth, hollow for viewers | OBS livestream / YouTube mono |
Studio / livestream checklist (to send)
1. Label spots vs OH vs room vs companion bed
Name bridge, body, neck, yangqin/pipa, stereo OH, 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 Chinese ensemble bed
Solo body and Mid in mono. Then open silk attack and vibrato sustain in mono. Note fights between secondary color and hero bed.
3. Watch phone, YouTube, and social destinations
Most remote viewers hear mono or near-mono. Guides: YouTube / social mono, OBS livestream, TikTok / Reels / Shorts.
4. Re-check after stand / seating / bow-angle moves
Instrument angle and mic height change distance and bleed. Flip polarity again after you move stands, change OH height, or re-seat the player.
When PHIXER helps
- The material is already stereo and must stay stereo (stereo OH, 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 spot+OH under room, or to replace a time-align edit on the matrix.
Decision table
| You notice… | First try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Body thins when OH opens under spots | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter secondary | Arrival-time fight |
| Erhu + yangqin/pipa harsh and hollow | Polarity; timing; hero Mid-safe path | Dual-path spot + companion |
| 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 erhu 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 secondary under spots/OH.
- You want PHIXER to make the erhu louder, wider, or "more silk." 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 OH/room → delay-align secondary → one hero image → quieter extras under hero → skip Haas/imagers → mono-check with full Chinese ensemble bed → PHIXER only for leftover stereo cancellation on a stereo bed → fold again for stream / studio print.
Related guides
- Shakuhachi / Japanese bamboo flute multi-mic phase
- Charango / Andean ensemble multi-mic phase
- Sitar / Indian classical multi-mic phase
- Oud / Middle Eastern lute multi-mic phase
- Woodwind / sax / flute / clarinet section multi-mic phase
- Lever / pedal concert harp multi-mic phase
- Kora / West African harp multi-mic phase
- Acoustic guitar multi-mic phase
- Percussion / hand drums multi-mic phase
- Overhead & room mic phase
- Polarity vs phase rotation
- When not to use PHIXER
- YouTube / social mono fold checklist
- Twitch / OBS livestream mono fold
Watch
- PHIXER tutorial + how it sounds (walkthrough with audio examples)