Topic: M/S Recording Question

[BWolf]

So how do you set your levels?  I ran M/S for the first time and I just did a little improv.  I am going to do the M/S decoding in post.

So should you set the Mid so that its what level you like and then set the side to the same level (this makes the side have a lot lower on the levels on the V3).  Or should I set them so they both have the same levels on the V3 (this way the gain on the side is higher then the mid).

So will it matter how hot I run each chanel?  What is the proper way to do this?

[anhisr]

I ran my V3 so that the levels on the meters were equal.

[krebsy]

I usually just set my levels as I normally would, that is, as high as I feel comfortable without clipping.  Doing this will usually mean adding more gain to the S channel than the M.  You will get summing when you decode, so the L/R levels will be higher than the M/S was.  My theory was just to get max resolution at the time of recording, then set my final L/R levels when doing the decoding.

[BWolf]

So I went with the first option (having the gain set the same and the levels different).  Should I normalize the S before doing the decoding into L and R?  Or should I just do the decode for the L and R and then normalize if need be?

[krebsy]

I would probably do the matrix first, then normalize if needed.  With the summing during M/S > L/R you may not need to normalize at all after you mix.

[Dr.FOB]

I find after many MS outings that setting at the same gain yields the best results.
But, this is based on using MS only in an FOB setting where the side levels at peak could overload if the gain was set higher.
Check out the 5/3/06 Mule show.  It's got amazing separation.
YMMV