Topic: M/S on stage setup?

[china_rider]

Hey all, ok.. now that I have my new to me pair to TLs my brain is spinning with setup possibilities of TLs + 480s -> R-4.  I've been offered alot of stage access lately.  There is one in particular coming up that I'm trying to get creative with my setup.

The stage will probably be about 20' wide.  Setup will be the main female vocalist + keyboard  in the cener with bass and guitar on either side.  Percussion will be on one side of those while horns will be on the other.  Backup vocals are on the horns side at the edge of the stage.  The music is generally soul/funk/blues.

Call me crazy, but I was thinking of trying the TLs in the center probably M/S while running my 482s split at about 20' on each side.  I should also have a seperate recorder with me where I will be able to pull a SBD to mix in later as needed.

The only thing that makes me nervous is that I will be the only taper there so don't want to get crazy with my setup and screw up the recording so in the end the band has nothing.

If all else fails I can just fall back to AUD + SBD but now that I have toys that is no fun.

What do you all think?

Stay Kind,
Dana

[krebsy]

M/S really shines onstage.  You have tremendous control over the stereo imaging of the final mix.

[eric.B]

While I do think that in post the m/s will give you the most options for fine tuning your mix, but by adding two more mics flanked/spaced, it will make the ability to "control" the m/s kinda useless IMO.  I love the tight center that m/s (xy) produces onstage, and I would think that adding two mics spread on either side would give you a great addition to the mix.  If it were me, and I realized that I had control of the levels of the two spread mics in the mix, I would run x/y in the middle with the ld's.  Why control the "s" of the m/s mix when you can do it with two flanked mics?   

R U talking about putting each 482 10 feet from the center L and R?  if the stage is 20feet wide, Id say go 7 or 8 feet left and right of the center TL's with the 482's and run xy with the TL's..  This will give you the ability to mix in the two flanked mics to taste, while still have a good center image.

M/S really shines onstage.  You have tremendous control over the stereo imaging of the final mix.

absolutely!  I love m/s as a single pair..  great imaging, distance clues AND control..  but with two added mics on each side, I think your putting in too many variables for post mix.. 

all this if ya wanna keep it simple..  feel free to run the TL's in m/s and Im sure youll get good results, but it might just be TOO many variables to achieve the same results with xy..

ymmv of course..

[RebelRebel]

the one amped gig that I did this year , I ran M/S with two flanking cardiods. I really dont like omnis in a PA enviroment.  It sounded alright I guess, of course I dont know anything about what a live recording should sound like so I have no baseline..but to me, it was decent. I suggest doing the M/S processing first, and simply mix the two flanks in to taste.

While I do think that in post the m/s will give you the most options for fine tuning your mix, but by adding two more mics flanked/spaced, it will make the ability to "control" the m/s kinda useless IMO.  I love the tight center that m/s (xy) produces onstage, and I would think that adding two mics spread on either side would give you a great addition to the mix.  If it were me, and I realized that I had control of the levels of the two spread mics in the mix, I would run x/y in the middle with the ld's.  Why control the "s" of the m/s mix when you can do it with two flanked mics?   

R U talking about putting each 482 10 feet from the center L and R?  if the stage is 20feet wide, Id say go 7 or 8 feet left and right of the center TL's with the 482's and run xy with the TL's..  This will give you the ability to mix in the two flanked mics to taste, while still have a good center image.

M/S really shines onstage.  You have tremendous control over the stereo imaging of the final mix.

absolutely!  I love m/s as a single pair..  great imaging, distance clues AND control..  but with two added mics on each side, I think your putting in too many variables for post mix.. 

all this if ya wanna keep it simple..  feel free to run the TL's in m/s and Im sure youll get good results, but it might just be TOO many variables to achieve the same results with xy..

ymmv of course..