D PREMIER PHASE BUTTON

[ogs]

Very few modern (digital) recordings will have this wrong, but older ones and transfers from analog might. If you feel a recording sounds dull and uninvolving, as if there is a thin fog over the sound, try to flip the phase.
One example is 'Fairground Attraction' 'The First of a Million Kisses'. This is most likely recorded with just a stereo pair of microphones. With phase normal the band sounds great, but Eddi Reader's voice is a bit closed in. Flip the phase and her voice snaps into focus, but the band is now a little diffuse. I've always imagined that Eddi looks at the band while singing so has her back on the microphones. If she does have a separate mic it is probably connected with the wrong polarity.
The effect of absolute phase reversal is subtle and easiest to hear on time coincident speakers...