MS on AEA R88

[maestro]

Excuse my lack of knowledge.Could somebody please explain how the AEA R88 works as MS. Is there a button on this stereo mic to switch into that mode. I would be using it with a Digi 002/Pro Tools.Thanks.

[MBishopSFX]

The R-88 is always a crossed pair of ribbons. No buttons involved. The supplied R-88 cable will be marked "UPPER" & "LOWER," indicating which ribbon is feeding which output channel.

Turn the mic so one ribbon is facing the recording source straight-on. If that's the upper ribbon, for instance, that will the "M" channel (MID). The other ribbon will be facing to the sides. If that's the lower ribbon, for instance, that's the "S" channel (SIDE). Record the two channels as two mono tracks on your DAW.

Monitor or play the two tracks through a M/S decoder plug-in. If you don't have a M/S decoder you can still decode the signal. Route the MID channel to a mixer strip panned to CENTER (Equal output to stereo L/R). Route the SIDE channel to TWO mixer strips at the same time. Pan the first strip LEFT. Invert the input polarity or phase of the second strip and pan it RIGHT. Make sure the level is absolutely equal between these two mixer strips and gang the fader controls together to act as one. Vary the level of the two strips ganged together relative to the MID channel strip. The level of the ganged SIDE channel strips relative to the MID channel determines the "width" of the stereo image. Go too low with the SIDE channels, you'll be mono or close to it. Go too high with the SIDE channel strips and the stereo image will turn inside-out. Once you have the width set to your satisfaction, gang all three faders and you'll have the overall or master level control of the channels.

If the stereo image is reversed, simply reverse the left/right panning of the two SIDE channel strips.

Here's a link to AEA's paper on ribbon mics. There's a section on how a stereo ribbon mic works. You'll want to study how ribbon mics behave in-general anyway. They're terrific tools!

http://www.wesdooley.com/pdf/Bidirec...icrophones.pdf


GOOD LUCK!!!

Originally Posted by maestro

Excuse my lack of knowledge.Could somebody please explain how the AEA R88 works as MS. Is there a button on this stereo mic to switch into that mode. I would be using it with a Digi 002/Pro Tools.Thanks.

[maestro]

Thank you very much for your excellent advice.