Power in the studio

[Yonce N Mild]

My brother is buying a house and we will be building a studio/rehearsal room.
He has to have the fusebox replaced and while he is at it he wants to upgrade from 100 amps to 150 is that enough? Anything else you would do? Any special power considerations for a studio?

Please use little words I'm an electrical noob.

[Yonce N Mild]

bump bump

[DrumArtist23]

Despite me being a noob as well, I had to get my breaker box rewired for my build. From what I read online, from a few places, they say that for the studio breakers, it is best to keep it to 3 outlet boxes per breaker (code is no more than 6 per breaker) but since you will be running more power on fewer outlets (rack and what not) you dont want to max out your breakers. Also have all the studio lights on 1 breaker with nothing else on that breaker. I was told by my electrical engineer that I would have issues with a ground hum loop at or near 60hz (or something like that) if I didn't get a seperate ground for those breakers He said that the powered monitors would pick it up as though the speakers were buzzing out at a certain bpm loop.

[Yonce N Mild]

Originally Posted by DrumArtist23

Despite me being a noob as well, I had to get my breaker box rewired for my build. From what I read online, from a few places, they say that for the studio breakers, it is best to keep it to 3 outlet boxes per breaker (code is no more than 6 per breaker) but since you will be running more power on fewer outlets (rack and what not) you dont want to max out your breakers. Also have all the studio lights on 1 breaker with nothing else on that breaker. I was told by my electrical engineer that I would have issues with a ground hum loop at or near 60hz (or something like that) if I didn't get a seperate ground for those breakers He said that the powered monitors would pick it up as though the speakers were buzzing out at a certain bpm loop.

Thanks! That's a good start.

[twentyfootman]

200 amp is best considering the amount of circuit breakers required in modern homes. My house is the same. When I go to 200 amps I am going to put a fifty amp breaker to a power conditioning unit and then to a sub-panel which will run recording equipment and instrumants only. I once put a 200 amp power conditioner into a friends pro studio. This thing was the size of a small refrigerator. I am now looking for the right one for my house. Best regards

[Dani Pace]

If you are familiar with breaker boxes you will notice thea they have 2 sides (right and left) where the wires to the outlets are conected. Ask the electrician to make all the conections going to the studio on the same side. This will help to eliminate a lot of hum you can get by using outlets on different circuits. Also be sure that only copper wire is used, aluminum and alloy wires are both a fire hazzard and noisy (building codes prohibit using aliminum wire for many applications.) One more thing, have more outlets installed than you think you will ever need, unused outlets are not likely to cause any noise (by picking up intreference) but not having enough outlets and using extention cords can and will cause hum and often pick up emf or radio interference. Good luck on the build, and keep us posted on the progress.

[Yonce N Mild]

Good stuff fellas thanks for the tips!

[twentyfootman]

Since my last posting I have modefied my plan. 200 amp is still best but I think I only need two or three 15 amp circuits. Each of these circuits will get a power conditioner between the breaker and a conduited run of outlets. The monster pro 3500 looks like the cheapest decent conditioner but you can get better, also metal outlet boxes and conduit shield your power lines from interferance. On the issue of phasing, it shouldn't matter with conditioners but if you want to every other breaker space in a panel will be on the same phase {not left or right}. In short I think power conditioners are the easiest way to drop the noise floor from your signal. Best of luck