Need help with Mid-Side on 788T

[Tommy-boy]

I rented a 788T for a concert I'm recording tonight. I thought this would be a good way to try before buying. Running parrallel with an R-44

Here's my question - I want to record an MS setup and am trying to accomplish the following:
Set gain for mid and side independently
Link mid and side for limiting purposes
Record the mid and side as they are (not decoded to L and R)
Monitor as decoded signal (L and R)

After spending a few hours with manual last night, I think I have most of this worked out. However, I can't seem to figure out how to link the two channels for limiter operation, while being able to set the gain independently.

I linked the channels (picked LR as I don't want it decoded), set the limiter, have the signal recording as mid and side, and setup the headphone monitoring to decode to LR.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

[apple-q]

Linking channels ALWAYS links the limiters as well (and also the lowcut and gain) on the SD machines.

The only way to do this is send the unlinked channels to either the L/R or X1/X2 tracks with limiting turned off for the input channels and turn on the limiters on the mixdown tracks. but since this is post mic pre you won´t be protected from overloading the analogue stage.

[Petrus]

I am not familiar with SD788, but in SD722 when you link the two channels as a stereo pair you can use the "redundant" gain knob for balance, which means it can be used for creating different gain settings.

[Tommy-boy]

Originally Posted by Petrus

I am not familiar with SD788, but in SD722 when you link the two channels as a stereo pair you can use the "redundant" gain knob for balance, which means it can be used for creating different gain settings.

Thanks!

[Tommy-boy]

Well - it went well with the 788T.

I was a little frustrated with the metering though. Maybe I'm just not use to it, but I felt a little lost because numbers weren't presented allong with the metering (either on the LEDs on front or input metering on LCD) - which left me wondering where my levels really were. I just aimed for having levels slightly under the orange LEDs.

In addition, overall volume was also a little lower than I expected because the unit I rented had negative values programmed into the fader gain (which I didn't realize until afterward). I'm not used to having two sets of gain on a remote recorder (trim and fader) and one not readily accessible. Rookie mistake.

Overall - looks like this thing can do anything.

-Tom

[apple-q]

Originally Posted by Tommy-boy

Well - it went well with the 788T.

I was a little frustrated with the metering though. Maybe I'm just not use to it, but I felt a little lost because numbers weren't presented allong with the metering (either on the LEDs on front or input metering on LCD) - which left me wondering where my levels really were. I just aimed for having levels slightly under the orange LEDs.

In addition, overall volume was also a little lower than I expected because the unit I rented had negative values programmed into the fader gain (which I didn't realize until afterward). I'm not used to having two sets of gain on a remote recorder (trim and fader) and one not readily accessible. Rookie mistake.

Overall - looks like this thing can do anything.

-Tom

The meter-scale on the 788 can be programmed so you might want to check how it is set in the menu.

[boojum]

For future use, set the machine to factory defaults and then work from there. The factory defaults are in the menu and it is an easy one button adjustment. A good idea on rentals.