First time ever on a site like this so please be nice to me, i'm just about set up with my studio the problem I have is my audio interface sat on my desk is quite a distance from where my mic stand is so I have cables going right the way across my studio. I've had a look at patchbays and wondered if that was the right sort of thing I need to resolve my issue, also while looking at them none of them seem to be both XLR and Jack input and output, help please!
Patchbays, are they right for me?
- Thread starter zander91
- Start date
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
They don't do away with cable (they actually increase the amount necessary). All a patch bay does is give you a "central point" for lack of a better term. You can hook all your effects to a patch bay for example -- No scurrying around the racks to connect them to wherever you want to route them (probably to another patch bay that has console I/O or interface I/O routed).
mjbphotos
Moderator
Patch bays are good if you have a bunch of lines/inputs that need to be swapped out all the time. Even if you had one, you would still need to run cables form the mics/instruments to the patch bay and then to your interface. From your description, they are not going to do anything for you.
Grab a handful of velcro cable ties, worth a total of about 5$, and bundle your cables together. Makes a nice tidy single run of mic and instrument cables between your desk and the gear.
Word of caution though...don't include power cables in the bundle, and avoid running parallel and adjacent to any power cables on the floor.
Word of caution though...don't include power cables in the bundle, and avoid running parallel and adjacent to any power cables on the floor.
To connect between the control room and the live room I have one snake. It makes for only one wall penetration instead of a bunch. Its 24 XLR channels from the live room to the control room and 8 more for going the other way. This snake terminates into a patchbay located in one of the equipment racks on the control room. That way I can easily patch any XLR input to the console, external preamps etc. Same going back, can patch to different feeds back into the live room.
Dunno. Never been in one myself, but I'm pretty sure that cables on the floor is a normal situation, unless you go all out with a wireless system.
I might think that a pro studio would be a little more tidy with jacks located in the walls and as much cabling as possible integrated behind the walls, in the ceiling, or under the floor. I was going to do similar in my space at home, and build the cabling into the walls to eliminate cables on the floor, but after considering the space I had to work with, it was just overkill to do it like that. A drawer full of 25' XLR cables was much simpler, with good use of the previous mentioned Velcro straps for any cables in use on the floor.
I might think that a pro studio would be a little more tidy with jacks located in the walls and as much cabling as possible integrated behind the walls, in the ceiling, or under the floor. I was going to do similar in my space at home, and build the cabling into the walls to eliminate cables on the floor, but after considering the space I had to work with, it was just overkill to do it like that. A drawer full of 25' XLR cables was much simpler, with good use of the previous mentioned Velcro straps for any cables in use on the floor.
