whats in your rack

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trebles

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Hi there

In my pursuit of information on recording gear and other related issues i sometimes come up with questions that could be answered in manyways so i,ll put this question out to all of you and see what we come up with.

Lets say i wanted to build up an effective working rack something that wont let me fall short over many sound situations the choices out there are daunting so if it were you building up your own rack what would be in and what would not and why?

Remember this has to be a rack that could be used in many situations what iam after here is like a gear count in a working studio a typical 24 or 32 track studio just concentrate on the rack.

eg 4 to 8 gates

4 compressors

2 fx units

2 reverbs

eq

mic pres

patchbay

just lists similar to what ive written here that will give people an idea of whats in a rack and how many pieces of each piece of gear is required and why

this may assist new people also who are wanting to build an effective rack so what do you all think and thanks in advance to anyone who left constructive or helpfull tips for all to share and gain knowledge from :-)


kindest regards
wayne
Melbourne australia ;)
 
Check out Bruce with his special edition AT 4033. New toy ?

I'm using the AT 4033 and Crown CM700 as a coincidence pair for steel-string and nylon-string acoustics. I finally feel like I'm capturing the whole guitar sound with that set-up.


If I was building a rack I might include an active or passive direct box or two, for recording synthesizers and bass guitar direct into the board.
 
My rack(s) consists of

1-Multicom Comp
1-AutomCom Comp
1-Composer Pro Comp
1-RNC-Comp
1-Alesis (egads)3630 Comp (I very rarely use)
1-Lex MPX 100 dsp
1-Behringer DSP PRO 1000 dsp
1-Lex MPX 500 dsp
2-ADAT LX20's
2-ADAT XT20's
1-24/8 Topaz board (got a great deal on this used board)
1-Alesis Studio 24 board (4-sale)
1-Alesis Studio 32 board (4-sale)
1-Mackie 1202VLZ (for it's pre's)
1-Art tube MP
1-Pod pro
1-Behringer V-amp
1-Zoom 505 (great for creating synth horns)
1-Tascam CDR500 burner
1-Onkyo-W511 burner
1-Phillips CDR775 (piece o' crap)
1-OK,15 gig pc with CakeWalk( prob'ly used it 6 times in 2 years)
4-Name-Brand Condenser mics
5-SMack 57&58' dynamic mics
1-Radio(Wac)Shack mic (I use as a loaner to others)
1pr-Event 20-20's
1-pr-Tannoy Proto J's
1-Boss SP202 sampler
1-Boss DR 202 drummachine
1-Yamaha Keyboard
Var-gits & basses
1-Crown UT2020 power amp
1-GLI poweramp
1-Sony Integrated amp
2-Gemini Preamps
A whole buncha' loudspeakers,bass cabinets &amps mic stands`.
and finally........................
"A partridge in a pear tree!"
 
.......Continued.........
1-Behringer Ultrabass
1-Behringer Intelligate (this thing rocks!)
1-Nady patchbay
1-Behringer patchbay
22-dangling power strips
 
Hey guys

thanks for the responses they have been great so far

Bruce ive been doing a rack count of your gear and so far ive noted your running a lot of multi fx units is this many required for a 24/32 track studio or is it that there are just different sounds on different processors that you prefer using this being the reason you have so many if i have my count right you have

6 multi fx units

2 guitar fx units

4 compressors

2 noise gates with 6 chans of gating

3 exciters

2 eq

1 strobe tuner

1x mic pre chan strip

for i would assume is for main vocals leaving the rest of your micpre tasks running through your mackie 24x8,s onboard mic pres is this how you have all set up bruce?
and do you find you can cover all bases with what you have or do you feel in time you may like to add on more to you rack eg mabye more mic pres to add different flavours to your sound etc ?


Maybe someone else can also add some more to this thread what do you all think is needed in a rack and how many pieces of each are needed to make up a complete working rack without missing anything essential be it equipment or how many pieces of each eg 4 compressors, 2 eq,s etc and im more looking at studios who records bands as aposed to dj,s or dance music even though that is how it seems to be going my intrests are more old school anyway thanks again let the debate roll on

kind regards wayne

:cool:
 
I'm a big fan of different multi-fx units, and using them across a variety of tracks. The Lexicon 'verbs are quite good, so they invariably get pulled in for more critical reverb applications, the others are for more specific use on tracks during mixing, such as delays, choruses, small-room ambience, etc...

Altogether, I have 6 channels of compression - 4 on the pair of DBXs and 2 on the pair of RNCs. I find it more than I need, but sometimes bring in the DBX units only for the gates.

As much as I refrain from exciters when I'm tracking - they are useful tools when doing rescue work on tracks coming into my studio for mixing from outside sources. As well, used very sparingly, they can make good tracks have that larger-than-life sound in a mix (not ALL the time, only in certain situations).

The noise gates are always handy during track cleanup.

All the outboard stuff is wired into PBs and I avoid using the on-board console pres unless necessary. Most tracking can easily be accomplished via my channel strip. I am also now looking at a pair of Grace 101 pres to add however.

In terms of where I am now I can pretty much cover the bases - in many cases a lot of it doesn't get used all the time, but having clients means having to have a wider variety of gear to accommodate their needs. If it were just me in the studio, my gear list would be overkill.

Bruce
 
Maybe this should be answered with 3 seperate lists.....:

The "I have list"

The "I want list"

and most importantly......the "I need list"

OK, back to working out and wiring my p/bay setup.....AAARGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Peace..........ChrisO :cool:
 
lol... Now i have rack size enzy mrQQ... how dare you!! :( *SOB*...

I only got myself my tardy Behringer MX2624, my Supernova, 2 1210's and a DJ mixer
 
Bruce do you do much work with 4 and 5 piece rock or rock n roll bands why i ask is i was wondering how you would handle the tracking requirements of a full band essp the drumkit with just the one chan strip thats why i was assuming you were using the desks mic pres anyway it will be intresting to find out how this works out for you.
 
I do a lot more stuff in single tracking sessions than full band setups, but when I do need more pres, I will use the onboard stuff as needed.

The majority of my business, however, tends to be the songwriting, demo and vocal demo crowd, or mixdown/post-production stuff - so I don't often have to use more than 1 outboard channel strip at a time. Ottawa's music scene is in a bit of a rut for the last 2 years, so quality bands aren't recording as much here, and the bands that are left tend to be too amateurish. I'm in a position to be a bit picky about my clientele, so I only take on large-scale projects of bands that actually interest me.

And for DI box tracks, the onboard pres again, are good enough - especially for reamping later.

Bruce
 
Bruce i have have been slowly picking up gear as it presents itself
for the right money recently i purchased a 32track 8buss console its a tascam m3500 series it has it meter bridge all manuals power supply and the guy also had a behringer multigate and two genuine tascam patchbays which he had not used along with enough new belden snake to hook the whole desk together all this was bought for 800usd which i thought was fair for a desk that has service history and has only low hours up on it as well

along with this purchase i also bought some mackie hr824,s and two R N C compressors which are my first additions to my rack iam going to list here what i think i need for the rest of my rack and also list how many of each piece i will obtain i was hoping you might be able to take a look and see if iam covering all the bases or is there something more i may need now all iam covering is what i consider i would need in a basic 24/32track studio more inclined to work with 4 to 5 piece rock bands ok here goes

2 reverb units

6 compressors

4 multi fx

2 guitar fx

8 chans gating

2 eq,s

12 mic pres dual chans

2 patchbays

as a basic rack would go would this tie me over bruce or would you advise me to get more or less of anything else keeping in mind im only talking about outboard gear now


thanking you


wayne
melbourne australia :)
 
You list looks quite reasonable, the one exception being the patchbays... only 2?

My current configuration uses 8 96-point (24-channels) PBs. The use of PBs to facilitate the common connection point for the multitrack, outboard, and mixer connections is invaluable in making your rig easy to work with as a whole.

I strongly suggest you consider setting up more PBs in the standard multitrack configuration, as well as connecting all your outboard to PBs well...

Bruce
 
Let me start by saying I do not own a patch bay.

How the hell do you go about hooking up 15 racks. Are you constantly yanking wires in and out of them? How can i integrate a patch bay into my studio setup....?
 
Gargamel said:
Let me start by saying I do not own a patch bay.

How the hell do you go about hooking up 15 racks. Are you constantly yanking wires in and out of them? How can i integrate a patch bay into my studio setup....?
Click to expand...
There is a standard studio multitrack configuration for PB which I follow... and the PBs are normalled so that for normal signal flow, no patches are required unless I want to change the routing or introduce outboard gear not part of the normal signal path.

The standard multitrack PB configuration (PBs 1 thru 5) is as follows:

PB1
Top - source outputs (drum machines, synths, modules) (half-normalled to bottom)
Bottom - console channel inputs

PB2
Top - channel insert SEND (half-normalled to bottom)
Bottom - channel insert RETURNS

PB3
Top - console buss outputs (half-normalled to bottom)
Bottom - multitrack inputs

PB4
Top - multitrack outputs (half-normalled to bottom)
Bottom - console tape returns

PB5
Top - console direct outputs (de-normalled from bottom)
Bottom - miscellaneous

PB6, PB7, PB8 - outboard gear, console buss inserts, main mix inserts - variety of normalling depending on needs...

Bruce
 
Gargamel,

FYI...

standard PB wiring:

the top row jacks are device outputs

the bottom row jacks are device inputs

an easy way to remember this is signal flow (like water flow) is always down hill.

also you'll want to get or configure the PB for the correct type of Normaling.

for most wiring with outboard processors you want Half-normaled Patch bays. here's a link on Normaling .

there's a lot of other WEB info on Normaling, just search for it.

also, you'll need to determine whether to get Single-Ended or Balanced Patch Bays.

you'll need a ton of patch cables, again Single-Ended or Balanced.

don't skimp on your Patch Bay purchase, else you'll be fighting it forever.

-kp-
 
Last edited:
Thanks Everyone.....I'm glad its Friday. I'm gonna buy a bay this weekend.

Any reccomendations on brand names?
 
Re'an mfrs a 48 pt balanced patch-bay that can be used in normalled,half-normalled and non-normalled configurations.
Each channel can be de-normalled by flipping the pc card attached
180 degrees and sells at street $125.00

For the budgetary minded individuals, the Behringer PX2000 Ultrapatch can be operated in 4 diff modes (parallel, half-normalled,normalled and open) and sells street @ $55.00
 
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