John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

So my “studio” (read as: small room in house for music) is under construction at the moment (extending existing house), and its getting to the point where I need to think about the wiring before the walls get painted and such. The “studio” will also have an adjoining room which will be used as a “live room” when I need to record instruments, so I want connections between the two. I’ve come up with a list of the connections I need, which is as follows:

XLR in x 16 (microphones)
Jack in x 4 (guitar/whatever else)
XLR out x 4 (feeds back into the studio for whatever reasons)
Jack out x 6 (headphone feeds)
Phono out x 6 (for sending to hi-fi amp for talkback)
Speaker tie lines x 2 (keeping guitar head in studio and cabinet in live room)
AES/EBU in/out (for the odd time I may want to use digital – probably never)
Midi in/out (transport remote)
Record Light (more later)

Now, with that lot I can’t find any pre-made wall boxes which can fit all that on, so the plan is to get a metal panel cut with pre-drilled holes. Does anyone know a decent place to get this done for not much money, UK based preferably, or EU at a push?

Next thing is the actual cable. I don’t have a large budget, so I plan to go with the standard Studiospares multicore. Is this fine for the intended application? I notice you can buy Jacketed and Unjacketed multicore – what’s the difference? I might decide to use Van Damme or similar mic cable for the first two mic channels, as they will see the most regular use. The rest will just be now and again things.

Finally, it would be nice to have the option of having a big red light for recording sessions, so I was wondering if I could get any tips on wiring one up. Ideally, it would be midi operated so that when record is pressed on the sequencer the light gets turned on. Or maybe it could use midi to CV? I have no experience in this area, so would appreciate comments. The main concern is what connectors will I have to include on the wall box. I once went to an audio post studio where they had a cue/record light hooked up to a 4 pin XLR with a button for each light. I’m hoping I can use some form of XLR lead to switch the light on or off, the “midi control” could stay in the studio. I’ve found an actual light that I may use, what do you think:
http://www.cybertrader.co.uk/ishop/1106 ... r3775.html

One more small question! Has anyone used the cheap plastic XLR connectors from Studiospares? Apparently they don’t quite fit into a D-Cutout? Does anyone have any more info on them? (ps, remember, they won’t be used that much, good Neutrik connectors will be used where it matters!)

The picture is the proposed front panel

Thanks for your time,
Gareth

I'd like to know the answer to this too...

Hi Gareth,

Here are some ideas based on my experience.

I would likely split this into two panels, one for the mic lines, and another for everything else. It is conventional wisdom to isolate the low-level mic lines from line-level and especially speaker-level signals to avoid interference.

If your 'red light' is mains powered, you will need a relay to trigger it from a low-voltage signal or tally. I like solid-state relays for their silent operation and freedom from mechanical failure.

As far as the panels are concerned, a modular system like this might be good for customizing without the need to do the machining yourself:

http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/ucp/custom.htm

I have always used Swithcraft connectors for their well-known quality and durability, but the Neutrik stuff is pretty good as well, and easy to work with.

Garreth:

You can find 'recording' lights at www.markertek.com... They are usually 12VDC and are controled by a GPI (General Purpose Interface) on a mixing console. The GPI serves as the 'switch' to turn something on/off when a fader is moved or a button is pressed.

You could probably rig something up with MIDI as well. I'd contact folks like www.sweetwater.com and ask their tech support about how to do this with MIDI or CV.

Good luck,

Jon Frost
Easthampton, MA