Topic: Mid/Side Weirdness

[hummat]

Question for all ya'll mid/side folks. . . .

Taped Johnny Sketch outside on Sunday and ran the LSD2 M/S.  When I decode it I am getting some weirdness.  The left channel sounds louder, but the right channel looks louder. I suppose the fix it just to pan a little 'til things even out, but something just seems a bit off.  FYI- I have also tried swapping my channels just in-case I had things cabled wrong at run-time (which I am very certain I didn't).  The decode on the swapped channels does not sound right at all, so I've ruled that out as an issue.  The only thing I can think off, is that since I was a tad bit off-center, I may have just picked up more in the left lobe of the figure-8?Huh?

Any suggestions/ideas?

-jay

[boojum]

My guess is that you had the mics oriented wrong in relation to themselves.  How are you decoding the set?  If you are not using a plugin like Voxengo you might be running into problems there. 

[hummat]

Using a plugin(s), tried 2 actually with similar results.

-jay

[habit]

I gennerally notice the same thing on my MS recordings. Although when watching the levels it looks like the stereo image should be way out of whack, but when listening it sounds right on. I run Voxengo Inline with the Schoeps MS Tool through Wavelab.

Same thing you're experiencing so if there is a better way to go about things I'm all ears as well.

Thanks,
Jeff

[rowjimmytour]

Have you ran ms before w/ the LSD2 and got good results? When I had my TL's I tried to keep the dB clsoe to equal when I ran MS but then while I decoded I would pan in or out until I got the sound I liked. In my experience running ms I found I did a 3:1 w/ card being 3 and side 1 but of all the software I liked SF w/ the voxengo plug in best. You can mix in real time and hear your results as you pan. good luck.
Peace

[hummat]

Triple-checked everything last night. 
Polarity switchs on the mic were correct. 
Swapped L/R and tried to decode - sounded like ass, I was right the first time.
Tried inverting polarity on the Side channel, just in case - same problem, but reversed.

The answer. . . best I can tell, being set up a few feet off center is what is accounting for the unequality.  Also having a good size crowd on one side and nothing but a brick wall on  the other could have played into it as well. 

Used the built-in M/S decoder in Logic Express 8, tweaked the direction control until things sounded about right.  The wave still looks weird but as long as it sounds good, I don't care what things look like.  Sounds real nice through speakers, still a little weird through headphones, but I'm content and I'm done.

-jay