PorterhouseMusic
Well-known member
I think M/S is a cool technique that can yield good results. But It has a couple of inherent things about it that are to be considered. I don't claim to be an expert - but I've deliberately spent a lot of time testing with it for the sole purpose of trying to understand it better and how best to utilize it. Fortunately - there's quite a bit of information out there - but not all of the videos and explanations cover the idiosyncrasies.
A couple of points:
There is an inherent phase cancellation (to one side of the stereo field) built into it. This is probably what you're referring to. It's more a matter of managing this than getting around it- as it's just the way it works.
Because of that partial phase cancelation on one side of the stereo field there is an inherent signal imbalance once all the information gets to the stereo bus. **This drove me nuts at first years ago - until I started to understand it and compensate for it.
The other thing I have discovered - is that not only is there a slight imbalance naturally from this technique - but how the source is positioned relative to the microphones makes a difference. In addition to that - I learned that mic placement relative to room acoustics is also a factor. If the side mic (set to fig 8) is picking up reflections on one side and not the other - this can through off balance as well.
So - it seems - there's a lot going on there to use this technique, get things right, and have it be effective and useful. That's been my experience anyway.
Would love to hear from others who have spent time with this.
This video is one of the better ones in terms of explaining the technical aspect of the technique and the phase cancellation bit:
