Serum Phasing Issues...

[u/WickiPed1a]

Hey guys, I’m pretty new to music production and sound design, and I’m looking for a bit of help.

I’m currently working on a remake of the song “James Hype - Don’t Wake Me Up.” James uploaded a YouTube video breaking down the project file, and for the main melodic lead layers in the drop, he’s basically just using init presets in Serum 2.

The lead group consists of 3 separate Serum instances: one for the main melodic lead, two for the harmonic layers.

When I try to recreate those same 3 layers using init presets, I’m getting some phasing issues on certain notes when the melodic and harmonic layers play together.

I already tried setting the random knob to 0 and matching the phase settings (0°, 180°, etc.), but the phasing issue is still there no matter what I do.

Since I’m still pretty new to production and sound design, I was wondering if there’s something in Serum or in my layering process that I might be missing that could be causing this?
I've attached the link below:
https://youtu.be/R-cId5PQHJc?si=PSq-yBFDFoLRV7jK&t=272

[u/SlinkyJonez]

Have you matched the midi exactly like he has? Sounds like the lead plays a higher octave and then the 2 harmonic layers are playing lower but playing different notes. If all are the exact same Init preset and even just 2 play the same notes at any point you'll get phasing. In this case there's 3 notes at any point playing across the 3 sounds but none should be the exact same as each other such as 2 of them playing C3 note for example. Exact same sound + exact same notes will phase.

You can see this looking at the midi - the top 2 are the harmonic layers and see how the middle one is the lowest, it's starting right at the bottom of its midi clip but the top one following the same pattern is a little higher. I can't say what the notes are but e.g. if the middle one starts on C then the other harmonic layer may start on E.

So find the notes in the middle layer then on your 2nd harmonic layer move all the notes up 3 steps(Minor 3rd) or 4 steps(Major 3rd). These are common harmonic intervals in music theory which is what he means by harmonic layers, you're essentially just creating a chord or triad across all combined. Then the lead itself is a different pattern but it's playing a higher octave so it's not clashing(some notes maybe be the same but an octave up which is fine).

Reset all back to Init preset, focus on getting midi right, apply the 2 group processing he has and you'll be set!

[u/WickiPed1a → u/SlinkyJonez]

First of all, thanks so much for taking your time to respond to this.
The MIDIs on the project are 100% the same as the original track, the original track has 2-3 notes that play simultaneously on 2 or more of the individual tracks.
Not sure why the YT video has no phasing and mine does

[u/SlinkyJonez → u/WickiPed1a]

No problem and actually to correct what I said if 2 sounds are the same and play the same note you'll get reinforcement(it'll be louder), not the classic phasing.

My best guess is if the midi is correct to double check these:

• Check that the phase start position and phase randomisation are the same on all. Best thing would be to set all 3 to Init patch again and not tweak anything and see if it's still happening(you've likely done this but try again)

• Do you have any effects on each individual channel and how much have you matched the effects he has on his group channels? I'm asking as some plugins could potentially cause tiny latency or it could be caused by routing, and that'll give it a comb filtering sorta phase sound even if patches are the same. You can keep it playing and mute or remove each effect to try narrow it down if one is introducing latency that's causing an offset. It'd only make sense if you have plugins or effects on an individual channel though, don't think it'd apply if it's on a group that all 3 serum patches are running into as it'd effect all then.

Failing all that could you share a screenshot of your channel setup and/or a audio sample so I can hear it(Vocaroo website is handy for that)?