M-S micing

[drumsound]

Ribbons make nice side mics BTW.

So do condensers. Why do people always feel the need to talk about ribbon mics as the side mics in an MS configuration? Condenser mics have much more going for them in my opinion. If you want any sort of detail in your ambience, you're going to get much more of that from most condenser mics at a distance than with ribbon mics.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

+1 on the condenser use in MS. Much more detail.

I like condensers for the side too. I was just saying ribbons sound good because they were mentioned in the first post and a couple others.

I just a whole record with the bulk of the band recorded with 4050s in M/S and it's freaking great.

[j_howell]

Word. I mentioned the ribbon as the "side" mic 'cause, well...it's the only mic I have that does figure-8, so I really don't have a whole lot of choice there!

Thanks for the advice, all. Very cool. At the moment I don't have any particular super-whoop-de-dink anything to try M-S on, per se, just finally getting my little room running and looking for ideas to try out in general.

I wonder, matching-wise, how any of the modern, cheapie ribbons would compare to the RCA? Obviously, I'd rather have another RCA (and may actually be able to borrow one, incidentally), but don't have the $$$ for it...

[Pascal Garneau]

If you don't have a dedicated encoder you can print the 3 sources (Mid -SideL -SideR) to three tracks. Then put the mid in the center the the sides hard panned and bring them up evenly to adjust the width of the signal.

Ribbons make nice side mics BTW.

Don't forget to invert the phase on one of the "Side" channels.

[drumsound]

If you don't have a dedicated encoder you can print the 3 sources (Mid -SideL -SideR) to three tracks. Then put the mid in the center the the sides hard panned and bring them up evenly to adjust the width of the signal.

Ribbons make nice side mics BTW.

Don't forget to invert the phase on one of the "Side" channels.

That was covered in the post above mine.

[Nick Sevilla]

Ribbons make nice side mics BTW.

So do condensers. Why do people always feel the need to talk about ribbon mics as the side mics in an MS configuration? Condenser mics have much more going for them in my opinion. If you want any sort of detail in your ambience, you're going to get much more of that from most condenser mics at a distance than with ribbon mics.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

+1 on the condenser use in MS. Much more detail.

I like condensers for the side too. I was just saying ribbons sound good because they were mentioned in the first post and a couple others.

I just a whole record with the bulk of the band recorded with 4050s in M/S and it's freaking great.

I like using ribbons in the dual figure-8 stereo M-S mode, where you use two ribbons to do the M-S thing, this works well too.

But, for me, as a general rule, if doing M-S, I do it with two of the same mic, it helps a LOT when EQ-ing out the mic deficiencies (bumps at 3K, dips after 12K, etc...) since I can use the same EQ setting for both mics, and get a more accurate picture of the instrument. For this I use a Stereo EQ that can be linked together, like an Avalon AD2055, or a Summit EQ200 or EQP 200B, before going into my mixer to do the phase reverse thing.

Cheers

[stinkpot]

I just a whole record with the bulk of the band recorded with 4050s in M/S and it's freaking great.

+1 on the pair of 4050's. I've been doing a lot of drum recording with this setup lately and am so pleased with the results. Best drum sounds I've ever gotten. I love the detail that comes out.

[cgarges]

Don't forget to invert the phase on one of the "Side" channels.

Not just one of the side channels, the multi of the positive lobe of the side mic. Otherwise, the image will be reversed.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Vogon]

Just a heads up to MS fans: Take a look at the Beyer MC740 (plots), it has the closest matching pattern-set I've heard.

[Pascal Garneau]

Don't forget to invert the phase on one of the "Side" channels.

Not just one of the side channels, the multi of the positive lobe of the side mic. Otherwise, the image will be reversed.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Since both "Side" channels are carrying an identical signal, flip either one. Just make sure that the inverted channel gets panned right (as in the opposite of left). Unless it's Backwards Day.

We're probably saying the same thing, but I'll admit your tech jargon went over my head.

[Professor]

What he meant is that one side of the fig-8 mic is considered "positive" meaning that the electrical signal is accurate to nature and swings positive when the air pressure increase and swings negative when the pressure decreases. That's usually the front side of the microphone. Sound coming at the mic from the rear will produce an electrical signal that is backwards from nature - the signal will turn negative when air pressure increases (pushes) against the ribbon, and positive when the pressure decreases.
So as long as the front of your figure-8 microphone is always facing left, then yes it would be the positive copy panned left, the inverted (negative) copy panned right.
But if you set up with the fig-8 mic facing to right right, then the positive split would go there and the inverted split would go to the left.

Does that make more sense?

-Jeremy

[j_howell]

Thanks for all the swell info, kids!