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Blue
Flux Studio
Hints, tips and tricks on studio design and equipment use by Tom of
Blue Flux.
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Groundhog
Studio -
Page 2
Cables & Connectors
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Installing cables
is probably one of the most crucial operations you'll face
when
building a studio. All your good musical work will have to pulse
through
these copper arteries, and having to track down and repair faulty
cabling later is a
royal
pain.
I use unbalanced cables for all but the
microphone connections, i.e. one "hot" wire and one shield/ground
wire per cable. The pros & cons of unbalanced vs balanced have been
discussed extensively elsewhere, hence for further reference check out
various forums
at the ever-helpful Sound On Sound
site. |
| Optimistically, I had salvaged the entire cable loom
from
my previous studio. And as luck would have it, the crucial dimensions
of Groundhog Studio were about the same
as the previous ones. Phew! The opportunity
of weeding out some ageing cables as well as re-arranging some
patchbay
assignments wasn't missed, though.
A word on patch bays - there are bays with jack
connectors at the front AND rear, or those with hardwired (ie.
soldered) sockets
at the front only. Of the
two,
I infinitely prefer the latter, despite the flexibility the former
brings.
Whatever you do, dust / grime / spider eggs will always find its way
into
the jack sockets, and twice as many sockets (ie. front and rear) will
double the potential for faulty connections. Also, connections at the
rear
are harder to clean. Believe me, a good hardwired connection, in the
midst
of all the jack connections one is forced to live with, is a
full-frontal blessing. I'd much rather take
the whole patchbay down to re-solder connections for new
equipment.
Also, semi-balanced connections (ie.
those where you rely on a signal path that is broken/closed when
plugging
in/unplugging an other jack plug, like an insert point) are not for
the
faint-hearted. If the connection is not frequently in use, dirt
deposited
over months will guarantee a poor, crackly contact
when that socket is eventually pushed into service. I had some
semi-balanced
connections
in my previous studio, and ended up having to make short patch leads to
bridge them for the above reasons. If in doubt - keep it simple.
And while on the subject of connections
- the only genuinely useful tool I have found to maintain or
re-establish
good connections between plugs and sockets is a contact spray called DEOXit D5 made by Caig. It's not
cheap, but provided you spray some on a piece of
cloth
or Q-tip and wipe the contacts (as opposed to just spraying it
indiscriminately
straight from the can) it should last a jolly long time. Even then, I
found
that contacts will start to go wonky again after about 2 to 3 months -
time
to
re-apply the D5. Do not, repeat DO NOT use common-and-garden contact
spray
from Maplins etc. - it does more harm than good. Also, do not apply D5
to plastic film moving contacts, as found in faders, pots etc. Caig do
a special spray for those.
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Patchbay with cable loom only
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Trunking installed
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| The
pictures above
show cable looms before and after trunking. Needless to say, one should
always install larger trunking than presently required, since more
cable
is bound to join the existing band in years to come. I run MIDI cables
quite happily alongside audio, but have separate trunking for mains
cable,
at least 10 cm away from audio/MIDI runs. If the two need to cross
this
should be at right angles to avoid induced mains hum.
Finally, two tips I find useful for a tidier
appearance. Hand-written labels on patchbays/mixer channels etc. are
ok, but fade after a while. A label printer does a far superior job,
doesn't cost much, and lends a more professional appearance to your
studio. Money well spent, then.
Secondly, one of many solutions for those
awkward jobs of securing cables beneath a desk, shelf, or any other
wooden
item: wrap a cable tie around the cable(s), trim back the tag to about
an inch long, then whack a staple through (or across) the tag
into the wood. Nothing feels better than slamming
that
staple home whilst shouting at the unruly bunch of cables, "stay, you
bas*ards!".
essential labeller
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Stay!
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| Equipment Placement
Where
to place your
equipment and connection points is of course highly subjective, and
depends
amongst other things on how you're used to working, and what
instruments
you record. One factor will be common to all recording musicians,
though
- ergonomics.
I'm sure I'm not the only studio owner
who has woken up with a sore back/neck/wrist on many a (late) mornings.
Although
it should be perfectly obvious where to position one's equipment,
practical
and spatial constraints tend to get in the way. Keyboards and mixing
desks
usually find a comfortable position by themselves, perhaps because they
are the main items in most studios and hence got top priority during
the
planning stages.
For me, effect processors have been the
main culprits in the past. They have the uncanny tendency to multiply
(ok ok - not quite so much in these plug-in enhanced days - ED),
and spread out horizontally, or in my case vertically, along the studio
walls. As a guitarist by choice, I used to find myself with guitar on
lap,
bending down to almost mains socket level (guitar crushing rib case in
the process) to tweak the hobbit-sized buttons of some effects unit
near
the bottom of my FX trolley. Only to find that I wasn't able to hear
the
adjustments at all after sitting up due to the gallons of blood
draining
from my head (get a smaller head then - ED, grinning mischievously). Not to
mention the state of my back the following day...
Lesson learned. The brief for Groundhog
Studio was to have the most commonly used effects units at eye level,
and
connection points to the start of the most frequently used processing
chains
within easy reach.
As can be seen in the photos below, this
meant building a mini rack above the central shelf, to house my Alesis
and Digitech multi FX unit (with one slot spare for future expansion
[now filled by MPX550]).
It also meant building a customized 45 degree mounting base for the
black
sheep of the processor family, the Line 6 Pod. Much as I love its
sounds,
this one had been bamboozling me for months regarding placement,
because
of its awkward shape. Yes, the Pro version is rack mountable, but I
find
the price penalty prohibitive. As can be seen below, the wooden base
has holes
to admit audio and power cables, and retains the
Pod with two dowelling pins that fit into the holes in its back.
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On shelf: mini rack for multi FX units (right) and
base for
Line 6 Pod |
Beneath main desk: trolley for dynamic processors
and less commonly
used FXs (right), and satellite bay with colour-coded connection
points for common input chains.
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Final Verdict
Groundhog
Studio took
2 months to complete, including decorating and carpeting. Being more
spacious than previous studios I've owned has helped to repell my
"Broom Cupboard Manager" status so readily awarded by visiting friends
in tha past. But it's Groundhog's improved ergonomics, more than size,
that have made recording there a real pleasure, aided by the reassuring
level of soundproofing afforded by its bomb-proof structure that allows
for hassle-free late-night sessions.
This said, I'd stress that flexibility must remain the prime virtue of
any recording facility, as brought home to me when upgrading to DAW
recording. Wise though they may be, even studio owners cannot foretell
times to come. So any measures employed from the outset to ease future
upgrades, or even strategy U-turns, will be worth their weight in gold
when the time comes. Accessible wiring, cable trunking with room to
spare, patchbay slot redundancy and, if at all possible, loads and
loads of free space on shelves and worktops will help to make the idea
of future changes less daunting, perhaps even appealing.
One other thing: cocksure as one might be at the time of remembering
layouts, cable routing and one's own rationale for vaious key
decisions, rest assured that 12 months down the line those memories
will have all but oozed into the great void beyond planet Buffer-Full.
So, unless you really have had silicon implants of the electronic kind:
take notes, and better still, draw (and keep updated) a schematic of
your audio and Midi layout. I've lost count of how often this has
already saved me hours of crawling into dark spaces with a penlight
clasped between gnashing teeth.
Finally, remember that any fool can be uncomfortable. If, even after
the most meticulous spell of planning, some features just don't seem to
cut it, then there's no point grinning and bearing it. Studios are
probably as close to a custom-made complex working enevironment as
private individuals are likely to own. So if something isn't right, it
needs fixing, before paradise is lost for want of a gold-plated jack
socket or a lowered shelf.
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Keyboard rack with sampler and synths
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Space at last for 5 years' SOS mags
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To
hear the music
of
Blue Flux,
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Copyright Enthalpy Publications 2009
         
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