Take the 2-minute tour ×

I'm trying to wrap my head around MS recording.

If I'm working without an MS encoder, I'm recording onto two channels. One channel takes the centre cardioid, the other takes the figure of eight.

So, one channel records the mid, the other the sides. But where does left and right come into play? Is it in the magic of the 'matrixing'?

If I record a motorcycle going from mic left to mic right, will the listener perceive the same left right transition?

Someone, please explain. My brain is an idiot.

share|improve this question
add comment

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Probably worth a search on here as there's a few posts regarding MS..

Also you might want to check out: http://www.wikirecording.org/Mid-Side_Microphone_Technique

http://www.recording-microphones.co.uk/Mid-Side-stereo.shtml and


hope that helps!

share|improve this answer
add comment

Good question. I had a hard time myself when I started out.

The technique is using the cardioid mic pointed at the source, which gives you a mono source sent to both speakers. This is the main signal.

The side signal is a bidirectional (figure of 8) mic pointed at 90 degrees from the subject you're aiming at and so this records the ambient signal (or signal from the Side).

The mid mic is played back mono.

The side mic is duplicated, switched in polarity on one of the channels. They are panned left and right respectively.

When you point your mic directly at the source, the null spot of the figure-8 mic is pointed directly at it as well so all you get is mono "in the center" signal.

When the source moves a bit to your left, it comes in also to the left lobe of the figure-8 pickup pattern, and so that shows up via the matrix on the left side, thus creating a stereo image.

It's basically that anything on your left enters into the figure-8 with positive polarity, thus being reinforced in the left speaker and cancelled out in the right speaker. When the source is on the right, the figure-8 mic is now negative in polarity, and thus the flipped phase channel is being reinforced in the right speaker and cancelled out in the left speaker because the left speaker is now negative and canceling with the mid mic and the right side (which is flipped to positive now) is being reinforced. I think if you drew a sketch or saw a picture of it at one of the sites the other guys sent a link to would work.

There is a lot more detail to go into, having to do with phase, polarity of mics, etc. but that's the basics of what you need to know.

share|improve this answer
just a point of technical clarification, the phase cancellation does not occur in the speaker; it happens in the signal. –  Shaun Farley Feb 7 '11 at 23:15
@Shaun I like to think of it as sort of both. Sort of like a speaker's cone won't move if you're telling it to go forward and backwards at the same time. But you're right, that's what I meant when I wrote that - that the signal is being cancelled in the right channel and reinforced in the left channel, etc. etc. –  Utopia Feb 8 '11 at 0:40
add comment

in short: the side information is hidden in the figure of eight's phase information. figuratively: if a signal comes from left, it is added in phase to the mid signal: L = M + S, while it is subtracted from the right channel (R = M + (-S) -> cancellation) because of the inverted phase. if it comes from right, the opposite is the case.

erm... hth :) (not sure)

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer


