John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum but have been reading it (and admiring the pictures of the different studios) for quite some time now.

I live in NJ, USA. and I'm building a studio in my detached, 2 and 1/2 car garage. I have a control room, a live room and a small iso room. I insullated all the walls and am about ready to start drywalling the walls. Before I do this, I'd like to know what I need to do in preparation of passing the mic lines through the walls.

Here's my setup:
1.) EMU 1212m soundcard/interface with 2 analog i/o and 8 channels of ADAT in
2.) MOTU 8pre i'll be using for the ADAT out

I don't have a patchbay, or a mixer or anything like that. So, I'm wondering what I need to pass the mic lines through the walls. I'll need 2 lines into the iso room and 10 for the live room.

I'd like to use wallplates, so that it looks cleaner. My one question around wallplates is probably stupid, but i don't really understand what else you need besides the wallplates. do i need anything else? and since i'm using "balanced" cables going into my "balanced" inputs on my soundcard, does this mean that any wallplate or patchbay mid-point connection would also need to be "balanced"? it doesn't seem to be offered on the sites i've been looking at so i'm thinking I probably don't need to worry about this?

As for going through the walls, I've read here that people suggest using conduit/PVC pipe to pass things through the walls? If thats the case, I guess I should put that in there *now* before I drywall, and drywall around it? Or, I'm wondering if maybe i should just drywall over it, but mark the spot for reference, and then cut out whatever hole I need for the wall plates? I'm just kind of confused as to what I need to do and when to do it and I don't want to do it wrong...

As for budget, i don't want to spend more than, say, $150, $200 at the absolute most on things to get the mic lines through the walls. So, should I just go with a snake for now? I don't want to cheap out and paint myself into a corner, but I think if I can run a snake through the PVC, and then later on down the line switch to wallplates, that would be great. I just want to do it right first, so I don't have to pay even more later to do it right.

Not sure if I provided all the necessary info about my plan, but if not, let me know.

Thanks for any help or advice you can offer!
-Pat

Hi Pat,

Most multipair cable comes in numbers of 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 36, 48.

For your iso, you might want to put a 4 pair instead of 2, in case you just might need an extra input. Your other tracking room, use a 12 pair.

The main reason for conduits, is for multiple reasons. One, if you ever need to run an extra cable for something. Two, if you ever get a rodent such as a mouse in the wall, they love to chew on that soft cable. So it protects it. Among a few other reasons. Or you can build a trough for cables for easy access.

Once again, there's a sticky: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2086

at the top of this forum w/ references to wall plates, etc.

As for budget, i don't want to spend more than, say, $150, $200 at the absolute most on things to get the mic lines through the walls.

Depending on what cable you use, you'll probably spend that just on cable alone. I've already spent about $1500.00 just on wire. that's not including connectors, plates, conduits, etc.

oh, the cable that connects the two plates? wow, i didn't even think of all that... hmmm sounds like i should go with a snake for now. i guess i can put that through the conduit and insulate all around it, like described in another thread i'd read.

i really appreciate you taking the time to write w/ your thoughts!

i'm figuring all this out while i'm going, which can get dangerous, in terms of doing things wrong, so i'm trying to minimize that as best as i can. not that *clients* will be upset - this isn't going to be a commercial studio, at least not at first. i'm just going to use it for my own band for now. but still, i want to release the recordings, so i don't want things done wrong that will adversely affect the sound quality.

so, thanks a lot!
pat

oh, the cable that connects the two plates?

Huh? Usually I run a "home run" from control room to each plate or room. This is how you would normally do it.

Hehehe well, I don't really understand what I need. My ignorence in this subject cannot be overstated. Sorry if I was unclear. I just recall the wallplates being in the good studios I've been in, and I had no idea how they work or what they were called. I found out on this forum that they were called "wallplates" and so I googled 'wallplates' online and seemed to find some pretty good prices here:
http://www.churchaudiosupply.com/CASwallplates.html

So I look at the 'XLR Jacks on WALL PLATES' section and figure I need a couple of those. I have NO idea what else I will need (what kind of wire or cable I'll need to get everything connected). I hadn't really thought of any of that. I was thinking of the wall plates almost like a junction box, between my computer interface and my live room. If there's a lot more wiring and materials I'll need to buy, then I'll need to consider a more cost effective solution like a snake...

Do you have a layout online here to your space?

In a typical setup, let's just say a control room, main tracking room, and an iso room to keep it simple.

The main tracking room and the iso room, would each have their own wall plate w/ XLR connectors on them. Keep in mind, you'll probably need something for a headphone send as well. So make that consideration in the back of your mind.

You would run a snake from the main tracking room wall plate to the control room. You would run another snake from the iso room to the control room.

How you terminate in the control room, will depend on your individual setup. You might have them all come up to a wall plate, or to a patchbay, directly into some outboard mic pre's, or directly into a console.

Hopefully this clears things up a bit.