Home studio setup patchbay

The patchbay is a ubiquitous piece of hardware that many project studio owners dont think they need, but then discover how incredibly helpful it can be. As soon as you introduce balanced equipment, then the type of patchbay does matter. The pb48 is a rugged, noisefree, versatile patchbay designed to serve all your patchbay needs, from providing clear and easy access to your mixer and other studio gear, to reducing the wear and tear on their jacks, to facilitating quick and precise rerouting of devices within your studio setup. A patchbay can make your studio much quicker to use, but can also be a nightmare. If you look at large recording consoles, they all have a lot of patch bays. They handle both input and output for each channel, which makes 48 points or connections. Patchbays are organized based on the needs of the studio, so none of them are laid out the same way. A few pieces of equipment that i have had for a while compressor, interface, mixer as well as a new headphone amp and effects box use balanced cables for some aux patches. Patchbay setup sign in to disable this ad hi all, i am fumbling my way through the setup of my new patchbays. The first way to wrangle in all of the possibilities is to setup your patchbay in a manner that greatly reduces your options. A patchbay can make your studio much quicker to use, but can also be a nightmare to set up, so heres advice on which to choose and how to connect it up for the best results. Their use is typically the same as a professional studio, just on a smaller scale. Patchbays while not necessarily the heart of your studio, a good patchbay can certainly be the blood vessels, and you most definitely dont want them getting clogged. A patchbay is a hardware device that features ins and outs for analog audio gear.

Usually, patchbays are found in much larger studios with much more gear than you may have in your home setup. Below are a few helpful tips to speed up your workflow and make the process less stressful. Theyre a convenient way to connect components together because they give you easy access to the input and outputs of many devices. It works as an 8x8 midi interface, allowing you to map real physical or virtual midi ports to its internal inputs and outputs. And some tips on wiring and getting the best out of your patchbay. But i want to let you in on a little secret you only need 8 pieces of equipment to set up a home recording studio that can produce radioworthy tracks.

I am currently setting up a home studio, which im hoping to eventually turn into a professional facility, based around a soundtracs topaz desk, three egosys wamirack soundcards and a pentium 4 pc, with numerous synths, samplers, effects and other outboard gear. Design beautiful and accurate patchbay systems within minutes using the new and improved patchcad 2. Feb 14, 2020 at first, knowing how to use a patchbay seems like it would require a textbook, a doctorate in electrical engineering, an iq of 300, and some magical incantations. New to this forum and trying to setup my apollo twin mk2 in my home studio. The mic tie lines are plugged into the top row in the back of the patchbay, which, because this patch bay is halfnormalled, automatically get sent to the row below. Even for the home studio user, i recommend integrating a patch bay into your setup. Generally, patchbays are organized in order of signal flow. Because really all you need is a few basic essentials. Once you learn the basics of how the patchbay integrates into your studio setup, you can get creative with how you route your audio. The properties window will close and the newly created patchbay will be selected in the templates manager pane with an orange background to indicate it is a user.

A patchbay is a passive device where audio signals route to and from all the recording gear in your studio. There are a number of patchbays to choose from, so in this guide well take a look at a handful. Most commercial studios use a patchbay especially those with a. A patchbay is a central audio connection area for all the gear in a studio that allows any connection to or from equipment to be made in one location with a standardized cable and connector. Larger mixing console desks are often built to accommodate several patchbay units in one area, allowing recording or mix engineers to reconfigure the studio at will. I am not new to recording, but i am just getting around to setting up my first semipro home studio. If youre set up for mixing, youll probably use inserts and outboard compressors. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the link above. Well confine the discussion to the common 48 point trs patchbay, which is generalizable to every other style. I had redco built me an xlr bay for the mic inputs and then use the neutrik trs bay from outputs from the mic pres and all other outboard exactly as you outlined it. Recording studio accessories for home, project and pro studios. Patchcad is now available in standard and pro versions.

Midi patchbay is quite a simple, yet powerful midi mergersplitterfilter. Even in my more modest home setup mains hum and induced noise are problems which have taken upgrading to balanced connections to sort out, so if youre ever hoping to use your studio professionally you dont really have a choice. In my two previous studio installation articles sos september and. For home or project studios, i would argue that the raw approach is much more cost effective. With its normal, halfnormal, and thru optionsand the ability to easily switch between them from the front panelthis is one patch bay that beginners will undoubtedly find useful in their quest for greater patch bay knowledge.

Is there a way to setup the apollo twin without having to constantly unplug and plug between xlr and 14 cables for the inputs without sacrificing sound. Im in the processes of installing midi in my home studio, im just not sure what is the best workflow, if someone could chime in, it would be greatly appreciated. To save the custom patchbay as a template, open the patchbay properties window by clicking on edit properties in the patchbays utility window and click on template save as. A patchbay is great for tidying your outputs and inputs and bringing them right to the front, where you can easily reach them. In terms of performance, functionality, and capability, the samson spatch plus is the clearly considered the best patchbay for home studio owners. I have 5 rack synths and a non working by usb edirol um880, but that works fine as a 8x8 midi patchbay. The music business has evolved immensely over the last several years and if you dont have an efficient studio setup at home to work in, youre not making the most out. There are a number of patchbays to choose from, so in this guide well take a look at a handful, and narrow down our choices by our final analysis. There are a variety of patchbays made to accommodate all sorts of connections, but they all serve the same function. Patchbays not only save time and headaches, they allow you to easily perform a number of mix tricks that would take serious headscratching otherwise. Whether labelling a patchbay, a termination panel or designing a whole studio from scratch, patchcad has the right tools to get the job done quickly and. Its about space relative to your body, gear relative to your hands, ideas and possibilities close to your mind. In the same way, it brings you into alignment with other professionals and also keeps you organized.

My studio sends are kinda lonely in their own patchbay with almost nothing in the bottom row. The typical audio patchbay uses trs jacks patch cables, although you can find versions that use xlr jacks, rca plugs, mono ts jacks, and plenty of others. We give free nofrills advice and guidance, and share tips and tricks on home studio recording setup and music software to help you record, learn and create. Building a home recording studio is a huge projectisnt it.

This would be an appropriate set up if you were doing mostly. Patch bays are used in the studio to enable different devices such as microphones, effects, and instruments to be connected easily with recording equipment such as a mixer or an amplifier. The most common type and the one you will get the most use out of in your home studio is a simple 48point trs patchbay. Proper wiring of your patch bay is a vital part of the home recording studio set up. Best patchbay for home studio recording top 5 picks. Creating a custom patchbay although patchcad comes with a large catalogue of predefined templates for a large number of patchbay makes and models, it is likely that you will need to create a custom patchbay template for the specific patchbay, panel or device you have. Plus, tips on building and fitting racks for your gear. By having each device input and output on one patchbay in the same spot it makes it a little easier for another engineer to see my patch bay matrix as well. Just be prepared to spend 1020% of your gear investment for all the cabling youll need. Your patchbay probably wont need to be as monstrous as the one in avatar studio a, but your deservedly smaller patchbay should still exist and should follow the same sort of design philosophy as the ones in the big rooms. Outputs are almost always on the top row, with inputs on the bottom row. Organization is everything when it comes to building an efficient home recording studio. The decision to go forward with the home studio patchbay project is tied directly to the concepts of outisde the box and inside the box audio production. It takes months of planning, research, and preparation doesnt it.

If your studio is set up for recording, you might set up patches for cue headphone sends or synthesizers. It will help increase productivity as your studio grows, allow you the flexibility. Here are 10 essential things you want to get for your home recording studio setup. Before connecting your gear in the back of the patchbay, use some white tape and label. Patchbay setup i have purchased behringer px3000 and i dont really understand how to set it up. Jan 26, 2017 their use is typically the same as a professional studio, just on a smaller scale.

Dec, 2017 the first thing to note when setting up a home recording studio is that while having really high quality and expensive gear and a multimilliondollar facility is a great asset for making professional recordings, it pales in comparison to how important the actual skills are required to make a great recording andor mix. Setting up a patchbay in your home studio by tweakheadz lab. Home recording studio setup for beginners key recording. The whole point is to speed up your workflow by allowing you to make common connections quickly.

Building a studio desk form parts obtainable at ikea plus. Is there a way to setup the apollo twin without having to constantly unplug and plug between xlr and 14 cables for the inputs without sacrificing sound quality. I have behringer eurorack ub1204 connected to a maudio audiophile 2496. I have a behringer mic2200, a behringer di4000, and a behringer powerplay ha8000 headphone amp. There are so many items deemed a necessity in setting up and operating a studio. So many of us are working at home these days that its become increasingly important for each of us to know as much as we can about how to set up a home recording studio. No patchbay setup, setting up the mixers, getting a clean tape or turning on effect boxes. Tweak shows you how to set up a patch bay creatively for your special audio projects. Feb 14, 2020 the typical audio patchbay uses trs jacks patch cables, although you can find versions that use xlr jacks, rca plugs, mono ts jacks, and plenty of others. Some patchbays are specially created for routing digital electrical signals, optical signals, and midi signals. Today with just a click of the mouse, you can begin to record music. Your home studio setup doesnt have to be costly or difficult to set up. Midi patchbay lets you hook up your various pieces of midi software and hardware and pass midi data between them, applying assorted filters on the way.

Things like key splits, midi channel remapping, transposition, etc. If your studio is set up for recording, you might set up patches for cue. Keep reading if you want to learn what those items are. That is why most people use half normal the rear input and output are connected to each other without a patch cable. The best way is to set it up in a way that you have as little patch cables on the front when you work. Although the audio patchbay will be the most common in a small studio, patch panels are also available for other signal types. The 9 home recording studio essentials for beginners. But really, once you know the fundamental rules and conventions the process is as easy as running cables from one piece of gear to the next. A patchbay can make your studio much quicker to use, but can also be a nightmare to the normalled jack sockets will therefore look like the diagram in figure 2a. It allows you to easily patch the outputs of one piece to the inputs of another. A balanced patchbay will not act exactly the same as an unbalanced one for every case. The patchbay solves the problem of connecting all these different devices. Whether labelling a patchbay, a termination panel or designing a whole studio from scratch, patchcad has the right tools to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

One patch bay needs to be halfnormalled for the studio tie lines. However, if all your equipment were unbalanced, you would not notice any difference whether you used a balanced or unbalanced patchbay. What is a patch bay and why do you need one vintage king audio. If you have a studio with analog equipment, youll benefit from a using a patchbay. Our modern recording studio is a collection of various audio equipment all of which may have different input and output connectors on the rear of the units. Good studio design means having your normal setup routed through the back of the patchbay, and when you wish to change the signal flow or try something different, you simply. In my opinion thats the ideal setup for home project studio use. We encourage you to download a full version of the software free of charge. How i use patchbays in my synth studio the perfect home studio. For a simple home setup, a homemade rack can be perfectly acceptable. If you were to connect all of your daw outputs to the top row of a patchbay and all the line inputs of your mixing desk to the bottom row with the patchbay in half normal mode your daw outputs will be connected to the mixer automatically without plugging anything into the patchbay. You can read our stepbystep guides and tutorials on audio interfaces, midi keyboards, midi controllers, recording software, mics, guitar and dj gear. I have a behringer mic2200, a behringer di4000, and.

Dec 06, 2019 we have been helping people like you with home studio recording equipment and music software since 2003. Well most people think so, but the truth is getting started is far easier than you might imagine. At the heart of a good cabling system is the patch bay or jackfield if you prefer oldfashioned, unamericanised english. A patchbay keeps your setup organized and helps you save a huge amount of time. View profile view forum posts view articles new member join date jun 2015 posts 5. From highquality audio interfaces to dynamic and timebased signal processing, your studio is an everevolving ecosystem. Home studio setup tips and accessories for home, project, pro studios by rich the tweakmeister.