Patchbay, XLR, phantom power for mobile recording studio. HELP.

[Hellojustinlong]

Hello there,

Here's what I'm doing... I am gathering equipment to go out and record bands and artists in their rehearsal spaces and studios. I am running Pro Tools 9 on a Mac with focusrite sapphire pro40 and octopre mkII. I have a main rack and secondary rack. In the main rack contains the interfaces, eqs, compressors, etc. It will be by me and the computer. I will be running a snake to the secondary rack which will be over by the band or artist containing a headphone amp, etc.

Here is my dilemma...

I would really prefer to not have to purchase a board because we already have enough that we will be lugging around. I was figuring on having a 16 channel xlr patchbay in both racks. With the snake connecting the two. So that I can plug microphones into the front of the xlr patchbay in the secondary rack. So here is the chain...

Mic->xlr patch->snake to main rack->xlr patch->xlr to 1/4" trs patch cable->standard trs patchbay->whatever I need to patch in to the signal->in to the focusrite interface.

If you are able to understand what I am saying, then you probably notice that I have no phantom power. I know that the phantom power in the interface cannot reach the mic through the standard patchbay. So I am looking for something maybe instead of using the xlr patchbay in the secondary rack that can go in that rack that can give me 16 phantom powered xlr channels.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[gecko zzed]

How about re-thinking your signal processing model?

For example, you mentioned a rack with compressors etc by the laptop. What is in the rack that you really need for recording? Given that you are multi-tracking, and that you'll be doing a mix later (i.e. you are not recording straight to a stereo file), you will have the opportunity to add compression, EQ, reverb etc at that stage.

So why not simply go:

Mic > snake > focusrite

The return path makes more sense, with a rack having headphone amp.

so

focusrite > snake > rack > headphones etc.

Doing something like this gives you a much less complicated system, solves your phantom power problem, and is more easily portable.

 

[Hellojustinlong]

Yeah, I have actually considered that and it most definitely would be easier. I really wanted to set it up this way because I would like to be able to compress certain signals before going into pro tools. I would also like to add certain preamps and such to patch in the near future.

 

[gecko zzed]

So you've got some desirables that you would like to achieve.

There is a cost involved: firstly in the extra gear you have to cart around, and secondly, in being able to provide phantom power through a patch bay.

My thoughts revolve around the benefits of those extras in relation to the costs involved in getting them.

Yes . . . it's good to be able to compress some stuff on the way in . . . but not essential.

Yes . . . it's good to wire in alternative pre-amps . . . but so long as they are fed directly by the snake, they can supply their own phantom power.

I don't know if it's worth the cost and complexity.

I do recordings for people at their venue of choice. These are most often live recordings . . . so I just take a laptop, external hard-drive, firepod, and an assortment of mikes. I aim for quick, uncomplicated set-ups. Do the recording, get home, plug the hard-drive into the main computer and do all the sound massaging there.