V6 User Manual 1.00.book - Studio General

M&S Stereo StripsWhat is M&S?M&S stands for Middle and Side. M&S is a microphone technique which outputs Sum and Differencesignals instead of Left and Right (also known as LR, AB or XY). These Sum and Differencesignals are often known as M&S although this nomenclature is often a source ofconfusion...Sum and Difference signals can be created from a conventional Left, Right source. For example,by using the Pyramix MS Encoder plug-in.(Please see: MS Encoder on page 232).Decoding M&SA Sum and Difference or M&S decoder reconstitutes Left and Right by adding the Difference(S) signal to the Sum (M) signal to produce Left and adding the phase-reversed Difference (S)signal to the Sum (M) signal to produce Right. This is often represented as:L = M + S and R = M - SBenefit of M&SIn mixing as opposed to recording, the main practical benefit of manipulating a signal in theSum and Difference domain is true control over the width of the image. Pyramix can handlethese signals directly thanks to the provision of M&S Stereo strips.M&S Strip controlsAn M&S strip stereo bus send has three controls. The center knob determines the Sum (M) contributionto the Left and Right outputs. The L knob determines the in-phase Difference (S)contribution to the Left output and the R knob determines the out-of-phase Difference (S) contributionto the Right output. The L&R knobs are ganged by default. To move them independentlyclick and drag with the Ctrl key held down.The Phase of both the Sum and Difference channels can be reversed. The single Ø button hasfour possible states:Black: No phase inversionWhite:Sum (M) channel invertedRed:Difference (S) channel invertedBlue:Both channels invertedInverting either Sum or Difference results in the image being reversed left to right.Note: If the Input meters consistently show S higher than M then either the image isvery wide and unlikely to be compatible for a mono listener or the M and S inputs havebecome reversed at some point. Regrettably, this is extremely common when dealingwith location recordings in film and TV.Creating and Configuring MixersIf one of the numerous mixer presets does not quite suit your application it is simple to modify an existing mixer,create one using the Mixer Wizard or design one from scratch. The Wizard can be started from an existing mixer byright-clicking anywhere on the mixer surface and selecting Settings > Wizard...Mixer : Creating and Configuring Mixers 10 - 174