PATCHBAY HELP!

[Lee]

I’m setting up my mixing space and I need some help to organise my patchbay. I can’t figure out the best configuration and I’m curious to see what you all would do if you had my set up.

I have 2 tt patchbays with db25
1 switchcraft 9625 db25
1 redco R196-D25PG

Apogee Symphony 16 x16 i/o
Neve 8816 summing mixer
Various Outboard gear

My thoughts are to have-
Patchbay1

Row 1 -Apogee outputs 1-16
Row2 - Neve Inputs 1-16
Row 1 - Neve insert Outputs 17-24
Row2 - Neve insert Inputs 17 -24
Row 1 - 25-48 other summing mixer
Row 2 - 25-48 empty

Patchbay 2
Row 1 outboard inputs
Row 2 outboard outputs

As you can see I’ve got the top bay outs over ins but with the bottom bay I was thinking in over out. Is there a better way to configure this?

Which patchbay should I use for the outboard and which one for the converters/summing mixer as the normaling Switches are easier to access on the switchcraft?

What normaling configuration is best as I have another summing mixer I can add for parallel processing?
Also anyone familiar with the redco what’s the right grounding to choose?

I want to be able to half normal the apogee outs so I can send the signal to the Neve input and also to the other summing mixer so if I half normal will this work?

I appreciate as many thoughts as I can get as I’m attempting to start cabling tomorrow.

Thank everyone.


Lee McDonald

[Lee]

Bump:)
Anyone?

[mylesgm]

Patchbays are complex beasts and how to set them up really depends on your personal workflow. None of my patchbay is normalled, every single point is isolated so ground passes through the patchbay from device to device, every i/o from my studio appears on the patchbay except for things I have hardwired because that locks in a certain way of working which removes any variability in the studio. This works great for me and for the half dozen engineers that work out of my place. You really need to work out exactly what you need/want and then follow that thinking. Be prepared to set it up a few times as you discover different ways of working that might suit you better.
Good luck!

[Lee]

Hey Myles thanks for the reply. I have had it set up already and as you suggest I’m now re-setting it up and adding gear.
So to emulate your set up I would switch all the switchcraft dials to N for non normal and the same with the redco. The redco Has three options for ground And I’m guessING it would then need to be switched To isolated in that case. So do you do the non normal to minimise hum at the cost of having to buy more cables?

I have an example of how I’d like to use it. if I had the switchcraft bay set to half normal with the apogee outs on the top row and the summing mixer inputs on the bottom row could I patch a cable into the top row to split the signal to send some where else and the original signal keeps going to the 8816 as well?

When I first set it all up I had the outboard patched into the switchcraft bay with with the top row as the outboard input and the bottom row as the Out put. When I turned some gear on the meters where redlining on some gear so I quickly plugged a cable in and it disappeared. It only happens on some bits. To solve this problem I just keep cables patched in but I would like to know why this would happen. Anyway if anyone sitting back laughing at my troubles feels like chiming in I’d be stoked.

[mylesgm]

Pretty sure the standard was "in on bottom, out on top" and so normaling and half normaling works in that manner. I think full normaling splits the signal and half normaling breaks the signal but it's been a long time since I played with this. I would think that your plan of having stuff normaled to suit your standard workflow makes sense so you just need to work out the process for your patchbay and probably the best way to do that is to try it out. I would set all grounding to isolated so that the only ground connection happens on the way through the patchbay from point to point and not everything grounded to everything else. Well I'd start with that anyway.

[gigpiglet]

Hey Myles thanks for the reply. I have had it set up already and as you suggest I’m now re-setting it up and adding gear.
So to emulate your set up I would switch all the switchcraft dials to N for non normal and the same with the redco. The redco Has three options for ground And I’m guessING it would then need to be switched To isolated in that case. So do you do the non normal to minimise hum at the cost of having to buy more cables?

I have an example of how I’d like to use it. if I had the switchcraft bay set to half normal with the apogee outs on the top row and the summing mixer inputs on the bottom row could I patch a cable into the top row to split the signal to send some where else and the original signal keeps going to the 8816 as well?

When I first set it all up I had the outboard patched into the switchcraft bay with with the top row as the outboard input and the bottom row as the Out put. When I turned some gear on the meters where redlining on some gear so I quickly plugged a cable in and it disappeared. It only happens on some bits. To solve this problem I just keep cables patched in but I would like to know why this would happen. Anyway if anyone sitting back laughing at my troubles feels like chiming in I’d be stoked.

hey lee do you have the fader pack for your 8816? i have one for sale if you dont...

[Lee]

Thanks for the input Myles. I took your advise and spent some time thinking about the best work flow for me and I’m happy with the outcome thanks to you chat.

[mylesgm]

Glad you ended up happy!