New Studio

Just Fingered

New member
Hey All, Info and Suggestions Needed. I'm currently Having a New Home Built. (Mt Juliet) Just east of Nashville. The Room is 24x27 Upstairs with Hardwood Flooring, Doubled Dry Wall with Extra Insulation The Question I have is Electrical. I'm currently running floor boxes from my Patchbay via DB-25 Cables. My Hardware will stay on one end of the Room that Has my Agosy Console Desk. Mixing and Recording. Should I have Cable ran thru the wall during Construction. If so what type of Outlets would you Suggest. To Patch into. Making it easier Then using the Boxes down the Middle of the Room. I Don't See me recording a Whole Band at anytime. I mainly Record Bass and Vocals. And or Drums. Acoustics are already Handled with the Use of GIK all I have to do is add to it. Your Thoughts Thanks Donnie
 
Well...if you have your gear at one end, and you're going to be setting up mics at the other end of the room...you can 1.) just drop snakes on the floor...or 2.) run balanced cabling through the walls and install junction boxes at each end of the room. Might be overkill for your single-use purpose, but it would be neater, and if you ever have people over, it will keep cables all over the floor to a minimum.
The simple thing is to consider any/every type of device/gear you will use at the other end of the room...and what type of cables they use, and run that...but 90% of the time, if you just run balanced cables, you can use them for a variety of things. Also don't forget maybe network cables, and any other type you might need.

You sound like you're in the same building situation as I'm soon to be approaching...I've got a 24'x24' space planned (half is already up, so this will be an addition and then turned into one big space)...though I will reduce one side to 19' so as to get a better dimension ratio, and 19x24x14 is a good one. You've got 24'x27' (not sure what ceiling height you are dealing with)...so you might check the numbers and consider if you need to adjust that a bit. I'm just going to add a couple of iso-booths (1 small, 1, large) and a mic/storage closet...5" out along the one wall, so I'll end up with a 19'W and 24'L to the open room portion...the ceiling will be vaulted and top out at 14'.

On your drywall...do you feel that double layer (what thickness per sheet?) is good enough? I'm trying to decide if I want to go double or triple.
Also...did you go double on the ceiling too? Oh...were the wall's 4" or 6" frames?
I don't need ultra-soundproofing, but I would like to be able to crank a 100W amp at 3am and not bother anyone, which I can do in my current studio space, on the other side of my house (this new space will be at the opposite end of the house).

Anyway...nice to compare some notes...where's sorta doing the same size, same purpose. I too wil be mostly using it for myself, but plan to also record some bands, etc...just not as a full-time commercial thing.
 
Hey All, Info and Suggestions Needed. I'm currently Having a New Home Built. (Mt Juliet) Just east of Nashville. The Room is 24x27 Upstairs with Hardwood Flooring, Doubled Dry Wall with Extra Insulation The Question I have is Electrical. I'm currently running floor boxes from my Patchbay via DB-25 Cables. My Hardware will stay on one end of the Room that Has my Agosy Console Desk. Mixing and Recording. Should I have Cable ran thru the wall during Construction. If so what type of Outlets would you Suggest. To Patch into. Making it easier Then using the Boxes down the Middle of the Room. I Don't See me recording a Whole Band at anytime. I mainly Record Bass and Vocals. And or Drums. Acoustics are already Handled with the Use of GIK all I have to do is add to it. Your Thoughts Thanks Donnie

I would not run your cables through the wall.

Come up with some sort of easy access removable cover to hide them along the wall inside.

Stuff changes. Things break. In the wall is too risky.
 
Stuff changes. Things break. In the wall is too risky.

Huh...?
I don't get what you're referring to. What "breaks" or "changes"...the wall? :D
I mean, what's the "risk"?
They run electric cables in walls...they run pipes in walls...how often do you have to rip open a wall to fix them...?

They run audio cables through walls in every commercial studio ever made...there's no risk.
The only thing that could "break" might be the connector at the wall plate, but those are easily replaced, and you always leave a couple of feet of extra cable in the wall cavity. That should cover for about 20-30 connector replacements, which should last you about 40-50 years, because connectors don't really break that easy. :)
AFA "changes"...I think going with the standard balanced cables that have been in use for like 60-70 years in most studios is a pretty safe bet, unless suddenly every gear manufacturer decides to abandon the typical XLR and TRS connectors and balanced cable. ;)
 
Huh...?
I don't get what you're referring to. What "breaks" or "changes"...the wall? :D
I mean, what's the "risk"?
They run electric cables in walls...they run pipes in walls...how often do you have to rip open a wall to fix them...?

They run audio cables through walls in every commercial studio ever made...there's no risk.
The only thing that could "break" might be the connector at the wall plate, but those are easily replaced, and you always leave a couple of feet of extra cable in the wall cavity. That should cover for about 20-30 connector replacements, which should last you about 40-50 years, because connectors don't really break that easy. :)
AFA "changes"...I think going with the standard balanced cables that have been in use for like 60-70 years in most studios is a pretty safe bet, unless suddenly every gear manufacturer decides to abandon the typical XLR and TRS connectors and balanced cable. ;)

Better check it before they seal it all up if you go in the wall.
Run plenty of spares in case you add stuff later.

THERE IS ALL SORTS OF RISK. The question is how much and do you want to take the chance?

I worked for a big Govt agency who ran wires through the wall. They ran spares too. Good thing because the mains did not work on day 1.

I have seen computer cables change constantly and relatively quickly. Same with communications cables but maybe not quite as fast. Connectors change too.
Run them in an accessible hidden channel and you avoid the problems.

I put cables in the wall of my house but the *&*%*s who did it used a type that was useless.
Total waste. Makes sure you know what cable and how it is being run so it will do what you need.
 
Where talking here about running typical, standard balanced cabling...nothing esoteric.
Obviously you always run spare lines...but I wouldn't really consider it much of a risk...and if by some chance they all fail eventually, you can still add the external channel or drop them on the floor.
There's a lot to be said for minimizing the cable on the floor...and running external channels may only go so far, because you would have to hug the walls, but then when you get to entry ways and other obstacles, the channel has to stop or you have to step over it, or if it can't go any further in the room...you still end up with cables on the floor.
I used some channeling in my current studio...mainly to separate the audio cables (in the channel) from the electric cables (on the floor)...but it was only for about 15', behind my racks, going to my bays...and not across to the other side of the room. With a bigger room, or if you have iso-booths...you need to run them in the walls and use wall plate connectors. That's the neat way and most efficient way to go.

I plan to run at least a couple of 24-channel snakes in the walls, to a couple of locations in the room, and run another set as spares. The cost wouldn't be much for a single room run. Again, pro studios run miles of cable in the walls...and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
 
If you've got 6" stud walls run a length of 2" PVC to snake the cables through - it'll make it easier if you ever have to replace or add cabling, too.
 
There is nothing wrong with running a good grade snake cable designed for wall or plenum runs. Unless you get rodents eating the cable they’ll last for as long as you would need them. It’ll be the connectors at the wall plates that you’ll have to repair( which isn’t hard).Mogami, and Belden make some nice snakes made for wall runs. You can even get Star quad for less noise. I like running wall/floor plates. I can use a bit shorter cable to the mics, and don’t end up with a bunch of extra cable length laying on the studio floor.
 
Now Should I Run The Same Type of Cable that are used on the DB-25's that are running the Floor Box to the Patchbay or Something Else. Or even add Something. I do like the idea of Running 2" PVC from one end to the other end of the Room. That way it will leave me options in the Future. your Thoughts Thanks
 
I don't know if 2" PVC will be good enough...I guess it depends on the amount of gear you have or will have.
If I grab a handful of cable that I currently have coming out of the back of racks...it would choke a couple of 2" pipes and then some....but I also use a lot of individual runs.
Ideally, and what I'm going with in my new studio build...will be 48-channel Mogami for running between the gear and the bays, which is about 1 1/4" in diameter. For any wall plates at a distance, where I would go through the walls, I'll probably get some smaller, 24-channel cable.

I'm not sure what type of cable is used on DB-25's....I mean, there are probably many brands/types out there, so which are you referring to?

For in-wall, the best would be the type that has both braid and foil shielding...it's a bit stiffer, but the foil is 100% shielding, and since it won't be moved around in the wall the stiffness is not a problem or the possibility that the foil will crack from movement...but then, you still have the braid underneath anyway.
For cable that gets moved around, you want just the braided shield, and really good quality outer layer that can take the abuse.

For me...Mogami, Gepco, Belden...those are the top choices...though lately I've been using a good deal of Kirlin cables for guitars/instrument stuff, and it's quite good. Kirlin is a newer company, I think out of China, but they're making a quality product. No idea if they make multi-channel audio cables in bulk...etc.
I already have a good deal of brand new Mogami 48-channel, so that's what I will use for most of the stuff except any in-wall runs because I only have pieces that are like 30'-40' each, which is enough for the racks/bays/etc...but maybe not long enough for a wrap-around wall run.
I got the Mogami for free off of a huge wooden spool. It was bought for a big theatre installation, and then never used. I was able to unspool several 30'-40' pieces and cut them, because there was no way I could take the whole spool...I would have needed a forklift, but if I had one, I would have take it all! :p
 
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