I just discovered your channel last week and i think it is one of the best programs available on studio gear and setup. I am relatively new to the recording game and i have been following a number of channels and well, your information is really really good. Just wanted to say thank you for you efforts and time !!!
...an incredibly clear and illustrative video. All the questions I had in my head are now answered. In setting up my home studio, I just couldn't figure Patchbays out... but now! .....all my cables are run (most under my floor) and connected using 3 x Samson S-Patch Plus... a mixer and 28 I/O.... Synths and outboard gear to match. Your video is by far the BEST out there. Now I am about to Rock... and I Salute You.
Glad I could help out! Sounds like you have things well planned out with your cable runs and the S-Patch Plus are very sturdy...the ones to get for TRS imo. As it should be...Let There Be Rock...
This is somewhat confusing to label them as "balanced". As far as I understand, patchbays are passive devices that just let through any signal from one TRS or XLR socket to another, be it mono balanced, mono unbalanced, stereo unbalanced or anything else exotic using that socket format. I know there are TS patchbays that won't support balanced signals, so I understand it is important to make that distinction. Sorry if I am being too pedantic ^^ and thanks for the time and efforts put into these educational videos!
Hi Todd! I got a suggestion for you. I would like to see you review another pair of studio headphones made by AKG, the AKG K553 Mkii, they’re a pair of closed-back studio headphones. According to AKG, the K553 Mkii is "the ideal closed-back, over-ear studio headphone for monitoring, mixing and mastering”, and that their low-impedance 50mm drivers provide "strong, accurate, and distinguished bass response, with enough sensitivity for precise sound reproduction on laptops and mobile devices". I would like to see you review them and run audio tests on them to see if those claims are true.
Hi, thanks for your detailed and precise video! I have a question: my patchbay is half normalled by default , suppose I have my microphone connected to the "1 Out" slot of the patch bay and the input of my interface connected to the "1 In" slot. If I then connect an outboard gear to another slot, and use a patch cable to route the signal from the mic to the outboard gear, and another cable from the outboard gear to the interface, would this result in a double signal being received by the interface? In other words, would the interface get a duplicate signal? or is simply a through conection now Thanks and please dont hate me !!
Typically you would have a mic going into a preamp before the patchbay, patchbays do not provide any kind of gain because they are 100% passive. I’m assuming you are wanting the ability to route the mic to external compressors/EQs. This would require a preamp, without one your outboard compressors/EQs will not get signal. Another common practice is using an external XLR input that is routed to the patchbay (this is what I do) where you have 1 or several xlr inputs routed to the patchbay so you can choose where the mic would be going. You can either route it directly to your interface preamp or to an external preamp, then routed to either external compressors/EQs or back into the interface preamp.
@@jonathancrowell4648 yeah! I bought an external XLR with phantom to route the mic between differents preamps, eqs and comps. Thank you so much for your answer.
Hi Todd, another informative video. Thank you. : ) I recently posted a question in one of your preamp videos. I'm not sure why you didn't respond? But no worries. I ended up getting the UA 710 Twin-Finity and I'm very pleased with it. : ) Kind regards, Darren (Wales, UK)
Hi Darren, Sorry I didn’t have a chance to reply to your previous question. I have had my studio torn apart this week working on a large channel count upgrade and complete rewiring. As with any project of this taking, there were a number of issues to overcome and I have been “away” from UA-cam this week. I will have more videos explaining the process coming soon. The 710 is a great choice. It is a very flexible preamp that provides a range of coloration as you have no doubt discovered. My recommendation would have been to go this route as you have a good emulation of the 73 already available with your Apollo and adding the 710 provides more capabilities vs having another 73 style preamp. I’m not saying a hardware 73 is something you will never want to consider, but at this point the 710 was a more compelling upgrade in my opinion. Please keep me up to date as you spend more time with the 710. Cheers, Todd
@@askdrtk Hi Todd, thanks for your reply, much appreciated. And good luck with rearranging your studio. I'll keep everything crossed for you! : ) One question if I may. Given your testing, do you think that having something like the Cloudlifter CL-1 mic amp to go before my 710 (which feeds into my Apollo X6), would be beneficial? Kind regards, Darren. : )
The wiring is back together (64x64 channels) and I am almost finished balanced each of my gear individually with the input/output trims on my converters…video will be coming on this. I know not everyone agrees, but I do recommend using a Cloudlifter. My reasoning is that it puts the usable gain adjustment in the middle of the potentiometer where you will be able to make more detailed and accurate adjustments (and recalls) compared to using the 3-5 o’clock range where adjustments are coarse and gain changes quickly. If you want to drive the tube input stage you can still accomplish that by compensating with the output trim. This applies to all analog gain controls that are typically non-linear including the 710. Only my take on this, but I hope it helps out…Cheers!
@@askdrtk Hi Todd, following your previous suggestion, I was looking at getting the Cloudlifter to add to my UA 710 which feeds into my Apollo X6, when I stumbled across a short UA-cam video called, 'Cloudlifter vs Dynamite | BEST Inline Preamp?' (by Kettner Creative). This guy says you can't use an inline mic preamp on a Condenser mic because it will consume the 48v of phantom power before it gets to the mic. As I have a large diaphragm Condenser mic, I'm a little confused now? Any advice would be much appreciated. : ) Kind regards, Darren (Wales, UK)
Hi Darren, That is correct, a Cloudlifter or other mix booster uses phantom power and will not pass it through to a condenser microphone. There is one exception, the Triton FetHead Phantom which will pass phantom power through. It is specifically designed for use with condenser microphones. That said, I do not recommend mic boosters, including the FetHead Phantom, as necessary for condenser microphones as they do not generally require as much gain as dynamic microphones. With a condenser microphone, your gain control on the 710 will be more in the “usable” range I described earlier. For some reason I thought you needed one for a dynamic mic. If you are using a condenser(s) mics exclusively, there is no need for a booster. I hope this clears things up.
Okay, so if I may make one suggestion, I'd like to suggest relaxing the gate on your voice a bit. Maybe speed up the attack on the gate. But it sounds like you're having words partially cut out.
Nobody on UA-cam has ever explained patchbays to where a 12 year old can understand in 5 minutes. They just think they have. “Through” is always simple. “Normal/half normal?” Thats where everyone drifts. (It’s not the guys that get it immediately that count.) Can the signal from input 1/2 go out through every other output simultaneously ? Can 8 outputs of a drum machine go to 8 inputs of a bay and be summed to output 1/2? Is that what patchbays do? If so I’m buying one. In the comments in patchbay videos, guaranteed you’ll hear somebody say “oh I finally get it…!” Which means most people don’t. What is it about these things that are so complicated to understand? It’s just rudimentary I/O.
I just discovered your channel last week and i think it is one of the best programs available on studio gear and setup. I am relatively new to the recording game and i have been following a number of channels and well, your information is really really good. Just wanted to say thank you for you efforts and time !!!
Thanks and I'm glad to hear you are finding some useful information! Cheers!
...an incredibly clear and illustrative video. All the questions I had in my head are now answered. In setting up my home studio, I just couldn't figure Patchbays out... but now! .....all my cables are run (most under my floor) and connected using 3 x Samson S-Patch Plus... a mixer and 28 I/O.... Synths and outboard gear to match.
Your video is by far the BEST out there.
Now I am about to Rock... and I Salute You.
Glad I could help out! Sounds like you have things well planned out with your cable runs and the S-Patch Plus are very sturdy...the ones to get for TRS imo.
As it should be...Let There Be Rock...
I agree.
Your simple logical presentation cut to the chase and answered a lot of my unanswered questions (after watching lots of others).
Much appreciated, glad I could help out! Cheers!
Wow after 20 videos on patch bays the way you explained finally hit me. Very simple explanation awesome. Liked and subscribed 🔥🔥 thank you
Great presentation style, all facts well organized, clearly presented. I always appreciate "cut to the chase."
Hi Todd. I love how music people are so nice.
A really nice patchbay review. Thank you! 👏
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Cheers!
Absolutley great review, awesome teaching on how to use this gear and connection 👍!
dope setup. followed for quality video editing and explanation. keep it up
This is somewhat confusing to label them as "balanced". As far as I understand, patchbays are passive devices that just let through any signal from one TRS or XLR socket to another, be it mono balanced, mono unbalanced, stereo unbalanced or anything else exotic using that socket format.
I know there are TS patchbays that won't support balanced signals, so I understand it is important to make that distinction.
Sorry if I am being too pedantic ^^ and thanks for the time and efforts put into these educational videos!
What a fantastic video brother, thank you for all that you do
Thanks man, glad to share. Cheers!
Hi Todd! I got a suggestion for you. I would like to see you review another pair of studio headphones made by AKG, the AKG K553 Mkii, they’re a pair of closed-back studio headphones. According to AKG, the K553 Mkii is "the ideal closed-back, over-ear studio headphone for monitoring, mixing and mastering”, and that their low-impedance 50mm drivers provide "strong, accurate, and distinguished bass response, with enough sensitivity for precise sound reproduction on laptops and mobile devices". I would like to see you review them and run audio tests on them to see if those claims are true.
Hi, thanks for your detailed and precise video! I have a question:
my patchbay is half normalled by default , suppose I have my microphone connected to the "1 Out" slot of the patch bay and the input of my interface connected to the "1 In" slot. If I then connect an outboard gear to another slot, and use a patch cable to route the signal from the mic to the outboard gear, and another cable from the outboard gear to the interface, would this result in a double signal being received by the interface? In other words, would the interface get a duplicate signal? or is simply a through conection now
Thanks and please dont hate me !!
The only question i have with patch bays is, do you lose quality splitting up the cable like that.
Thanks Todd
How would you go about microphones
Hey Todd... a newbie question here. How can I use my condenser mic to aTRS patchbay? Use a DI or an adapter? I'm bit confused here... Tks!
Typically you would have a mic going into a preamp before the patchbay, patchbays do not provide any kind of gain because they are 100% passive. I’m assuming you are wanting the ability to route the mic to external compressors/EQs. This would require a preamp, without one your outboard compressors/EQs will not get signal.
Another common practice is using an external XLR input that is routed to the patchbay (this is what I do) where you have 1 or several xlr inputs routed to the patchbay so you can choose where the mic would be going. You can either route it directly to your interface preamp or to an external preamp, then routed to either external compressors/EQs or back into the interface preamp.
@@jonathancrowell4648 yeah! I bought an external XLR with phantom to route the mic between differents preamps, eqs and comps.
Thank you so much for your answer.
Thanks ❤️
Glad I could help out. Cheers!
so Samson is the best unit for TRS? 🤔
You can flip half of the Art xlr. Open it up,carefully cut the pcb board in half with a hack saw or knife, then flip it.
I have seen that mod...good option to have 8 each way in a 1u space...high density for XLR!
Hi Todd, another informative video. Thank you. : ) I recently posted a question in one of your preamp videos. I'm not sure why you didn't respond? But no worries. I ended up getting the UA 710 Twin-Finity and I'm very pleased with it. : ) Kind regards, Darren (Wales, UK)
Hi Darren, Sorry I didn’t have a chance to reply to your previous question. I have had my studio torn apart this week working on a large channel count upgrade and complete rewiring. As with any project of this taking, there were a number of issues to overcome and I have been “away” from UA-cam this week. I will have more videos explaining the process coming soon.
The 710 is a great choice. It is a very flexible preamp that provides a range of coloration as you have no doubt discovered. My recommendation would have been to go this route as you have a good emulation of the 73 already available with your Apollo and adding the 710 provides more capabilities vs having another 73 style preamp. I’m not saying a hardware 73 is something you will never want to consider, but at this point the 710 was a more compelling upgrade in my opinion. Please keep me up to date as you spend more time with the 710. Cheers, Todd
@@askdrtk Hi Todd, thanks for your reply, much appreciated. And good luck with rearranging your studio. I'll keep everything crossed for you! : ) One question if I may. Given your testing, do you think that having something like the Cloudlifter CL-1 mic amp to go before my 710 (which feeds into my Apollo X6), would be beneficial? Kind regards, Darren. : )
The wiring is back together (64x64 channels) and I am almost finished balanced each of my gear individually with the input/output trims on my converters…video will be coming on this. I know not everyone agrees, but I do recommend using a Cloudlifter. My reasoning is that it puts the usable gain adjustment in the middle of the potentiometer where you will be able to make more detailed and accurate adjustments (and recalls) compared to using the 3-5 o’clock range where adjustments are coarse and gain changes quickly. If you want to drive the tube input stage you can still accomplish that by compensating with the output trim. This applies to all analog gain controls that are typically non-linear including the 710. Only my take on this, but I hope it helps out…Cheers!
@@askdrtk Hi Todd, following your previous suggestion, I was looking at getting the Cloudlifter to add to my UA 710 which feeds into my Apollo X6, when I stumbled across a short UA-cam video called, 'Cloudlifter vs Dynamite | BEST Inline Preamp?' (by Kettner Creative). This guy says you can't use an inline mic preamp on a Condenser mic because it will consume the 48v of phantom power before it gets to the mic. As I have a large diaphragm Condenser mic, I'm a little confused now? Any advice would be much appreciated. : ) Kind regards, Darren (Wales, UK)
Hi Darren, That is correct, a Cloudlifter or other mix booster uses phantom power and will not pass it through to a condenser microphone. There is one exception, the Triton FetHead Phantom which will pass phantom power through. It is specifically designed for use with condenser microphones. That said, I do not recommend mic boosters, including the FetHead Phantom, as necessary for condenser microphones as they do not generally require as much gain as dynamic microphones. With a condenser microphone, your gain control on the 710 will be more in the “usable” range I described earlier. For some reason I thought you needed one for a dynamic mic. If you are using a condenser(s) mics exclusively, there is no need for a booster. I hope this clears things up.
How to contact with you i have some external gear and i don't now how to connect with each other bc i am the beginner 😊
Okay, so if I may make one suggestion, I'd like to suggest relaxing the gate on your voice a bit. Maybe speed up the attack on the gate. But it sounds like you're having words partially cut out.
Thanks for the suggestion, I do hear that as well...
@@askdrtk
Ha, classic engineer catch
Just hear it a bit
sound degrades,,, aloso speed.. square waves become triangle ramps
Nobody on UA-cam has ever explained patchbays to where a 12 year old can understand in 5 minutes.
They just think they have.
“Through” is always simple.
“Normal/half normal?”
Thats where everyone drifts. (It’s not the guys that get it immediately that count.)
Can the signal from input 1/2 go out through every other output simultaneously ?
Can 8 outputs of a drum machine go to 8 inputs of a bay and be summed to output 1/2?
Is that what patchbays do?
If so I’m buying one.
In the comments in patchbay videos, guaranteed you’ll hear somebody say “oh I finally get it…!”
Which means most people don’t.
What is it about these things that are so complicated to understand?
It’s just rudimentary I/O.
thats a good idee but behringer pp are rubish
I have had the same behringer patchbay for 30 years now. Stil works great.
I just bought 2. I'll let you know...
who cares, buy 3.