All studios use patchabys, it's rare that they don't. Yes, the longer a signal chain the more chance of signal loss, but it'd have to be extreme for you to hear it.

Cheers

patching

Patch bays seem simple but are complicated. In a "big" studio they are necessary for order. TRS type bays are a definite compromize to quality imo, and easy to hear the difference. A properly done TT or xlr panel will be fine but it costs a lot to do it right. If you have great converters, mics, and pre's, a cheap patchbay will impact your quality. It can be a sounce of noise.

I find that taking mics to pre's with good cables, and then using software to map converters to recording channels is the best I can do. I gave up patch bays.

Anything in the signal chain has the potential to degrade the source. Patchbay's can be a big source if not cleaned and maintaned. However, I have found that most of the time there is no need to worry. Patchbays do wear out and get corrided so a new one is needed from time to time.

Are TRS ones good enough?

Or should I spring for XLR?

XLRs make much better connections, both mechanically and electrically.

any recomendations for patchbays of this type, the only type I can find is this Hosa one that costs about $100 bucks. seems about right price but are there any others out there? make my own perhaps?

maximumdf wrote: It cant be easy to make a mic cable come into your studio and plug into your preamp and then out of your preamp and into my interface.

From my studio to your interface? I would say that it is just about impossible. The cables would probably have to be thousands of miles long!

That is unless you live somewhere in Florida.

:lol:

with a couple of lines amps in between I'm sure we can do it .....

:)

I prefer to use XL3 when patching Mic level.
Bantam and TRS for the line level stuff is OK.

your get what you pay for

I'm in the market for a patchbay and it doesn't make much sense to connect thousand-dollar preamps and compressors through a hundred-dollar patchbay like a Hosa, DBX, Neutrik, etc.

Bantam patchbays and cables are lots of money, but is there really much of a sound difference? I was under the impression that there isn't much of a sonic difference between TRS and TT, but the TT can have a lot more ins and outs in one rackspace.

Kev, so you use a 3-pin XLR patchbay in your studio? Do you have the inputs of your preamps hard-wired through the patchbay too? Did you custom-build it yourself? I think having XLR Ins for the pre's on the front of a patchbay or rack would make things a lot easier, but sound degredation would be a problem.

Im thinking of building my own with Neutrik Jacks on the front and high quality cable going directly to the preamps from the Jacks and using Neutrik Plugs in the preamp. Its gonna cost like 6 bucks per run and it will sound great.

Im considering using the combo jacks so I have an option beetween XLR and TRS, but the Neutrik combo jacks require independent wiring for both jacks in the combo, so this means I will have to wire a jumper beetween the individual posts of the XLR and TRS parts of the jack, which im sure is gonna screw quality. I wish they made the jacks so that they only had 3 solder tabs on the back for both XLR and TRS versus 3 for each.

I've seen rackmount plates before that accept Neutrik D series jacks, but I cant seem to find any now, which is wierd as well.

Marketek.com and some other one I can't remember. Kurt refers to the two stores often a search should find it

http://WWW.Markertek.com is the place. Also if anyone is interested, I have 4 / ADC 98 point tt PBs (# ADC PJ 731) I would be willing to part with. They are esentially brand new and never been soldered or used although I may not have the scribble strips for them.

WRX07 wrote: ... Did you custom-build it yourself?
.... but sound degredation would be a problem.

:shock: ... :D :D :D
that's funny
lol
I DIY ... therefore I am
yes I make my own stuff ... sometimes I buy something

yes I do have xl to xl connections and perminant connections to the desk from the studio wall (desk has no xl's just multipins)

As far as degredation goes ... it is always a trade off.
Remember that the big studios have far more connection points than you will ever have.

good gear costs money ... and that goes for wires and connections