Reversing absolute phase

There's a bit of confusion here between these posts.

In any electrical situation, there is a positive and return leg of the circuit. Sometimes the return leg is synonimous with ground and sometimes there are discreet positive, negative and ground legs. Microhone lines are usually "balanced" three leg circuits with positive, negative and ground legs. Although there is some standardization that pin one should be ground, pin 2 positive an pin 3 negative, it is very easy for positive and negative to be reversed or for positive and ground to be reversed in unbalanced circuits. This ususally happens either by miswiring or in polarity inverting circuits, which are quite common. In certain circumstances it can require alot of attention to detail to ensure that polarity is consistent as well as "correct."

This means that not only is there an opportunity for entire CDs or LPs to reversed, one to another, or for polarity to be reversed from cut to cut within an LP or CD, but also one mic to another within one cut. This last issue makes it impossible to determine a consistent polarity for that cut/album and is very common. Even audiophile engineers who care sometimes have problems ensuring correct polarity.

not an excuse, just a reality. The much more common issue is polarity inverting circuits. An engineer mus be cogniscent of the polarity of every unit in his arsenal of gizmos and make sure to align them. I would hazard that most modern truly professional engineers do this.

Tbg,

this is a little confusing but I believe what Dopogue meant was that there is no qualitative difference between the two in and of themsleves, except relative to keeping the playback polarity the same as the original, which only shows up as significant on phase coherent speakers which refers not only to whether the drivers are alll connected in the same polarity but also to first order crossovers which maintain phase coherence throughout their range.

A manufarturer's choice to include polarity reversal is based on budget and the sonic dgredation involved in the extra stage that most designs would require, and that of the switch to control it.

were the world that simple.

As a recording engineer myslef I agree with Tbg. You just have to know for sure what the poarity of your equipment is. The only caveat is when you're multi-micing with lots of bleed which is something to avoid anyway for this very reason. It is obviously easier the fewer mics and outbaord equipment you use. There is a standard as I mentioned above. It's just that most engineers don't pay enough attention to ensuring it all the way down the line to the point of it being a crap shoot whether any given recording is phase coherent within a given cut, throughout the allbum, or given phase coherency, which polarity it's in. So the question as I see it is not whether it could be but whether the industry could be effectively improved.

...and that's only if the kick was close miced, which it usually is.