Help with my studio snake/patchbay setup!

[Noize919]

Ok guys, so I'm going over signal flow for a new studio I am trying to open.

I'm running some really nice preamps (avalon, universal audio, neve) with a control 24 and 96io.

The cheapest way i see getting 16 channels of audio from the live room to the control room is by a 16 channel stage snake....right?

My question is, how do i go about hooking up my mics from the live room into the patch bay (dbx TRS patchbay)? Should I just solder TRS ends on to my 16channel snake?

I really need some advice on this one...it seems like it may be a common situation with recording studios trying to patch their mics straight into the patchbay.

Is this even a good idea to do?? haha, I want to have my patchbay normaled with my mics to my pres..and then pres to my inputs on pro tools. ( this is my first time wiring a professional studio )

THANKS!!!

[ssaudio]

Why not go straight to your pres? If not, just go into the back of a Patchbay, works fine for many other studios

Also, install 2x16 way snakes - you'll always need spares and you'll need to send signal(s) into the live room too

[Noize919]

thanks for the reply..

we purchased a presonus HP60 headphone amp for hearback and the snake we are looking at has 4 stereo 1/4" outs. I figure we could just run the headphone amp to the snake and have headphones coming out of the snake in the live room.

but the reason i do not want to have my mics hooked to pres is because i dont want to have to switch inputs everytime i want to go from drums, to bass, to guitars

[ssaudio]

Yup, you have far more versatility with a patchbay that's for sure

I'd just go for off the shelf XLR snakes and use converter leads myself...

[Noize919]

Is there anywhere I can get a 16 channel snake with TRS outs coming into the control room..

here is what I'm looking at.. Pro Co SM1604FBQ50 | Sweetwater.com

is there anyway i can get something like that but have TRS ends instead of XLR so i can go straight into my patchbay?? or do i have long day of soldering ahead of me??

also..phantom power running through my patchbay is acceptable correct?

[ssaudio]

the likes of Redco will make whatever you like

But I'm assuming from your post that you want to plug directly into the rear of your patchbay, yes?
This may seem like more work, but it will be cheaper if you go for a patchbay where you wire the rear yourself, you can then make big savings on connectors - I usually terminate my snakes on the wall using Krone style connections then have cable going from there to my patchbays - there are various ways of terminating your patchbay, some folks go direct, others use a multi-pin connector

I'd also make my own snake too - again, big savings

[pedwin]

Originally Posted by Noize919

Is there anywhere I can get a 16 channel snake with TRS outs coming into the control room..

here is what I'm looking at.. Pro Co SM1604FBQ50 | Sweetwater.com

is there anyway i can get something like that but have TRS ends instead of XLR so i can go straight into my patchbay?? or do i have long day of soldering ahead of me??

also..phantom power running through my patchbay is acceptable correct?

Hy,

This one is only 30 mtr. (not sure if you really need 50 mtr.?) and it.s the shop where I ordered about 90% of my set-up. They really got interesting prices:
Music Store*Multicore 24/4 30m, Stagebox SKAH 106*@*Music Store

cheers,
pedwin

[mike98116]

I'm not a professional, but I have my snake connected to my preamps.
Then I have a XLR-TRS snake with the outputs of the preamps normalled to my patchbay Aurora inputs. This makes it easy for me to change mics
to any input on the patchbay if I want.

Mike

[Noize919]

yeah, but i would like to be able to get more flexibility by starting with the microphone outputs

[ssaudio]

Draw everything out on a bit of paper, then transfer it to the computer, Excel is good enough
Once you've drawn it and redrawn it a few dozen times you'll come to a plan that will work for you