Mid/Side in CueMix

[dazzjazz]

I'm recording my Piano using the mid-side technique and getting good results.
I have the M/S button enabled in Cuemix, then I copy the mid channel to another track and invert its phase.

Is this the right thing to do?

Darren

[RDBDR]

Hi Darren,

If you have the M/S button engaged on a pair of inputs, then Cuemix will decode them into Left/Right and put the results right back onto the same two input channels. What you record will be the decoded Left and Right sound, not the original mid and side signals. You do not need to copy either input signal onto another track.

I use mid-side for a lot of chamber music concerts. The Studio Projects LSD2 mic is great for this purpose.

---rick

[dazzjazz]

Thanks!
I have the results going to two mono tracks unfortunately - how should I pan them?

Darren

[RDBDR]

If you’ve already recorded the tracks, then you can combine them into a stereo track as follows:

First, create a new Aux track – assign it’s audio input to bus 1-2 (or any other unused stereo bus). Assign it’s output to wherever you want (Main Out 1-2 or Phones 1-2 or whatever.)

Then, assign the audio output of your two mono tracks to the same bus as the input to the Aux track.

Now, pan the mono Left track full Left and the mono Right track full Right on the Mixing Board.

Now you can manipulate the Aux stereo track as you wish using a Trim insert or the Mixing Board. You can also adjust the Left and Right levels independently via their respective mono tracks and/or change the stereo field and width by changing how much you pan the mono tracks.

Hope this is clear enough to be helpful.

---rick

[dazzjazz]

I should be able to get it happening, but what is a trim insert?

[RDBDR]

Check out the DP 5 manual – page 813 – for the Trim plug-in.

You may also want to look at the MS Decoder plug-in on page 799.

---rick

[dazzjazz]

Thanks,
I tool your intial advice. Should I have the MS decoder on an insert on the Aux track that is fed by the M/S tracks?

Darren

[dazzjazz]

Should I use the pan on the track or on the send?
I'm a little confused !

Darren

[Shooshie]

Darren, think it through. You've already got a box decoding Mid/Side for you, and outputting it in a stereo pair. Now, what would you do with a stereo pair? You wouldn't really want it to go to 2 mono tracks. Let it go to stereo tracks. The panning is self evident. You might use the Trim plugins to get maximum separation, but even those should be easy to figure out. Music recording and engineering really come down to common sense after you learn a few basics, and that common sense just keeps getting deeper and more confident. I suggest you experiment until you hear what you know to be right. That's how nearly everyone here did it. You sound flustered and uncertain of your ability to figure out what is happening. Just trace the routing. Use your finger if you have to, but figure out where it's coming from and where it's going.

Have you worked through Mid/Side to see how it works? It's common sense again, but applied ingeniously in one of those little gems of inspiration that teach us that natural laws are sometimes strange while making perfect sense. It's the simple made to look complex, but it teaches you something that makes it simple again. I'm not going to spell it out, for that would defeat the purpose of working through it in your mind. How does M/S make stereo? What happens when you adjust the gain of either mic? Try it and visualize what is happening. Then I think everything else you've asked will fall into place very easily.

Shooshie