[LAU] M/S processing w/o 'convenient' plugins

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

On 05/19/2016 04:18 PM, William Light wrote:

> On Tue, 17 May 2016, at 15:45, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:

>> But: M/S processing is really only useful when you are remastering a
>> stereo mix without access to the individual components, or maybe if you
>> are dealing with stereo mic recordings as part of a larger mix.
>> If you are creating a multitrack mix from individual channels, M/S buys
>> you exactly nothing that couldn't be done better and more precisely in
>> the individual channels.
>
> Disagree vehemently, M/S processing gives very natural control of the
> stereo image. I find that I use M/S EQing when I want to shape the
> stereo image subtly and M/S compression when I want to exaggerate it or
> make it more exciting.

I should clarify: I do like to use M/S matrixing to control the width of 
a stereo image, and M/S is a godsend when you have to fix a master after 
the fact.
But otherwise I think that M/S eqing and compression are a bit of a 
fashion thing and highly overrated, unless the goal is for creative 
_distortion_ of a stereo sum. I don't mean that in a judgmental sense, 
only in the sense that anything you accomplish by MS processing will be 
artificial, not "high-fidelity":

* Using different amounts of compression in M and S will make the width 
of the stereo image change with envelope, something that is never 
observed in real life. That is not to say the results cannot be awesome 
at the hands of, say, a creative hiphop producer. For example, why not 
have the kick duck the S channel and have the image "bloom" again after 
every beat?

* Using different EQs on M and S is less obviously weird, but also 
rarely observed in nature. I could imagine a brilliant instrument 
enclosed in carpeted side walls could lead to something like a treble 
roll-off in S. And of course vinyl mastering pretty much required to 
roll of S in the bass so as not to cut through into the neighboring 
grooves. Again, if you want to shape a sound, go ahead.

My remark was more aimed at the fact that people all over are raving 
about how cool it sounds when you hit the "M/S" button in a plugin as if 
it was some magical fairy dust, and few of them even have a clear 
picture of what it means both in theory and in practice.




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Jörn Nettingsmeier
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