Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Anything and everything to do with DCP-o-matic.
gregquinn
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Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2024 3:16 pm

Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by gregquinn »

I'm currently processing a documentary which is mostly talk, but there are a few music pieces inlaid. I'm post'ing it in stereo, because of time and because I don't have a good reference setup for 5.1. So I'm using the mid-side processor in DCP-O-Matic to separate out the music to front L&R and the talk to the center channel (output is 8 channel). The mid-side processor intelligently separates the voice to the center channel quite effectively but the music is *also* mostly coming through the center channel. Presumably this is because the music stereo separation isn't great. Can anyone recommend a Davinci Resolve plugin to increase the stereo separation, or some other way to bump up the front left and right output.
Thanks!
Kewl
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Location: Montreal, Canada

Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by Kewl »

There's no real miracle possible with MS processing. It's a handy crutch when you only have access to the final stereo mix. But that's not the case here.

In Resolve, you could work in 3.0, but do the monitoring in Stereo. You'll be much happier with the result.
Capture d’écran, le 2024-09-26 à 13.14.46.png
Capture d’écran, le 2024-09-26 à 13.16.08.png
Capture d’écran, le 2024-09-26 à 13.16.45.png
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gregquinn
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by gregquinn »

Thanks (and thanks so much for the images, really helps) - this makes sense - I'll need to crash course myself in fairlight bus configuration, but this absolutely sounds like a better, more controllable arrangement.
Carsten
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by Carsten »

I still think that the MS processor in DCP-o-matic could be improved with little effort.
carl
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by carl »

Can you remind me of your suggestion?
Kewl
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by Kewl »

http://elias.altervista.org/html/3_speaker_matrix.html
3_kajarin_matriisi_EP_optimal_desim.PNG
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Carsten
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by Carsten »

Carl - I think, currently you leave L, invert R, and create C. That leaves R inverted against L, which I guess is not good for proper stereo. I think you could also substract C from L and R, to have better separation.
gregquinn
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Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2024 3:16 pm

Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by gregquinn »

Kewl wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 5:21 pm There's no real miracle possible with MS processing. It's a handy crutch when you only have access to the final stereo mix. But that's not the case here.

In Resolve, you could work in 3.0, but do the monitoring in Stereo. You'll be much happier with the result.
Thought I was going crazy when I checked my Fairlight screen - Black Magic has in their infinite wisdom TWO different types of Fairlight setup - Your images show the Flexbus setup. It's also what I see if I start a new project, but my project is the older bus format but it can't be changed mid-project. I'm not sure I can do what you suggest here.

==== update ====
Well I did it, processed it through DCP-O-Matic and it came out well. My only concern is that the sync is wrong when viewed in the Player, but I assume (hope) that's a player issue. I get one shot at a test next week at a local cinema before the CRU is shipped; here's hoping.
Last edited by gregquinn on Fri Sep 27, 2024 5:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
IoannisSyrogiannis
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by IoannisSyrogiannis »

If you haven't already, on the player choose playout on the quarter of the resolution. That could give you a better sync. Especially if it's not 4K but 2K.
gregquinn
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Re: Mid-side processing - not a ton of separation between center and LR for stereo music

Post by gregquinn »

IoannisSyrogiannis wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2024 11:56 pm If you haven't already, on the player choose playout on the quarter of the resolution. That could give you a better sync. Especially if it's not 4K but 2K.
Thanks, that worked. Question: Should I export from Davinci Resolve at 24FPS instead of the actual frame rate of 23.976?