John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi there all of you guys..
I'm in a phase of constructing the wall units and I have to leave space and settle up my wiring and cables stuff now..
Here's the floorplan of my studio and I've coloured the rooms I have to
wire up and make cables for..
I will use MOTU 24I/O with 24 ins/outs..

1.How many cables do I have to carry from drum room to control room and how to do that best? (I don't have drums yet, but I will make mobile session, so i have to put some cables there so I can record them laters). Please suggest me how to wire them up and how many should I put?

2.How many cables do I have to carry from vocal/live room to control room and how to do that best? ( I have two microphones: Neumann TLM103 and RODE ClassicII) and I plan to use those for recording vocals) Those are cardiod and I use them thru my TC Electronics Gold channelstrip analog to Motu card..Also wan to record some brasses and string quartets thru those mics and to put 1-2 more as atmosphere mics.. You expirienced guys, please suggest me what to do and how to wire things up..

* I planned to run the cables in those RED spaces I draw you.. Those are construction walls and I wil run the cables behind the materials there.. Am I on the right track?

Also, tell me where and how to put and secure those cables thru the walls and what materials should I use??

Thanx in advance
Waiting for your answers
Funky

Aloha Funky,

Well, for starters here's a couple of links for wallplates: http://www.whirlwindusa.com/engrtour.html
http://www.procosound.com/plateworksindex.htm

Aloha

Uh, kendale..
There'reno wallplates to buy in my country here..
Can you please point me some other option or to give me some
usefull manual how to construct them?
Do I have some other options?

Honestly, I do not have also so much mics for multitracking, (I have only 2 condensers) but I want to run more cables for the drums and few cables in other room for tracking live instruments..I plan to rent some mics when recording drums and etc, so in near future I plan to buy myself some mics for those sessions..

What do you advice me guys? How many cables shall I make for the drum room and how many for the vocal/live room?

Is there any process for getting them together and securing them with some kind of plastic? Please tell me about it..Then,where shall I put the general board (I think you call it wall plate) so that all cables should go there (on picture)?


Thanx guys
Funky

Hello Funky...

1.How many cables do I have to carry from drum room to control room and how to do that best? (I don't have drums yet, but I will make mobile session, so i have to put some cables there so I can record them laters). Please suggest me how to wire them up and how many should I put?

Is the Drum room going to be your main room? Will you track other instruments in this room at the same time you're doing drums? The quantity of mic cables will depend on your necessity for inputs in each room. The best thing is to run conduits, that way if you need to, you can add wires later. Wire...buy a multipair cable if you can get it.

Hi Aaron..
Thanx for replying..
Yes I know, I will make conduits in form of letter T so cables from both rooms shall go thru the walls in my control room. Then laters I can put cables as much as I need..

Thanx guys
Funky

Aloha Funky,

I will make conduits in form of letter T so cables from both rooms shall go thru the walls in my control room.

You might want to rethink that...it's hard enough pulling one set of cables through a couple of 45 & 90 degree elbows, let alone pulling it through a 'T'. I think it might be better to have separate/multiple conduits from each room.

Check out this post and pics to see how Aaron did his. You can find out firsthand what kind of challenges you're about to face.
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=839

Aloha

Funky
I am a recording drummer.
I prefer using minimal amounts of mics on my kit (maybe 4) but that is not the norm. A lot depends on the genre of music you record.
Most Jazz type drummer like minimal miking, but many Rock drummers will often insist on close miking everything. I have had sessions with 2 kick mics, 2 snare mics , 4 tom mics 2 overheads and 2 room mikes.
I think you would be sad if you did not at least provide 8 mic cables to your drum room.

In your vocal booth I generally have ever used more than 3 simultaneously. 1 for voice and 2 for acoustic guitar. I'd therefore at least allow 4 mic cables just to cover yourself.
As for the live room.. well anything goes. A minimum of 8 I would say.

I know you only have a few mics now, but in the years to come you will kick yourself for not allowing enough cables.

Oh... dont forget headphone runs as well.

Tom

HI guys
Thanx for replies..
I decided to make small patch bays on the both walls on the rooms..
So I will make multi-core running from both rooms to control room..
I will put a board with 12 XLR+2 headphone inputs for the drum room and
4 XLR+4 heaphone inputs for vocal/live booth..I hope it's quite enough..
So when the time comes I would have input when needed..

Let me know what you think
Funky