ANALOG STUDIO SETUP

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ANALOG STUDIO SETUP
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Signal Routing in Recording Studios

• Recording studios require literally miles of
  cable in order to connect all of the facilities
  equipment.
• All of this cable eventually makes its way to the
  patch bay.

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The Control Room w/ Patchbay
Speakers
Patch bays may either be attached to the console
as shown, or remote (in a separate rack)
Mixing Desk
Patch Bays
Producers Desk
Sound Diffuser
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Signal Routing and Patch bays

• A patchbay is set up as pairs of rows
• The top row is usually an output row, the bottom
  an input.
• Gear is wired to the backs of the bays
• The patchbay connects a plug on the top to the
  plug directly beneath it
• This is referred to as normalled
• The diagram to the right shows the most widely
  used configuration for a patch bay - The half
  normalled connection

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3 Types of Patch bay Connections

• Non normalled or open
• Fully Normalled
• 1/2 Normalled

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Non Normalled

• Used where you dont want the two rows to
• connect.
• Most commonly used for outboard gear to avoid
  feedback.

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Full Normalled

• Generally only used for the mic line and mic
  preamp input rows
• Why?
• To avoid one mic being connected to several
  preamps at once.

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Half Normalled

• The most common row, used for all rows except the
  mic line/mic pre and outboard gear rows.

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Half vs. Full Normalled

• Half When a patch cable is plugged into the
  input (bottom) row the connection from top to
  bottom is broken. Not true for the output (top)
  row - if a cable is plugged into the output row
  the connection from top to bottom is maintained.

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Half vs. Full Normalled

• Full When a patch cable is plugged into the
  input (bottom) row the connection from top to
  bottom is broken - just like half. However, if a
  cable is plugged into the output (top) row the
  connection from top to bottom is also broken.

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Using the subgroups or DOs, the console sends
the mic/line ins to the multi-track
Recorded tracks return to the console for
monitoring and mixing
Audio from mics and instruments goes into the
channel strips mic or line inputs
The final mix (main L/R) is sent to the two track
machine and recorded and returned to console for
monitoring
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The I/Os of a Channel Strip

• The rear of each channel strip generally looks
  like this.
• The only connection(s) this diagram lacks is the
  group out/ DO.
• Direct Out- This is an output of that specific
  channel strip. This output occurs after EQ, and
  insert.
• Insert- This point sends audio out and then is
  looped back into the channel strip via the inset
  return.
• Tape in- This is used to monitor the MTR on the
  monitor inputs while tracking.
• Line in/ Mic in- These inputs are the points that
  will occupy one of the 2 channel paths. These
  cannot be used at the same time, and are selected
  by the Mic/Line switch at the top of the strip.

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Mic Line/ Mic Row
Mic lines (studio lines) on patch bay - usually
the first row which normals to the second row -
the console mic pres
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Group Out/ MTR In MTR Out/ Line In Rows
Console group out/ DO row on patch bay normals
to MTR inputs
MTR outs on patchbay normal to Console line Ins/
Monitor Ins
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St Buss Out/ 2 Track In 2 Track Out/ 2 Track
Monitor In Rows
Console main L/R out on patchbay normals to the
two track machine inputs. 2 Track outputs normal
to 2 track monitoring on console