<<I have considerable experience of stereo for Films & TV and am
constantly
amazed at how many of my fellow sound professionals utterly fail to
understand MS, and the IMO pretty simple methods needed to de-code
it. And
this combined with unhelpful & incorrect "Maybe Stereo" comments
means they
fail to make it work.>>
When you consider that those doing the decoding are frequently film/
video editors or transfer jockeys it's not hard to see how the work
of the location recordist often gets mangled.
<<Facts
MS has the greatest mono compatibility of ANY stereo mic technique.
If directional mics had perfect off axis response XY & MS are but two
100%
compatible ways of storing the same information. As real world mikes
tend to
sound better on as against off axis MS has a huge advantage for stereo
soundfields where what is centre stage is of vital interest.
John L>>
And that's the main & generally unrecognized argument favoring MS;
the fact that the center image in XY is always 45 degrees off axis.
And this is also why off axis response is so highly valued in the
upper end of the microphone hierarchy. With premium grade mics we can
get away with having our source not dead on the front of the mic.
This is generally what constitutes much of the price justification
for high end mics; the off axis response can be almost as even when
nearing 90 degrees as it is out front.
Scott Fraser
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