Anti-Phase Question

In the Studio
1

Hello~

So I’m still fairly new to mixing, and have a question about phasing.
I’ve been using the Waves PAZ Analyzer on everything I do - mostly for the visual representation of the stereo field - and up to this point, I’ve been religiously trying to get rid of every little spike into the anti-phase zones that I see.

However, I’ve started to question this practice recently as I’ve been trying to achieve wider mixes, and sometimes found that things do sound better/wider when there’s some spiking of anti-phase.

So my question really is; How much does it actually matter to be ironing out the anti-phase spikes?
Was I right to be super-vigilant about it, even when my mixes felt narrower as a result? Or is it actually fine to have spikes here and there if it is achieving a wider feel?

Also, for clarity’s sake, I don’t have things constantly sitting out of phase and cancelling each other out - I think that’s a different issue? It’s mainly just momentary spikes into the anti-phase areas. Image attached to demonstrate;
AntiPhaseSpikes

2

These momentary spikes can originate in the acoustic recording, due to microphone positions and the response the certain frequencies. They can also be introduced by spatial effect that add them for the widening and psychoacoustic effects you described.
bottom line, it’s usually not necessary to ‘iron them out’.