| genericperson wrote on Mon, 09 August 2004 21:03 |
Hello everyone,
I see hints and pieces of people referring to MS processing during mastering. Does this resemble mid/side micing in any way?
The way I understand mid/side micing is to take a figure-8 mono recording faced sideways to the source, duplicate the signal into the recorder, phase reverse one of the tracks, and then add a cardiod of the same music in the center and blend to taste.
Trying to apply this princple to mastering a stereo track: I could see collapsing the stereo track into a mono version and then blending it into the center, but i'm not sure how the figure-8 type of thing would work here, or if i'm totally missing the point.
Thanks in advance for any insights. 
|
MS processing allows you to EQ the middle differently from the side, as opposed to left vs. right. The option is built in to some digital processors where it will make MS from LR, apply processing, and go back to LR on the output. You can also use a DAW to make MS and use the processor of your choice. An analog matrix is possible to build with transformers as well. There was a thread about this some time ago. Perhaps Brad can post a link to the archives.
MS is a powerful tool, but can be a powerful way to screw things up. It's probably best used to fix specific problems rather than as a first choice for your daily processing. Few people prefer to use it as their primary tool, some use it frequenctly, but still in the minority, and most seem to consider it a special circumstances tool. When you need it, it's amazing, but I think its best to resist getting carried away. Standard Left and Right EQ/comp is not dead by a long shot. It's great for de-essing however, since the sss is usually on a vocal in the center.
