I basically have two signal paths, 16 inputs for my drums, and then a two channel pre I use for recording everything else. A snake helps keep everything looking clean, also a 4 channel DI unit for my pre amp to interface and for recording DI guitars along side recording my amps. As for monitoring, speakers out of my interface and a really long headphone cable for my drums 😅 simple and sweet. Love your set up, I hope to have something similar in the future. Here’s a video of my studio build if anyones interested ua-cam.com/video/1OHw-qNsU6c/v-deo.html
I'm using a 40 channel modified Allen and Heath GL2800 along with a Presonus Quantum and a 4848. I just got a new 16x4 snake to run mic lines, but I still need to get some patchbays and a headphone system
This video summarizes what I love about your work on YT. The photography is neat, the delivery and explanations are clear and easy to get. This is really motivating.
Andrew, Thank you for breaking it down for us dummies who love your channel but don’t understand 95% of the videos, the learning curve is steep for us newcomers. Hoping you and Colt, collab on a Recording/Mixing/Mastering basics class I can buy! Cheers mate! Very Respectfully, Jared
This is exactly the video I was looking for! Thank you so much for explaining your setup! I'm going to be finishing my studio in a couple months and this content hit the nail on the head.
This great for me, as I have a few older items I purchased decades ago, like a producer pack and old Neumann & AKG mics, even a nice old Trident console! (Needs major service), when I was recording in 2 inch tape studios as a singer/songwriter/guitarist in bands. I’d done a couple of albums & my bass player got us into a Paris system at the time. He was into the newest technologies of the day. Fast forward many years & I get an Apollo and logic & Luna and some plugins and want to utilise analogue gear which I own as well! I’ve been gigging with various bands, and felt almost ashamed at having many songs & ideas and nice studio bits and pieces but realised “I” need to get a handle on this before I’m in a rocking chair regretting wasting time, equipment & ideas!! I’ve always known what I like to hear, and some of my ideas became decisions employed by producers and engineers on tracks! I just never knew anything outside of the few things I saw engineers doing in those hideously expensive studios with only Cubase beginning to be incorporated. My bass player got all the early “Paris” set up and running back then, so understanding any technical stuff was his domain. Anyhow, thanks for showing these steps, as it’s a steep learning curve I’m embarking on. If you’re interested, below is something my band recorded on tape and believe we’d just purchased Paris, which was to overtake and succeed Cubase! Early 90’s. (Hope I correctly linked, I’m such a novice). ua-cam.com/video/QqY6e6NeLlo/v-deo.html
great video. I think the real take-away for people here no matter what level of complexity/or not their setup is, is that this arrangement is fully scaleable. So even if you've only got maybe a small mixer and/or a 4 or 8 channel interface, and just a couple of outboard items, and a couple of mics, you maybe able to be fully connected and ready to go with just one patch bay. I remember when i setup my first patchbay,. That I was then able to get into the flow without having to reconnect everything, everytime I had to record something else, was a liberating life changing experience in my humble little home studio.
Have you ever had a problem with bringing the mics into the patch bay as TRS? I assume you're really the only one plugging and unplugging mics in your studio. How do you ensure phantom power is managed properly? Keeping it off the passive ribbons, making sure not to short the TRS connections when patching, etc.? What part of the signal flow do you find most problematic? What would you most like to improve? What's the most clever thing you've done in your wiring? 🙂
I have a TT patchbay, i'm not sure if that's what you mean. I don't have any issues with phantom because I don't have anything normalled. If i patch into a mic pre I just make sure phantom power isn't on. But I have never had any issues with phantom. My favorite part for how i'm routing things is getting the patchbays separated by purpose. That has made everything extremely simple.
Fascinating and masochistic, learned quite a bit, would be great to see a video with more details re the personal monitor setup, like to send the audio from DAW to the system
great, I'm about to do a room for recording , mix and all.. not that complete in terms of material, but good enough. And this is always helpful. thanks great tips
truth is, I had the basic setups for a LONG time, but now I’m at a time in my recording/production “career” that I want to have all of the external hardware and gadgets to take my skills to the next level
That was realy helpful for me - and a very good explanation thanks! In my studio i have more electronic equipment so i need also a ton of midi cables ..
Thanks for doing that Andrew, i love cabeliing (is that a word) don't have many cables at this point but the cables i have you can not see them good job, keep it up man. love you channel
I love this. And I’m exactly the same. Gotta build the magic of a studio at home. And I hate to have a software version of everything. Having tangible gear really makes the work flow a lot more fluid, and way more fun.
Hi Andrew and thank you for such easy explanation. A part is missing.. how do you connect the audio interfaces to your computer? Being two it seems difficult to me to us the usual USB connection. Tks
Maybe a dumb question, but how are your mics connected to the patch bay? I assume they all have XLR on the mic side, but the patch bay clearly takes 1/4 inch (or maybe 3.5mm) cables. So are you using cables that have XLR on one side and TS/TRS on the other? And is this also true of the outboard gear that have XLR outs? Thanks for this video. My studio isn't quite big enough to warrant a patch bay yet but I may get there someday.
Great question: quite often patchbays will have 1/4" inputs and outputs on the front and back (trying to fit everything into a single rack space is tough!) but I can see Andrew has a few with DB25 connections (which are kind of like an old computer multi-pin connection) which you can use breakout cables to accept whatever type of input and output you need. So using his signal flow: mic>xlr>xlr input DB25 cable>db25 input on the patchbay and then the patchbay is used to route the signal from there. You can even forgo a breakout from the DB25 if you go into, say, the back of the Apollo 16 (which also has DB25 ins and outs!)
I should say, back in the day, patchbays had hardwired/soldered breakouts to XLR connections or sometimes even larger tie line connectors. DB25 is much much nicer for modularity, but the cables can be expensive. TRS connections work but you will have to adapt some outboard to go from XLR to TRS.
@@aidanknight So if I'm understanding the flow you're talking about - what Andrew showed in the studio - the key is doing the conversions from xlr to DB25 to get them in and out of the patchbays
Hey Andrew, Big fan of your work, a few questions (great videos by the way) 1)Do you have any of your Warm Audio Preamps Hooked up at Line level on your patchbay? 2) Do you have any issues running 48V Phantom power from the preamps on to your Patchbays, 3) is the grounding on your patchbays set to vertically strapped or issolated to avoid Ground loops?
I rap, make beats, and do post production stuff(mixing) with a hybrid setup. I've gone the semi-minimalist route, but high quality stuff. I have limited myself to 3 pieces of outboard gear, so my interface has sufficient ins and outs. No patch bay required. My outboard needed to have a "wow" factor to it to be kept, but ALSO had to have multiple uses. Tough to accomplish. With the (3) pieces I technically have 4 compressors, 5 styles of saturation, M/S functionality, a 3 band EQ, transformers and tubes, that can adequately be used on all forms of instrumentation and vocals. A tremendous amount of thought and tweaking went into my setup, so I really identify with and appreciate what you've done here. Its well though out for your use case.
Thank you for this! You’ve got such a great setup. How do you manage power? Are you using a power conditioner and are you able to fit everything on one circuit? If so, how many amps are on that circuit? Also, what does the power consumption of a setup like this require? Looking to spec out a PV solar panel setup.
Love the videos. Would love more info on the I/O of the whole thing. How do you get from your snake into your patch bay? What connections are you using to get into all of your interfaces? Would love to see a big fat diagram that shows what connections lead to what, primarily how you end up from xlr to 1/4 inch to DB25 to adat and so on. Keep up the great work bro and thanks for all the info.
I've got 2 Neve pre's (without EQ), 4 SSL Xlogic VHD, 1 Distressor, Scarlett 18i8. 2 patchbays, Moogs, 2600s, etc, Marshalls, Strat, Les Paul, Music Man Bass, Clarinet, Sax, Theremin, etc. recent build. Loving the new home office. thanks for confirming much in your helpful vid. cheers. come out to SoCal Winecountry; we'll party, eat, and jam
I want to know how you power everything on a home circuit? I have every outlet used in my mixing room and I'm maxed out. I would need another service to my house to add anymore consumers.
m905 !!!! congrats !!!! hope you took it with the DA card !!! the DAC is just incredible BTW feedback on this burl summing ??? I am starting to think about getting one
I watched the video hoping to find out about power supplies for a home recording studio in the uk. How is all the electric gear powered and what extensions etc do you use please?
@@AndrewMasters First, thank you for answering, and taking the time. I have experience in 24 track studios before the digital revolution. Now I'm trying to run an in the box studio only, like you say around 4:00 mins, very basic, no external preamps, just mic cables into a Presonus 2626 and Focusrite Scarlett Octo pre (connected via ADAT). I have 1 outboard compressor and that has taken up one of the line outs/line ins on the interfaces. But, if I was going to upgrade and get outboard preamps for my drums, is there a way to avoid "double preamping" the signal from mic - to preamp (mic level in, line level out) - to interface? Or would I need to invest in new interfaces with DB25 connections? Thanks again.
I love the setups where you can walk to an instrument cluster and make some noise and you can both get an immediate sound from what's in front of you and it's being piped into the system. Basically I love Stewart Copeland's studio lol. I want a halfway decent acoustic space, not too big, where everything is being recorded all of the time, even if it's just a few omni mics tucked here and there. SO MANY TIMES I say "always be recording" when something amazing happens and it's immediately vapor. There's no reason not to just have an old phone recording with the voice memo or something, you know?
I am actually in the process of wiring up everything in my new home studio to my new Dangerfox desk that arrived last week. I'm going to have a similar setup to yours with several pieces of outboard preamps, compressors, 500 series, summing mixer, etc. running into a couple Apollo interfaces. I noticed you have vents between most of your preamps now. Were you having heat buildup issues in the desk? The venting in the Dangerfox desk seems pretty adequate between the bottom and back sides of the rack box.
Hi, just came across your video. It's great! Really clear. I've just done a refit in my home studio and I was offered loan of an outboard reverb unit (Lexicon mx400). I've only ever used software plugins so this is new territory for me. Could I hook it up to my audio interface via spdif so I still use the mic pre's on my interface? I'm thinking mic>interface>spdif out to reverb unit>spdif back in to interface>PC. Am I getting that right?? Sorry if it's a bit of a noob question 😬
I haven’t made the leap to a patchbay yet. Looking into it now as I have started acquiring outboard gear. Curious how phantom power works with a patchbay in the setup. Maybe a future video?
It depends how your patch bay is normalled. I set all of my patch points to be isolated, so nothing is normalled, or half normalled. If you send +48, it goes where you send it.
@@AndrewMasters Wouldn't a Full-Normal setup make patching easier? Since you tend to leave things set, having your snake connections fall down into the pre-inputs (then pre-out fall into interface-in) would negate the need for 10,000 patch cables used on every session, right? Love that the custom blanks have found their way back into the racks, by the way.
FYI, I have the following: 1.) Macbook Pro 16 -> Aggregate Interface (Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen + Behringer XR18) -> Yamaha StagePass 600 -> Focusrite 4i4 -> JBL MKII. This allows me 22 I/O ports as well as using the Yamaha StagePass PA speakers below my Ping Pong Table desk as subs. I am using the Axiom-25 as Midi Controller and I also have the Studio Logic SL88 .
Dumb question - if you're rocking a UAD Apollo with onboard pres, but want to start branching out into external, are you using pres on pres, or do you turn off your Apollo in the box pres? Just kinda confusing because in essence you'd have two pres on top of each other.
I hope you will answer this.. its something I've always wondered but never have gotten a straight answer. I don't mic my amp. I plug my head into loadbox and go from the loadbox into my symphony desktop. I've always wondered if I would get the same benefits of a preamp, like a 1073 clone, before going into my interface. I know I don't need it... but will there be a benefit? have you done any comparisons of a setup? If so, what did you think?
A great preamp on the front end of any signal will always help improve what is being recorded. You really hear the change when you use the preamp on multiple sources in your mix. For example, when you overdub vocals, guitar, bass, acoustic, keys, percussion all with the better preamp the entire mix will have a noticeably better sound than a built in mic pre of an interface. If you're using it on one source only, it wont be as noticeable although there is an important improvement in sound.
I would love to see you do hybrids "studio setups" that are confined to budget, size (pc+interface+rack all fits under/on a table) or genre. Either demonstrating with gear you have or theoretical gear
One of the things I don’t get is how all the microphones go into the patchbay. Does the patchbay has xlr inputs in the back? How do the microphones get the panthom power? Thanks
@@AndrewMasters thanks but will the phantom power will work if it comes form my sound interface or preamps? What about plugging the microphones out into a xlr patch bay?
Hey Andrew, love your channel. I have a question, I use my computer with a DAW, and an Apollo Twin interface. My question is. Is there a patch bay in most Daw's or, are all patch bays "stand alone"? Keep up the great work 👍.
A patch bay is a physical piece of equipment. So there aren't patchbays in software. Your apollo comes with software called "console" which allows you to customize your I/O routing in the settings tab. But that's not a patch bay.
Do you just leave your mic lines plugged in at all times in the same place on the patchbay to avoid phantom power being applied while unplugging the TT cable? Just heard a few folks say that mics should have their own XLR patchbay to avoid the issue where the plug temporarily shorts the hot to ground as you unplug with phantom on, causing damage.
Yes, the idea is to have everything setup and routed at all times. That way you can sit down and record drums, guitar, bass, keys, vocals etc. without any setup.
I want to upgrade to a patchbay but I can't seem to figure out where the fantom power comes from, cuz I can short your patchbay if used incorrectly. I guess my question is how to solve this problem and how did you do this?
I’ve used patchbays at dozens of studios for over a decade. Not sure what you’re talking about. Phantom power is sent from the mic pre you’re patched into. So turn it off if you’re worried about it I guess haha.
Hi Andrew, Do you never worry that when you change a mic pre-patch cable and the 48volt is still on, you will touch the ground pin with the 48volt? and your gear no longer works? You could swap the mic pre patch bay with an XLR patch bay then the ground and 48volt pins are always separated.
Historically, large format consoles were all wired this way. You need to develop the habit of switching off phantom power any time you’re re-patching (really at the end of every session). XLR patchbays are more foolproof, but you can’t normal them, so things can get pretty unwieldy when you’ve got a large multitrack session going.
@@AndrewMasters Thanks for the response. What I meant was more of an explanation/differences of how they would have done it in a 70s studio with absolutely no digital processing from start to mix down from different tape machines ie signal path from sound
What are you doing in your studio?
Is it worth investing in the Neve genesis black 32
I basically have two signal paths, 16 inputs for my drums, and then a two channel pre I use for recording everything else. A snake helps keep everything looking clean, also a 4 channel DI unit for my pre amp to interface and for recording DI guitars along side recording my amps. As for monitoring, speakers out of my interface and a really long headphone cable for my drums 😅 simple and sweet. Love your set up, I hope to have something similar in the future. Here’s a video of my studio build if anyones interested ua-cam.com/video/1OHw-qNsU6c/v-deo.html
Just got my first patchbay!
I'm using a 40 channel modified Allen and Heath GL2800 along with a Presonus Quantum and a 4848. I just got a new 16x4 snake to run mic lines, but I still need to get some patchbays and a headphone system
Watching this video lol
andrew, as an aspiring audio engineer (and music artist) you have given me the drive to keep going and become a professional! thank you
$75,000 at Least
This video summarizes what I love about your work on YT. The photography is neat, the delivery and explanations are clear and easy to get. This is really motivating.
And you seem to be such an easy going guy.
the amount of editing etc is a lot of work. I like your comments! Bless.
Thanks!
Man I’ve been looking for so long for a video like this that actually goes this in depth and practical and is explained well. Thank you!!
very informative!! thanks Andrew!
Andrew,
Thank you for breaking it down for us dummies who love your channel but don’t understand 95% of the videos, the learning curve is steep for us newcomers. Hoping you and Colt, collab on a Recording/Mixing/Mastering basics class I can buy! Cheers mate!
Very Respectfully,
Jared
Beautiful done video Andrew. Perfectly explained. Creating without technical hang ups.
This is exactly the video I was looking for! Thank you so much for explaining your setup! I'm going to be finishing my studio in a couple months and this content hit the nail on the head.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video man!
Fancy home studio
I love it
This great for me, as I have a few older items I purchased decades ago, like a producer pack and old Neumann & AKG mics, even a nice old Trident console! (Needs major service), when I was recording in 2 inch tape studios as a singer/songwriter/guitarist in bands. I’d done a couple of albums & my bass player got us into a Paris system at the time. He was into the newest technologies of the day.
Fast forward many years & I get an Apollo and logic & Luna and some plugins and want to utilise analogue gear which I own as well!
I’ve been gigging with various bands, and felt almost ashamed at having many songs & ideas and nice studio bits and pieces but realised “I” need to get a handle on this before I’m in a rocking chair regretting wasting time, equipment & ideas!!
I’ve always known what I like to hear, and some of my ideas became decisions employed by producers and engineers on tracks! I just never knew anything outside of the few things I saw engineers doing in those hideously expensive studios with only Cubase beginning to be incorporated. My bass player got all the early “Paris” set up and running back then, so understanding any technical stuff was his domain.
Anyhow, thanks for showing these steps, as it’s a steep learning curve I’m embarking on.
If you’re interested, below is something my band recorded on tape and believe we’d just purchased Paris, which was to overtake and succeed Cubase! Early 90’s. (Hope I correctly linked, I’m such a novice).
ua-cam.com/video/QqY6e6NeLlo/v-deo.html
This was a huge amount of help. I feel like a load has been lifted off my mind after watching this. Answered so many questions. Thank you!!!
great video. I think the real take-away for people here no matter what level of complexity/or not their setup is, is that this arrangement is fully scaleable. So even if you've only got maybe a small mixer and/or a 4 or 8 channel interface, and just a couple of outboard items, and a couple of mics, you maybe able to be fully connected and ready to go with just one patch bay. I remember when i setup my first patchbay,. That I was then able to get into the flow without having to reconnect everything, everytime I had to record something else, was a liberating life changing experience in my humble little home studio.
and DAW templates to pullup w/routing saved; huge time saver having HW&SW ready to jam/catch ideas
Good to see a nice technical video of how a studio is configured. Never seen all of this info in one place. Very useful
Have you ever had a problem with bringing the mics into the patch bay as TRS? I assume you're really the only one plugging and unplugging mics in your studio. How do you ensure phantom power is managed properly? Keeping it off the passive ribbons, making sure not to short the TRS connections when patching, etc.? What part of the signal flow do you find most problematic? What would you most like to improve? What's the most clever thing you've done in your wiring? 🙂
I have a TT patchbay, i'm not sure if that's what you mean. I don't have any issues with phantom because I don't have anything normalled. If i patch into a mic pre I just make sure phantom power isn't on. But I have never had any issues with phantom. My favorite part for how i'm routing things is getting the patchbays separated by purpose. That has made everything extremely simple.
Been binge watching your videos. Moving into a new house, super psyched to set up my studio. Currently working in a small room. Kinda sucks. lol.
Your videos rule man! Always wondered these types of things please more on this matter!
Fascinating and masochistic, learned quite a bit, would be great to see a video with more details re the personal monitor setup, like to send the audio from DAW to the system
great, I'm about to do a room for recording , mix and all.. not that complete in terms of material, but good enough. And this is always helpful. thanks great tips
Great information! Awesome studio!
Thanks for watching!
Your desk config is awesome bro very smooth
What an informative video!!! Great job,man.
truth is, I had the basic setups for a LONG time, but now I’m at a time in my recording/production “career” that I want to have all of the external hardware and gadgets to take my skills to the next level
Oh yeah! Getting into the good stuff 🙌
This was super helpful! Just gonna stick with my small home studio vibe for now though.
CRAZY CRAZY DOPE! intro beat!
Thank you for this amazing video. For now I'm fully digital producing in my studio. All inputs to an ADAT I/o to a small 18i8o interface.
That was my setup 5 years ago! A lot can happen in 5 years
Very well explained. Thank you for your video
That was realy helpful for me - and a very good explanation thanks! In my studio i have more electronic equipment so i need also a ton of midi cables ..
New happy subscriber! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us , I’m a new studio dreamer and so happy with your videos and help 🙌🏻
Thanks for doing that Andrew, i love cabeliing (is that a word) don't have many cables at this point but the cables i have you can not see them good job, keep it up man. love you channel
Serious Mr. Rogers vibes. Perfect!
I love this. And I’m exactly the same. Gotta build the magic of a studio at home. And I hate to have a software version of everything. Having tangible gear really makes the work flow a lot more fluid, and way more fun.
Exatly what I needed to know about setting up outboard gear
Great!
oooh i see you have the audioscape neve style pres!! demo and comparison soon please??
Thanks. I'm appreciated!
Hi Andrew and thank you for such easy explanation. A part is missing.. how do you connect the audio interfaces to your computer? Being two it seems difficult to me to us the usual USB connection. Tks
u my new teacher...
new subscriber alert!!
This is incredibly helpful. Thank you for this
dope man! good to see I've followed much of what you did
You have help my studio so much brother thanks
Maybe a dumb question, but how are your mics connected to the patch bay? I assume they all have XLR on the mic side, but the patch bay clearly takes 1/4 inch (or maybe 3.5mm) cables. So are you using cables that have XLR on one side and TS/TRS on the other? And is this also true of the outboard gear that have XLR outs? Thanks for this video. My studio isn't quite big enough to warrant a patch bay yet but I may get there someday.
Great question: quite often patchbays will have 1/4" inputs and outputs on the front and back (trying to fit everything into a single rack space is tough!) but I can see Andrew has a few with DB25 connections (which are kind of like an old computer multi-pin connection) which you can use breakout cables to accept whatever type of input and output you need. So using his signal flow: mic>xlr>xlr input DB25 cable>db25 input on the patchbay and then the patchbay is used to route the signal from there. You can even forgo a breakout from the DB25 if you go into, say, the back of the Apollo 16 (which also has DB25 ins and outs!)
I should say, back in the day, patchbays had hardwired/soldered breakouts to XLR connections or sometimes even larger tie line connectors. DB25 is much much nicer for modularity, but the cables can be expensive. TRS connections work but you will have to adapt some outboard to go from XLR to TRS.
@@aidanknight So if I'm understanding the flow you're talking about - what Andrew showed in the studio - the key is doing the conversions from xlr to DB25 to get them in and out of the patchbays
@@MrMrmusic13 Yeah, you can also breakout to TRS! Probably has a few TRS breakouts if his Apollo 8 is like mine.
Great video Andrew! Very helpful I'm in the process of drawing up diagrams for my studio and you gave me some ideas, love your studio man! Very nice!
Beautiful video, very informative, just added more to my sweetwater cart lol
This was great, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I remember putting my studio together years ago and there were no videos like this. Wish you were around five years ago.
Just noticed you taped over the warm audio logos on the outboard eqs 😂 fantastic idea I may do the same
Hey Andrew, Big fan of your work, a few questions (great videos by the way) 1)Do you have any of your Warm Audio Preamps Hooked up at Line level on your patchbay? 2) Do you have any issues running 48V Phantom power from the preamps on to your Patchbays, 3) is the grounding on your patchbays set to vertically strapped or issolated to avoid Ground loops?
I rap, make beats, and do post production stuff(mixing) with a hybrid setup. I've gone the semi-minimalist route, but high quality stuff. I have limited myself to 3 pieces of outboard gear, so my interface has sufficient ins and outs. No patch bay required. My outboard needed to have a "wow" factor to it to be kept, but ALSO had to have multiple uses. Tough to accomplish. With the (3) pieces I technically have 4 compressors, 5 styles of saturation, M/S functionality, a 3 band EQ, transformers and tubes, that can adequately be used on all forms of instrumentation and vocals. A tremendous amount of thought and tweaking went into my setup, so I really identify with and appreciate what you've done here. Its well though out for your use case.
Love your channel thanks for theHelp
so clear and to the point. awesome video!
Thank you for this! You’ve got such a great setup. How do you manage power? Are you using a power conditioner and are you able to fit everything on one circuit? If so, how many amps are on that circuit? Also, what does the power consumption of a setup like this require? Looking to spec out a PV solar panel setup.
Love the videos. Would love more info on the I/O of the whole thing. How do you get from your snake into your patch bay? What connections are you using to get into all of your interfaces? Would love to see a big fat diagram that shows what connections lead to what, primarily how you end up from xlr to 1/4 inch to DB25 to adat and so on. Keep up the great work bro and thanks for all the info.
All the patchbays are DB25, so I just get snakes that go from XLR to DB25. The interface IO connections are all DB25 to DB25.
@@AndrewMasters makes sense. Thanks so much for the reply.
thanks man! ...
Thanks for watching!
What Mac are you using and what are the specs? Looking to upgrade and I want to get something that’ll last.
All the deets in here:
ua-cam.com/video/pUmueBlufj8/v-deo.html
I've got 2 Neve pre's (without EQ), 4 SSL Xlogic VHD, 1 Distressor, Scarlett 18i8. 2 patchbays, Moogs, 2600s, etc, Marshalls, Strat, Les Paul, Music Man Bass, Clarinet, Sax, Theremin, etc. recent build. Loving the new home office. thanks for confirming much in your helpful vid. cheers. come out to SoCal Winecountry; we'll party, eat, and jam
this video is gold. Thank you!!
I don't know if I would've understood this a few years ago. But man I bet it would've helped me understand signal flow faster.
Question about the optical output of the Apollo unit - does that send a direct signal to the headphone mixing amp? Or is it post DAW?
Nice setup man. I like Warm Audio mic preamps. Art has some good mic preamps as well. Art is very underrated as an audio company.
Super nice Video, thnx!
I want to know how you power everything on a home circuit? I have every outlet used in my mixing room and I'm maxed out. I would need another service to my house to add anymore consumers.
Fabulous 👌 tips
Your setup is sick man.. I like your style!
m905 !!!! congrats !!!! hope you took it with the DA card !!! the DAC is just incredible
BTW feedback on this burl summing ??? I am starting to think about getting one
I watched the video hoping to find out about power supplies for a home recording studio in the uk. How is all the electric gear powered and what extensions etc do you use please?
Woah, seasick intro clip … wheeee! You sure have a collection of cool stuff, mate! Nice spaghetti, by the way!
Very nice setup mate
Care to share an exact cabling setup? And I mean exactly what cables are used to connect to everything. Thanks
Only cables that aren’t mentioned are xlr to DB25 snakes. Everything going into the patchbay is a DB25 connection.
@@AndrewMasters First, thank you for answering, and taking the time. I have experience in 24 track studios before the digital revolution. Now I'm trying to run an in the box studio only, like you say around 4:00 mins, very basic, no external preamps, just mic cables into a Presonus 2626 and Focusrite Scarlett Octo pre (connected via ADAT). I have 1 outboard compressor and that has taken up one of the line outs/line ins on the interfaces. But, if I was going to upgrade and get outboard preamps for my drums, is there a way to avoid "double preamping" the signal from mic - to preamp (mic level in, line level out) - to interface? Or would I need to invest in new interfaces with DB25 connections? Thanks again.
I love the setups where you can walk to an instrument cluster and make some noise and you can both get an immediate sound from what's in front of you and it's being piped into the system. Basically I love Stewart Copeland's studio lol. I want a halfway decent acoustic space, not too big, where everything is being recorded all of the time, even if it's just a few omni mics tucked here and there. SO MANY TIMES I say "always be recording" when something amazing happens and it's immediately vapor. There's no reason not to just have an old phone recording with the voice memo or something, you know?
I am actually in the process of wiring up everything in my new home studio to my new Dangerfox desk that arrived last week. I'm going to have a similar setup to yours with several pieces of outboard preamps, compressors, 500 series, summing mixer, etc. running into a couple Apollo interfaces. I noticed you have vents between most of your preamps now. Were you having heat buildup issues in the desk? The venting in the Dangerfox desk seems pretty adequate between the bottom and back sides of the rack box.
Hi, just came across your video. It's great! Really clear. I've just done a refit in my home studio and I was offered loan of an outboard reverb unit (Lexicon mx400). I've only ever used software plugins so this is new territory for me. Could I hook it up to my audio interface via spdif so I still use the mic pre's on my interface? I'm thinking mic>interface>spdif out to reverb unit>spdif back in to interface>PC. Am I getting that right?? Sorry if it's a bit of a noob question 😬
Killer! Inspiring AF!
Andrew: “If you’re a masochist like me”
Me: Hold my beer *records to tape with an exclusively analog signal chain*
I haven’t made the leap to a patchbay yet. Looking into it now as I have started acquiring outboard gear. Curious how phantom power works with a patchbay in the setup. Maybe a future video?
It depends how your patch bay is normalled. I set all of my patch points to be isolated, so nothing is normalled, or half normalled. If you send +48, it goes where you send it.
@@AndrewMasters Wouldn't a Full-Normal setup make patching easier? Since you tend to leave things set, having your snake connections fall down into the pre-inputs (then pre-out fall into interface-in) would negate the need for 10,000 patch cables used on every session, right? Love that the custom blanks have found their way back into the racks, by the way.
If this was a commercial room and the gear never changed that would make sense, but not here haha.
wait, if all of the mics go to the patch bay and then to the pres, how do you send phantom power? I'm clearly missing something here
Outstanding
FYI, I have the following: 1.) Macbook Pro 16 -> Aggregate Interface (Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen + Behringer XR18) -> Yamaha StagePass 600 -> Focusrite 4i4 -> JBL MKII. This allows me 22 I/O ports as well as using the Yamaha StagePass PA speakers below my Ping Pong Table desk as subs. I am using the Axiom-25 as Midi Controller and I also have the Studio Logic SL88 .
im trying to get my acoustics right in my production room
Dumb question - if you're rocking a UAD Apollo with onboard pres, but want to start branching out into external, are you using pres on pres, or do you turn off your Apollo in the box pres? Just kinda confusing because in essence you'd have two pres on top of each other.
Good question. No, you switch the channel to line input.
Can you get into power conditioning? Is there anything actually worth buying to reduce noise/hiss in signals.
Wow, this home studio looks like a pro studio to me :) You did a demanding and outstanding job!
I hope you will answer this.. its something I've always wondered but never have gotten a straight answer. I don't mic my amp. I plug my head into loadbox and go from the loadbox into my symphony desktop. I've always wondered if I would get the same benefits of a preamp, like a 1073 clone, before going into my interface. I know I don't need it... but will there be a benefit? have you done any comparisons of a setup? If so, what did you think?
A great preamp on the front end of any signal will always help improve what is being recorded. You really hear the change when you use the preamp on multiple sources in your mix. For example, when you overdub vocals, guitar, bass, acoustic, keys, percussion all with the better preamp the entire mix will have a noticeably better sound than a built in mic pre of an interface. If you're using it on one source only, it wont be as noticeable although there is an important improvement in sound.
I would love to see you do hybrids "studio setups" that are confined to budget, size (pc+interface+rack all fits under/on a table) or genre. Either demonstrating with gear you have or theoretical gear
How do you connect an xlr cable into the patch bay? Does it go into the preamps first and then the trs cable from the preamp go into the patch bay?
Great video bro!!!!
How do you have your snake connected to the patch bay? Aren’t they xlr cables and trs on patchbay?
No. The patchbays are TT 96 pt patchbays. The rear connections are all DB25.
@@AndrewMasters thank you
Awesomeness
One of the things I don’t get is how all the microphones go into the patchbay. Does the patchbay has xlr inputs in the back? How do the microphones get the panthom power? Thanks
You would use an XLR to db25 adapter to connect them. Check out this video : ua-cam.com/video/kCKajoEHLSs/v-deo.htmlsi=Q6QnmAHCLKdrbfBy
@@AndrewMasters thanks but will the phantom power will work if it comes form my sound interface or preamps? What about plugging the microphones out into a xlr patch bay?
Hey Andrew, love your channel. I have a question, I use my computer with a DAW, and an Apollo Twin interface. My question is. Is there a patch bay in most Daw's or, are all patch bays "stand alone"? Keep up the great work 👍.
A patch bay is a physical piece of equipment. So there aren't patchbays in software. Your apollo comes with software called "console" which allows you to customize your I/O routing in the settings tab. But that's not a patch bay.
@@AndrewMasters thank you, you're the Best.
What are your thoughts one using a TRS pachbay? With AEA Ribbons or other ribbon mics due to bleed over?
Do you just leave your mic lines plugged in at all times in the same place on the patchbay to avoid phantom power being applied while unplugging the TT cable? Just heard a few folks say that mics should have their own XLR patchbay to avoid the issue where the plug temporarily shorts the hot to ground as you unplug with phantom on, causing damage.
Yes, the idea is to have everything setup and routed at all times. That way you can sit down and record drums, guitar, bass, keys, vocals etc. without any setup.
I want to upgrade to a patchbay but I can't seem to figure out where the fantom power comes from, cuz I can short your patchbay if used incorrectly.
I guess my question is how to solve this problem and how did you do this?
I’ve used patchbays at dozens of studios for over a decade. Not sure what you’re talking about. Phantom power is sent from the mic pre you’re patched into. So turn it off if you’re worried about it I guess haha.
I’m looking to connect my focusrite 18i20 3rd edition to a mic box and give me mroe inputs for microphones but not finding any options
Hi Andrew,
Do you never worry that when you change a mic pre-patch cable and the 48volt is still on, you will touch the ground pin with the 48volt? and your gear no longer works? You could swap the mic pre patch bay with an XLR patch bay then the ground and 48volt pins are always separated.
Historically, large format consoles were all wired this way. You need to develop the habit of switching off phantom power any time you’re re-patching (really at the end of every session). XLR patchbays are more foolproof, but you can’t normal them, so things can get pretty unwieldy when you’ve got a large multitrack session going.
I just turn off +48 before I swap mics usually.
Thx it’s hard to find these setup videos
what's the manufacturer/model of patch bays you are using?
Dude I've been hoping someone would make a video exactly like this one. Would love to see a similar explanation on an old school analog tape set up.
Everything is the same, but instead of the interface inputs, you go into the tape machine inputs.
@@AndrewMasters Thanks for the response. What I meant was more of an explanation/differences of how they would have done it in a 70s studio with absolutely no digital processing from start to mix down from different tape machines ie signal path from sound
Andrew has a large bowl of veggies just chillin on the desk! Great video by the way lol