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A Practical Analysis of Sum-and-Difference Matrixing for Stereo Broadcast Transmission Systems

With the imminent reality of multichannel television sound (MTS) braodcasting, there is an urgent need to resolve some of the concerns frequently posed by broadcast engineers with regard to: 1) the spatial qualities of the M/S miking technique, and 2) the practicality of implementing the sum-and-difference (rather than the discrete left/right) mode of transmitting the stereo program signals throughout the broadcast plant. This paper will demonstrate the effective channel separation realized in a real-world situation, by recording on a working television studio set a sound source at various angles about an M/S microphone array, logging and tabulating the signal levels for M (L + R) and S (L - R), and then plotting the resultant signal levels for L and R for each of the angular locations. The authors will then demonstrate that the potential for down-line degradation of the original stereo program is minimized by implementing the sum-and-difference transmission mode.

Authors: Streicher, Ron; Burden, Richard
Affiliations: Pacific Audio-Visual Enterprises, Monrovia, CA ; Burden Associates, Canoga Park, CA(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Convention:78 (May 1985) Paper Number:2253 Import into BibTeX
Subject:Audio Engineering in Broadcasting

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