Control room & live room

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fraz
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Control room & live room

Post by fraz »

Hi,

I'm not sure how to word this correctly but here goes

Within a Pro level studio there is a control room and live room, separated from each other. With live performers in the live room all the microphones need to be connected up and from what I understand they go into a box on the wall with XLR inputs - What is the correct name for this box / connection point?

Presumably then there is another box on the other side of the live room / control room wall with a mirror of the same connections, maybe input & output - again with XLR connections on.

Presumably then [please elaborate] from within the control room mic-preamps could be connected to the control room side of this box?

I've seen the "standard 500" racks and find some of them "interesting" - colorful items with flashy designs - Maybe these would be the types of things used.

Newer interfaces such as Focusrite Red Net can connect to LAN which may bypass what I've just mentioned but maybe not as much fun or not as interesting?

Any useful information please - thanks
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Marco
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by Marco »

The lan is only useful for longer distancees. For a smaller distance I would prefer a Patchbay with different connections aviable.

For my private studio Situation I have a big hole in the wall as a cable port just like a service hatch. For sound Isolation I use a towel I press I the hole.
:wink: out and about for music production. Are you still configguring your Studio :lol: music first!
fraz
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by fraz »

Marco wrote:The lan is only useful for longer distancees. For a smaller distance I would prefer a Patchbay with different connections aviable.

For my private studio Situation I have a big hole in the wall as a cable port just like a service hatch. For sound Isolation I use a towel I press I the hole.
This is something I don't know much about but now need to - You've covered this by having a hole in the wall and plugging it with a towel, how effective is it?

Lets say your wall was solid or I wanted to do a control/live room what is the hardware that is actually used? so it's not necessary to cut a hole in the wall - I really don't know enough of this yet

- Patchbay has been mentioned, what is the best way to do this?
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Marco
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by Marco »

It is a stone wall, and the towel trick works very well. And it has the advantages because you can use a single cable for your microphones. For a non professional studio, this is a really good solution. If you're a professional, then you need to make different connections every 10 minutes. But if you're private, you can decide what you want. What is needed, what is beautiful to have but not used?
I like the easy way if it works. A Patchbay BTW does not isolate better than my towel! And you need double amount of cables. Live is easy just open your eyes.

Or use a flexible cable spool, usable for plenty rooms.
:wink: out and about for music production. Are you still configguring your Studio :lol: music first!
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Janni
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by Janni »

-/-
fraz
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by fraz »

OK Marco thanks - To be begin with someone "private" will decide on what is wanted which may be needed or not. Sometimes someone isn't sure of the best way to go. At some point I'll want to put the home studio together and it's quite a complicated thing to do especially if good results are the needed.

OK - As this is an area of knowledge where I'm lacking because there's not been any experience with it or not much it is good to get pointed in a direction with just a little help then off I go!!! - SO...

The link Jani put in was for the snake cables with returns on is primarily for live sound not inside a studio but an auditorium / venue of some kind.

I can see there is a link or cross over from live at a venue to live in the studio.

Ironic isn't it with you mentioning that your towel in the stone wall gets better isolation than a patch bay wall-to-wall in a studio.... :)

Anyway back to the connection from the live room into the control room in a studio - How would or how do good studios fulfill this connection between contol / live room?

I can appreciate there is a desk in the control room, maybe a large console! - And within a good standard home studio with Scope PCI cards or Xite the console is inside the box and the links to that console are the ADAT I/O boxes but it doesn't explain enough how the connection is made from control room into live room.

Yes there will be a bunch of balanced XLR cables to plug into microphones, condenser or dynamic for the performers but those cables somehow need to get through the wall - in your case you've knocked a hole in the wall - :lol: - And plugged the surplas area with a towel - OK - Great!

So, now I've thought about this a bit rambling on - It must be best to drill a hole in the wall with a hole saw for the specific material of what is being drilled through - eg - stone / blocks / plaster board - As small as possible - then trying to seal the area as best as possible maybe with a decorative item - wooden / plastic - what ever to cover it up - then the cables can run through

Any useful information is very welcome and when my brain is active enough in this particular way it will become clearer - :)
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Marco
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by Marco »

The point is, how often will you change your configuration, connecting kables per day or monthly or in three years. At the end, the solution is your individual solution. You could drill a little hole in your wall and put the lightpipe through, and your Ada8000 or A16 whatever is in the other room? When never needed in the control room. Find your way. If you're recording a drumset in the basement, you need a lan network and a video cameras to communicate.... So many possibilities. Be creative, the towel was not bought in a music store!
Maybe you make a checklist on a piece of paper, what you really want, a brainstorm or use a Mindmap to visualise your dream. A Tonstudio is not a little thing.

I have drilled 5 holes in the wall and connected them with hammering to one bigger hole.
:wink: out and about for music production. Are you still configguring your Studio :lol: music first!
fraz
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by fraz »

OK Marco,

OK I've got some research to do and this is about the "engineering side" of music or home studios or professional studios. The principles are the same.

I was on Youtube, found some videos that show certain things so answers can start to emerge. This is a point of discsussion to be ongoing and will be useful. Talking about what is needed or what will or won't be used is not the best way to approach this.

How this ends up is not certain, however during discussion and my own research I'll uncover many of the queries that I have.

Back to Youtube with regard to pro studios is that they are trying to cover every permutation conceivable with every input / output being accounted for and every output going down a huge - analog console with a dedicated patch bay to one side.

My initial query here was getting signals from the live room into the control room without using LAN - [which can be used] - But I could see with solid walls in the way how is this achieved? -

You've dealt with this in a way you've explained well

I've thought of a way to do this

How would Pro Studios do this? - This does not mean I will do this? - They must use a patchbay connected from one side of the wall to the other to bridge the gap between the contol room and the live room.

Even for the PRO's this would leave a challenge to overcome sound leakage - How would the pro's do this? - It's interesting to know - :)
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garyb
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Re: Control room & live room

Post by garyb »

patch panels each side of the walls or a snake through the wall.

a snake through the wall is easiest. that's what i use now, but i have custom wired panels in the past.
i use a piece of 4" abs drain pipe through the wall. it's glued in place with silicone sealer. the cabling runs through the wall and a roll of foam seals the hole. it's about as silent as the wall would be without the hole. it is harder to make the hole for patch panels silent, but not with a little care, ingenuity, and money. walls are never 100% silent anyway, unless it's quite an expensive building. the sound from the live room only needs to be reasonably attenuated.
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