Splitting A Mixer Channel Between 2 Rooms

M

MrBlackthorne

Funkmaster
Hey All,

I have a setup I'm trying to make a little more convenient and I was hoping to get some input and weigh some options.

I have two separate rooms for tracking in my studio. Each room has its own dedicated snake. When I want to use one room or the other, I've been unhooking one snake from my preamp and hooking up the other. My question is - can I split the two snakes using a Y connector into the inputs on the preamp, so I don't have to keep swapping them, or is there a better solution? Will this effect sound quality?

I will never be combining inputs from the two snakes on one preamp channel - I will always use either one or the other. I drew out the schematic and I don't see why this wouldn't work, but since I've never tried, I don't want to put in the effort and waste time and money. I also want to best sounding solution.

Has anyone had a similar issue? Appreciate the input.

Rick
 
You don't really need an XLR patchbay if you know how to solder. Any balanced patchbay will work. Neutrik, Tascam and many other brands are available.
 
MrBlackthorne said:
Can anyone recommend a good Female XLR -> 2 Male XLR patchbay? I'd need 8 channels, though 16 wouldn't hurt.

Thanks,

Rick
Click to expand...

aiy! the point is that you move the patch over when you switch rooms.
 
Right, I know how a traditional 1/4" patch bay works. I have one. I guess I'm just missing the point - if I'm trying to save myself aggravation by not having to move connectors, how does this save me any aggravation? Both the XLR connectors and preamp are easily accessible, so it really doesn't do me any good, does it?

Wear & tear on my preamp, maybe? Balanced 1/4" wire easier to move around? What is the advantage to using a patchbay for something like this? Does someone have an example of how they've done this? Maybe they could share a photo and explain?

Thanks,

Rick
 
I have the same problem right now. Look up one of my recent posts and you can get a better idea of what I needed. To solve this I am ending up getting a split snake to solve this. I was told about a split snake from another forum member and thats exactly what I need. They are expensive though.

Malcolm
 
As far as sound quality, I don't know, but you could get a simple XLRM-2XLRF cable and use it to test one channel split with various mics.
 
Where can I find instructions on this

TexRoadkill said:
You don't really need an XLR patchbay if you know how to solder. Any balanced patchbay will work. Neutrik, Tascam and many other brands are available.
Click to expand...

I've been on DIY sites for guitar pedals for a couple years now and actually got some decent sounding replicas out of it(and some totally F***ed up ones). I've never seen schematics for a patch bay, help me out.
 
Here's a couple of questions,
How many inputs do you have on your board?
How many do you need from each room? (at once)
 
Farview said:
Here's a couple of questions,
How many inputs do you have on your board?
How many do you need from each room? (at once)
Click to expand...

I have 16 channels on my board. I have one room with a 16 channel snake. I have another room with an 8 channel snake. Which means that 8 of those channels need to go to both rooms. Conceivably I may only be using 8 channels in either room at any time - meaning that swapping cables might be a rarity, I'm not really sure yet. I've only needed to do it once, so far. So this might not be a big deal.

The question was one more of convenince than anything. The way I have it setup works, I'm just looking to make it a little bit easier...

Thanks,

Rick
 
Depending on what you are recording, you might not need 8 from the second room. The only time I need more than 3 or 4 mics is for drums, so I would put the 16 channel snake in the drum room and hook up 12 channels of it. Then hook up 4 channels to the other room. Unless you are doing stuff that I'm just not thinking about, that should cover you 95% of the time.

I have gone through setting up the studio to do anything and everything. I had every single thing I could going to a patchbay. 2 years later I noticed that there were tons of patch points that I had never used. I was able to get rid of 3 patchbays and all the cable that goes to them. That was hundreds of dollars that I could have spent elsewhere. I would run your setup for a while to see if you really need to do anything. If you do, you will know for sure that it was money well spent.
 
That's exactly right, Farview. I really don't want to spend more than I need to at this point. And you're right, I probably will never use more than 12 in one room. Maybe more than 4 in the other, but like I said, the jacks are accessible, so it's no big problem.

It's apparent that there's no "easy way" to get this done on the cheap... :)

Thanks for the info.

Rick
 
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