FabFilter User Forum
Separate mid and side auxes?
I want to have separate mid and side channels on two auxes being fed the same mix. I've got very close to this with two Pro Cs, one set to mid only and the other side only but there is some coloration of the signal - quieter and less wide to my ears - than the original.
Is this a reccomended practice with Pro C? I want to be able to isolate the mid and side channels in the same manner that mastering houses do.
camillo jr — Jul 20, 2009
Hi,
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. If you put Pro-C into M/S mode, you have separate M and S compressors. All that's left to do is to choose which signal they trigger on: the mixed M+S signal, for example, or their "own" M signal, etc. This is fully explained in the manual:
www.fabfilter.com/help/pro-c/using/expertmode.html
Cheers,
I think I understand how to get the compressor into mid-side mode. What I am trying to do is to have the mid channel on it's own Aux and the stereo channel on it's own aux for different EQing. However, when I do this, (and with no EQ engaged or inserted on those channels) I hear a distinct difference between the two channels with the ProCs engaged compared to when they're bypassed. That is, when ProCs are engaged, the stereo signal sounds smaller than when I bypass them.
To test out what this difference was, I ran two mixes, one with the ProCs engaged and another with both of them bypassed. I then imported these two mixes to their own tracks and reversed the phase on one of those tracks. They wouldn't null unless I added 6.02 db of gain (via the Sonalksis FreeG fader) to the mixdown that had the ProCs engaged. Even then, it wasn't a perfect null but the signal was pretty quiet with the output topping out at only -72db. Possibly with even more fader resolution I would have gotten a perfect null. Or there is some small difference between the signals. At this point it would seem that I can safely use the ProCs on separate mid and side auxes as long as I as I take into account their decreased outputs somewhere in the signal chain. I should also note that I'm not adding any compression to either mid or side channel, I'm only using the ProC to separate these signals onto their own auxes.