Channel Tools for Mid/Side How do you do yours?

So I've tracked a bunch of mid side stuff and I looked up how to make use of the Channel tools to ease the process and must confess I'm a little unclear.
 
My standard practice for doing MS is to just clone the side channel in TV, flip the phase, and pan it against the original (or just to track the 2 side channels from the same input, with the parameters set appropriately). I then group the volumes on the 2 sides so they can be adjusted against the middle (in it's own channel) and they all go to the MS Buss so I have an overall volume control for that stereo instrument.
 
One thing I read suggested that I could feed Channel Tools a 2 channel audio file (with the mid on one side and the side on the other) and that it would encode / decode as proper MS. I've not tried this as i don't trust it! How does it know (in this situation) which is mid and which is side?
 
The other solution offered was to create a buss structure (not dissimilar to what I've described above) which seemed like more work to use the tool than it's benefits present.
 
What happens if I use my multitrack / buss system but put the Channel Tool on the buss do I gain any advantages?
 
Cheers,
Child

You are much better off getting a plugin to decode the MS signal for you. Doing it any other way can allow for errors in settings and hence the stereo image as a result. A plugin will give you an accurate decode. Even after adjusting M and S levels you can quickly revert back to the normal image. Yes the left signal is the MID signal simple as that.

But adjusting the relative levels of M and S allow you to refine your stereo image. I have used it in mastering where a client had a recording that was too distant and too stereo (solo piano) Converting even normal stereo into MS I was able to bring the listener closer and cut down on the reverb. Stereo was not a bid deal, the piano playing was. We were amazed at how much it imporved even an existing stereo recording.

But if you have recorded sound effects or anything in MS you have that opportunity to either get closer to the sound directly in front or pull back on the front sound and hear the wider stereo sounds. On playback when mixing stereo atmos effects into TV soundtracks, you can in fact widen on ocassions and make things sound very wide and lovely. But also being able to pull the stereo into mono more and look directly ahead is also a great feature.

One the nicest ways to record a string quartet is to have them sit in an arc and do a MS recording with M pointing at the two centre players and S at the other two on the extrems of the arc. Sounds even better if the M mike is a nice Omni as well in a room that sounds classy too.

Many sound effects on CD's are MS encoded (Well the Autralian SFX collection is) and you need to decode them to hear them correctly.

Here's another cool free tool as well.

It comes as a bundle IIRC but just delete the plugs you don't need.

http://www.meldaproductio...stplugins/mutility.php

Just bear in mind the coder (or decoder) here says Mono/Stereo instead of Mid/Side but it means the same thing. M=Mid or the Mono component (left). S=Side or the Stereo component (right).  You can adjust the gain to suit whatever panning law you use (or like me ignore) and it handles the panning too.

FWIW, I had trouble with the Voxengo MSED clashing with another plug-in (I can't remember which one sorry), but it used to make a noise right off the meter scale and then killed the audio engine which required a reboot to restore.

Probably not the Voxengo plugs fault but I ended up not being able to use it all the same.

Channel Tools does work but I find it too cumbersome (which is an indicator of how lazy I really am).

I've been digging into M/S technique heavily lately - but with regard to mixing since I'm not doing any live or Mic'd recordings these days.

First off - I love what m/s has to offer.  Even in subtle ways.

There are a few really good plugins for managing M/S.   Brainworx somewhat specializes in M/S plugins.

Their bx_Control2 is excellent and I am now putting it on my Master Bus just before my final brickwall limiter.  Their new bx_XL is intense and has some totally cool features that go beyond the usual m/s en/decoding.

Voxengo has long had M/S functionality in some of their plugins, but they made it too cumbersome for most to use.

However, I never try to use M/S techniques in an overbearing way.  A little dab WILL do ya, in this case.

Channel Tools is also very good, btw.  I use it often.