Most modern music is recorded and mixed
with an end stereo product in mind. Although the stereo field may
not be the foremost taste on most listener’s palate, it’s flavor
becomes immediately apparent when it is burnt or undercooked.
These
off-balanced nuances come in a myriad of forms and necessitate
any one, or multiples of, the myriad of solutions available.
One of the
more unique, and comprehensive, avenues available for remedying
stereo field ailments—or, in more positive terms, enhancing good
stereo placement—is the plugin DrMS by Mathew Lane.
Fundamentals
What one first needs to know in order
to understand this plugin is the nature of stereo sound.
Human
perception of sound perceives differences. Even in the widest panned
channels, if the left and right channels output the same audio at the
same time the sound will be heard as centered (mono).
When one begins to
place subtle nuances between left and right, one will perceive
difference and will begin to hear a wide stereo field. This is why
certain effects such as reverb and delay are so important. A
straight guitar input is always going to be mono until a stereo
effect is placed on it.
At it’s heart, DrMS is a Mid-Side
processor; a specialized type of processor used to treat middle and
side signals separately.
In a Mid-Side setup the two channels of an
incoming stereo signal, eft and right, are converted into two
different Mid (mono) and Side (stereo) signals. These two signals
are each processed differently in some manner and then recombined at
the output back to the standard left and right stereo signal.
In its simplest usage scenario, DrMS
covers the bases of a standard MS processor as one can attenuate and
filter the Mid and Side channels.
Two of the more unique features in
the Mid and Side, or upper, sections of the plugin are the phase and
delay parameters which can create very distinctive output.
The phase
inversion will swap the internal left and right channels while the
delay section does as advertised and will delay a specific section by
up to 30 ms, creating a widening effect.
Bringing It Into Focus
That being said, the most interesting
portion of this plugin exists in the lower Focus and Field (lower)
sections. These areas have all the same controls as the above
mentioned Mid and Side sections with filtering, delay, level and
phase controls, yet are audibly much different.
The Focus area sends the original, pre-processed, Mid audio through its dedicated effects and into the
above mentioned Side processor to then go through the Side’s
dedicated filters, delay, level attenuator and phase inversion
effects.
This routing, along with the parameter choices in the Focus
area, creates an effect that sounds as though the audio is becoming
closer or more focused in relation to the listener.
The Field section is the exact opposite. Like the Focus section, the incoming audio is
pre-processed, but it is pre-processed Side information sent to the
Mid output. This routing creates a sense of depth and makes the
audio sound further removed from the listener.
When to Use It
Although DrMS can be used as a main MS
processor across an entire mix, its strengths rest in its ability to
be a single track processor.
The Focus and Field sections do not
make much sense unless it is used for such and with even subtle
parameter changes on an individual track, one can create unique and
highly natural sounding pan and depth effects which are unachievable
with other plugins.
Here’s a few examples of some of these
simple setups. I recommend you listen to these through headphones to appreciate and understand the differences.
Dry Cello. Pay attention to where it
sits in the stereo field.
15 ms Side delay. This one surprised
me the most as it took the fairly hard right signal of the original
and smeared it and moves it around to where it becomes difficult to pinpoint the sound as
being either right, left or center.
This was definitely not what I
had expected to happen, there was no phase inversion or other
parameters working here, but a pretty cool effect none-the-less.
Ubiquitous cello.
Zoom at 160% with a slight delay. The
Zoom definitely acts as advertised. With headphones on I feel like
my head is almost inside the body of the cello.
Field at 200% with a slight delay.
This seems to center the sound slightly but definitely places it to
the back of the soundstage and widens it considerably. Reverb sans
reverb.
Below, are recordings of a small
strings section that includes the cello above, a viola and two
violins. I placed DrMS on each track and played around with various
settings—mostly delay, level and low pass filtering—on each one and
instantiated a post pan control to place the individual tracks from
left to right where needed.
The original section with no
processing.
The individually processed tracks. It
is much more full from left to right as a result of widening certain
tracks with the Side section. The original has an almost completely
flat soundstage, while the processed version has the violins in the
foreground and the lower pitched cello and viola set back as a sort
of bedding layer through use of the Zoom and Field controls.
The
warming was achieved with the low pass filtering and further depth
and character was achieved with very slight delay settings. It is
amazing what nuances can be achieved in just a few minutes.
All in all, this is a great plugin and
has the capability of altering tracks and groups of tracks in
unforeseen and positive ways across the board.
The one drawback I
noticed is the lack of a dedicated post effect pan knob. Some of the
combinations of parameter settings will naturally shift left to right
pan balance and has to be corrected or altered outside of the plugin
itself.
Conclusion
This is a unique, fun and expressive mix plugin
that is going to find its way on countless future mixes.
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