How much should I care about Correlation Meter going red?

[isuckatproducing]

Hi,

I keep Correlation Meter in Logic 12 on my master and keep checking it all the time when soloing tracks.

Very very often when soloing tracks with some reverb and delay on it, it goes to the left, which afaik it shouldn't do in a "perfect" mix.

When I listen to it in mono, all seems to be fine.

It's enough that I put some stereo delay and shimmer reverb and the arrow goes to left.

[Benedict]

Pah! All the amazing records made from the late-40s (Hank Williams) to at least the mid-80s were done with none of these candyass meters for irrelevancies like toenail length. The more people obsess about these effectively made-up issues that just so happen to correlate with the new, totally useless (yet impressively priced) pluginz they just released, the more they struggle to get the Work done. Pick a thing and do it. Ignore what DAWvilly has to tell you.

[isuckatproducing]

Pah! All the amazing records made from the late-40s (Hank Williams) to at least the mid-80s were done with none of these candyass meters for irrelevancies like toenail length. The more people obsess about these effectively made-up issues that just so happen to correlate with the new, totally useless (yet impressively priced) pluginz they just released, the more they struggle to get the Work done. Pick a thing and do it. Ignore what DAWvilly has to tell you.

Music from the late 40s+ sounds like ass to me, but perhaps I'm wrong and you can show me some examples of good sounding music from those times?

[legendCNCD]

When soloing? I'd only look at it as a whole, not for solos. Then again, if a solo channel is most of the time out, it might be hard to hear it in mono, thats the only check I'll do.

[Zeisner]

Do you judge the spectral balance of an entire mix by soloing instruments? No, you listen to the whole mix. The same applies to mono compatibility (or should apply).

[Reale]

In one of the recent mixes I did of one of my tracks the vocal (which I sampled from youtube) for some reason had bad correlation levels as far as the SPAN meter could say.

I got kinda worried and had to remove all the sides information above 2k Hz to get the correlation back killing the whole stereo information I was really loving. At the end of the day I tried listening to it on different devices, both in Mono and Stereo and could still listen to those parts so sometimes I guess it's fine and correlation meters can get something wrong.

[isuckatproducing]

In one of the recent mixes I did of one of my tracks the vocal (which I sampled from youtube) for some reason had bad correlation levels as far as the SPAN meter could say.

I got kinda worried and had to remove all the sides information above 2k Hz to get the correlation back killing the whole stereo information I was really loving. At the end of the day I tried listening to it on different devices, both in Mono and Stereo and could still listen to those parts so sometimes I guess it's fine and correlation meters can get something wrong.

The issue is I only have headphones so I can't switch between devices and have to trust the meters.

[Reale]

In one of the recent mixes I did of one of my tracks the vocal (which I sampled from youtube) for some reason had bad correlation levels as far as the SPAN meter could say.

I got kinda worried and had to remove all the sides information above 2k Hz to get the correlation back killing the whole stereo information I was really loving. At the end of the day I tried listening to it on different devices, both in Mono and Stereo and could still listen to those parts so sometimes I guess it's fine and correlation meters can get something wrong.

The issue is I only have headphones so I can't switch between devices and have to trust the meters.

I currently moved to NY from Italy to study and I don't have my studio anymore, so I also produce on headphones only basically, as I have 2 terrible speakers that can't even be called that way probably

I tend to test my mix literally everywhere I can, laptop, phone, iPad, earbuds. We gotta do what we can I guess

[Aloysius]

This problem bothered me for a very long time. Years in fact. In the end I found a solution that works for me. RJStudios - SideMinderMax. Now I never worry about correlation issues. I use it on all my stereo tracks.

[isuckatproducing]

Do you judge the spectral balance of an entire mix by soloing instruments? No, you listen to the whole mix. The same applies to mono compatibility (or should apply).

And what if it sounds okay when not solo but not okay when not solo? (If that’s even possible)

[Zeisner]

And what if it sounds okay when not solo but not okay when not solo? (If that’s even possible)

That's not possible. Either it sounds okay or not okay.

[Zeisner]

The issue is I only have headphones so I can't switch between devices and have to trust the meters.

Get a pair of speakers, even if they're just as big as your fists. It will make everything a lot easier.

[kernaudioio]

the broadband correlation number is a blunt instrument. it tells you the overall relationship between L and R, but it doesn't tell you where in the spectrum the problem lives. reverbs and stereo delays almost always show negative correlation in the high frequencies, which is completely normal and usually not a problem in mono.

what matters more is whether the specific frequency ranges that carry your main content (roughly 200Hz to 2kHz for most material) are still intact when summed. a shimmer reverb sitting above 5kHz going negative correlation is almost never audible in mono. a stereo widening plugin phase-cancelling your low mids is a real problem.

when you're on headphones without reference speakers, the most reliable check is just to use your DAW's mono button on the master, solo nothing, and see if anything disappears or gets thin. the meter is a starting point, not a verdict.