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Stereo Recording In The Field
Posted by David C jones on September 21, 2008 at 3:51 amHi All
Next week I’ll be doing some stereo recordings with a Sennheiser MKH 418s stereo mic and I had a question about setting my mixer and HD recorder. I’ll be running the mic into my mixer and then into a Sound Devices 702T recorder. If I want to keep the M and S channels seperate, should I not gang together channels 1 & 2 on the mixer or the 702T?
Any input will be most appreciated :o)
Will Salley replied 17 years, 7 months ago 5 Members · 8 Replies -
8 Replies
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Andrew Williamson
September 21, 2008 at 11:34 pmHey David,
That should work – as you say; just make sure both your mixer and your recorder are not ms ganged and you’ll get separate channels for your super-cardiod (the M) and the figure 8 (the S) on the mic. You’ll then be able to do your MS processing in post if you so wish…
You might want to gang your headphone monitor tho – as you can still monitor in MS whilst recording the separate channels. Of course it depends on your mixer if you can do it – I know SQNs can. If your mixer can’t, just monitor off the M channel.
Hope that helps,
Peace,
Andy
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Rodney Morris
September 22, 2008 at 3:56 amYou said any input would be appreciated, right?
What you proposed is correct. You would essentially be recording a figure 8 pattern on one channel and a super-cardioid pattern on the other. They could then be matrixed together later.
How are you feeding the 702 from the mixer? Via the main outputs or via the direct outs? Direct out may null the M/S matrix of the mixer anyway. Also, what are the real advantages of keeping the inputs separated at the mixer/recorder other than more flexibility in post. It could also be construed as more work in post. I guess it really depends on what the editor/mixer wants. If it’s going straight to an editor with no audio post involved, they may not be able to matrix the two signals.
All this is academic for me as I’ve never used a M/S setup, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Good luck!
Freelance Sound Technician/Mixer
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Ty Ford
September 22, 2008 at 10:56 pmHello David,
Which mixer? Some mixers, like the Sound Devices 442, have the ability to matrix either the headphone mix or the inputs themselves. This lets you listen in stereo or convert to stereo from M/S micing, respectively.
Headphone Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Selecting Headphone Sources
Setting Headphone Source Options
MS Stereo MonitoringApparently the 702 supports M\S stereo monitoring. See page 23 of the manual.
Presumably, you want to monitor the M/S in stereo while leaving the M/S signal uncombined so you can mess with it later in post. I would record polywave files on the 702 to keep them time locked.
Regards,
Ty Ford
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David C jones
September 23, 2008 at 12:32 amThanks everyone for the info :o)
Hi Ty-
Thanks for the advice. I was wondering about the polywave vs mono.
I’m using a Wendt X4 which can matrix the source or just the headphones. As far as I know, I’m not planning on ganging the channels. I talked to their post-sound mixer but I forgot to ask him about it. The fact that they’re using a post sound engineer tells me they’ll “mix it in post”.
Here’s another question…lol. I’m using the Remote Audio caxste25 stereo cable; one male XLR is red and the other is blue. Which one should go to channel 1 and which to channel 2?! I assume red is right-channel so, is that channel 1?
BTW I read your review of the MKH-418s on your site :o) I’ll post how I make out with it this week.
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Ty Ford
September 23, 2008 at 12:50 am[David Jones”I’m using a Wendt X4 which can matrix the source or just the headphones. As far as I know, I’m not planning on ganging the channels. I talked to their post-sound mixer but I forgot to ask him about it. The fact that they’re using a post sound engineer tells me they’ll “mix it in post”.
>>>>Not sure I understand, but recording polywaves doesn’t mix the files, it just connects them so they remain in sync.
Here’s another question…lol. I’m using the Remote Audio caxste25 stereo cable; one male XLR is red and the other is blue. Which one should go to channel 1 and which to channel 2?! I assume red is right-channel so, is that channel 1?
>>>>I’ve always thought Red was right and any other color was left.
BTW I read your review of the MKH-418s on your site :o) I’ll post how I make out with it this week.”
Good luck with the shoot. The 418 is a solid piece of gear.
Regards
Ty Ford
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David C jones
September 23, 2008 at 3:06 amOk, one more question (with all these questions, I really have no business using this mic…lol): in order to record seperate channels correctly, on the mixer, do I pan the mid-channel to the right and the side channel to the left? Or do I keep the mid-channel center and the side-channel to the left?
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Ty Ford
September 23, 2008 at 3:19 amFull pan for each track. Each mic channel goes to a separate track.
Ty Ford
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Will Salley
September 25, 2008 at 1:37 am[Ty Ford] ” I assume red is right-channel so, is that channel 1? “
Apparently the engineers at Beyerdynamic and Shure have not heard this! Both the VP-88 and the Beyer 742 have the factory supplied splitter cables marked with “left” on the red and “right on the green. Everything else I own is red on right.
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