ccsnd Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I have to wire 4 of them this week. Could use some ideas/tips. The way the board used to be had every single i/o wired to a patch panel. I thought that was way overkill. I have wired these before, but not quite to that extent. What are the most important things to wire to the bays? What are the most often scenarios you guys use them for? Most of my work is digital, with very little outboard gear. I love getting into old analog stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Draw on paper the goes-intas and the goes-outtas. I usually make a diagram (often with a computer drawing program) and work with the signal flow until I see daylight. Meaning, there comes a time when a certain methodology begins to take shape and make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Visser Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Is this strictly for yourself or is it going to be a working room with producer / engineer clients? If it is a professional room, then it is going to need to be wired within the expected standards of a pro room. You are right, pretty much every connector needs to be wired to the patches. Group outputs, for example, would be half normalled to tape machine (or DAW) inputs, so in the absence of any patching, groups flow through to the recorder. Or in the presence of a patch cable, it breaks the normalled connection and one could insert a signal via a manual patch. Setting up panels like this using a logical and relatively standard arrangement, will allow the engineer to work efficiently, quickly, and not bound by any rudimentary wiring limitations. A visiting engineer should be able to work out of the room with a very cursory introduction to the patch panel by the resident, without having to rely on a patchbayboy for the entire session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Unless the room's configuration is never going to be changed (no new machines, processors, nothing...), do not solder the cables from equipment directly to the jacks. Go to punchblocks or terminal strips instead, located very near but someplace where it'll be relatively easy to make changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hartley Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 If you have not purchased the panels yet consider the ADC panels with a QCP attached. That way any changes to equipment can be made at the QCP very easily. A little more money but worth it later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hartley Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Also, extra points for neatness and careful documentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 " used to be had every single i/o wired to a patch panel. " that was and is the professional way, just as Tom Visser pointed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 If you've got some extra holes: - Wire a few mults... you can even set up (for example) 8 patch points both as two 4-mults and one 7-mult, with a half-normal in between. - Wire a couple of 600:600 iso transformers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Collins Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 I wired a radio station for stereo AM a long time ago. Normalized patch fields are "normal". No patch cords have to be put in for things to work. Top patch field is wired to your sources, bottom patch field is wired to your inputs. Both patch fields are interconnected, they disconnect to where they link when you plug in. This way any output and input can be accessed . If a channel dies you can patch around it. You can use another patch field for processors, limiters, and plug them as you need them. Horrible boring repetitive job. http://www.stretta.com/~matthew/resources/rackwire/patchbay.html Just do a search normalized patch bay or patch field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 If you want to be a superhero, label the bay not just on the front but also on the punch block and on the wires coming into the punch block. Then, accurate documentation -- ideally with a clear diagram -- will make someone down the road say, "Bless you." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Steigerwald Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Not mentioned, but of importance, is that the top rows get wired as outputs and the bottoms as inputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccsnd Posted January 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 I understand all about patch bays, and how to wire them and such. I'm just not getting paid a whole lot for this job and if I solder everything thats at least a couple thousand solder points... today I wired all aux sends and some of the stereo groups. Tomorrow I'll finish stereo groups and start on direct outs..... I should also mention it's an old trident 24 series console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Thank god somebody mentioned that! Outputs on top. I would also add, if you have any video involved, keep them separate and away from the audio, and watch out for ground loops. And keep power on a separate strip. Cable management in a complex rack is a nightmare. I've seen cable racks in facilities that made the movie Brazil look pristine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feeley Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Marc! Your picture reminded me of this wonderful Crazy Wiring pages from a few years ago (recently updated to include pictures of both really bad and really fantastic wiring): http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2011/09/crazy-wiring-drb-series.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted January 22, 2012 Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 Sorry, this is WAYYYY off topic, but further down on the page that Jim referenced was a link to the World's Ugliest Car. http://www.darkroast...liest-cars.html Scroll down to the Aurora. Definitely my LOTD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 " I'm just not getting paid a whole lot for this job " how did that happen?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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