Complete newbie needs advice!

Hi everyone. My band and i have just moved out of an overpriced practice room into a much larger industrial unit which will need soundproof walls building. There is more than enough room for us to practice and i have been considering building a control room as well to attempt an amateur studio. I have read up on sound proofing and plan to use double walls and doors for isolation. However, i dont know much about studios and their equipment although i am very keen to learn. I would like to know the name of the mic connections that go through walls and any uk websites or shops where they can be purchased. I would rather install them now to save the hassle of a retrofit. Also are there any other items i need and may not have thought about. Sorry if these are stupid questions but i couldn't find solid information anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Bob

The mic connections are called xlr connections. You need to run "snakes" with multiple xlr cables in one. If you have lots of money buy neutrik ones otherwise buy cheap ones online. One side usually will go to a patchbay to give multiple inputs and outputs to your mixer and the other end usually gets built into a wall plate / wall box Usually in a studio setup these will carry 48 volt phantom power from the mixer to the mics so condensor mics (which require power) can be used. This means needing to be carefull about what you do. try reading up on patchbays and it will give you an idea of what needs doing. www.thomann.de is a very good trustworthy website that supplies snake cables (and anything else you might need)very cheaply but of somewhat decent quality. http://www.thomann.de/ie/studio_multicore_cables.html I would also think ahead and put in some digital cables like adat for digital gear and Cat5 or 6 (ethernet cables) for computer networking and maybe some midi cables / usb / firewire would be good too. My main recomendation is to take your time and think about what you might need in two or three years time rather than having to pull apart walls into the future. Hope this helps a bit. df