Hammered dulcimer / mountain dulcimer / zither multi-mic phase: course vs soundboard, room, and OH fold
Close mics on hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, or zither feel woody and detailed in the booth and on stage wedges. On studio mono fold or livestream, body, Mid, and hammer or strum attack often thin or cancel against dual course closes, soundboard, pickup, room, and OH paths that carry the same stroke a few milliseconds later. That is usually polarity and arrival time between hero soundboard and secondary paths, 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 lever harp and marimba / vibraphone pages: this guide is dulcimer-family and zither beds alone.
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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 dulcimer / zither phase failure sounds like
- Hammer attack huge in headphones, thin on phones. Dual closes of the same course share energy a few ms apart.
- Body and sustain cancel on livestream. Soundboard close + room/OH stack notches Mid when the platform folds.
- Left vs right course layout disappears. Hard L/R stereo across the courses collapses on mono fold.
- Mountain dulcimer melody thin under drone. Melody close vs body or pickup without polarity and timing hygiene.
- Fine in the booth, broken for remote viewers. Same destinations as live FOH / foldback, OBS livestream, lever / pedal harp (cousin, not the same instrument).
Fast mono audition (about 60 seconds)
- Solo the stream / mix bus (not only booth headphones). Flip a utility to mono.
- A/B left-course close muted vs open under right-course, soundboard, room, and OH. Note what disappears: body, Mid, hammer attack, sustain.
- Solo pairs: left vs right course, soundboard vs room, stereo bed vs mono fold.
- Check correlation on the delivery bus, then with the dulcimer muted vs full.
Order of operations (before spectral phase rotation)
1. Polarity between dual closes and room / OH
Flip left-course vs right-course, or soundboard vs room, when body or Mid return immediately on a clear hammer or strum. Guide: polarity vs phase. Distinct cousins: lever / pedal harp, marimba / vibraphone, acoustic guitar.
2. Small delay align secondary closes to the hero soundboard image
Spaced course mics and edge closes often arrive earlier than a centered soundboard or shared room. A few samples of delay on the secondary often restores body better than EQ for "more wood."
3. One hero dulcimer / zither image to the stream or mix bus
Do not send left course, right course, soundboard, pickup, room, and OH all hot into the livestream or print. Pick a hero Mid-safe image (often a focused soundboard or coincident pair), keep extras muted or low. Related: overhead & room.
4. Prefer hero soundboard as the tone; quieter color course or room
Secondary closes should color hammer attack and course detail, 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 body.
5. Skip wideners and Haas on dulcimer / zither beds before fold
Short-delay width and stereo imagers make booth headphones bloom and phones hollow. Keep critical low-mid and soundboard 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Left + right course closes | Attack / Mid cancel on stream | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter secondary |
| Soundboard + room / OH | Body disappears on phone | Polarity + delay; hero image |
| Melody close + pickup / DI (mountain dulcimer) | Harsh top, hollow body | Polarity + timing; hero Mid-safe path |
| Stereo pair hard L/R across courses | 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 |
Hammered dulcimer vs mountain dulcimer vs zither (same hygiene, different traps)
Hammered dulcimer
Wide courses, dual hammers, and common left/right close pairs. Treat spaced course mics like a small stereo bed: polarity, timing, then one hero image before fold. Not the same as mallet percussion stage stacks on marimba / vibraphone.
Mountain dulcimer
Narrower body, often melody close plus body or pickup for lessons and livestream. Dual-path acoustic + DI habits matter more than course-pair width. Related acoustic mindset: acoustic guitar.
Zither / concert zither / Appalachian variants
Soundboard and course density vary, but the failure mode is the same: multiple capsules of one stroke into a mono bus. Prefer one Mid-safe hero for phone and social, then residual stereo repair only if a stereo bed must stay stereo.
Studio / livestream checklist (to send)
1. Label course, soundboard, pickup, room, and OH paths
Name left/right course, soundboard, pickup, 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 instrument
Solo body and Mid in mono. Then open hammer attack and sustain in mono. Note fights between secondary color and hero soundboard.
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 helps
- The material is already stereo and must stay stereo (stereo 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 Mid without wrecking the image.
- You are not using it to "fix" unaligned left+right courses under room, or to replace a time-align edit on the matrix.
Decision table
| You notice… | First try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Body thins when second course mic opens | Polarity; delay secondary; quieter secondary | Arrival-time fight |
| Attack + room collapse on stream | Hero image; polarity; delay | Stacked identical content |
| 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 instrument 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 soundboard/room.
- You want PHIXER to make the dulcimer louder, wider, or "more shimmer." 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 course/soundboard vs room/OH → delay-align secondary → one hero image → quieter extras under hero → skip Haas/imagers → mono-check with full instrument → PHIXER only for leftover stereo cancellation on a stereo bed → fold again for stream / studio print.
Related guides
- Lever / pedal concert harp multi-mic phase (cousin string bed, not dulcimer)
- Marimba / vibraphone / mallet multi-mic phase (cousin mallet attack, not dulcimer)
- Acoustic guitar 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
Watch
- PHIXER tutorial + how it sounds (walkthrough with audio examples)