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A contractor is just finishing up a new detached building I'll be using for a studio. It's L-Shaped. The control room (not yet built out) will be approx 10x10 and the adjacent live room will be approx 20x10.

The electricity will be on sub panel, with separate circuits for the lights and outlets. I plan to run a Pro Tools HD setup with a Control 24 interface.

I haven't built any interior walls or doors yet. The electrical lines haven't been run yet and obviously no audio lines are in. I'm loooking for some guidance as I haven't been able to locate a consultant in Southern California who can come out and design the interior for me.

1. I've read that it's best never to let audio lines and electrical lines cross. Does that mean I should run all the electricity from above and drop down for outlets, while running all the audio lines from below?

2. Do you think I should run some sort of snake under the flooring (that I'll be floating) to provide convenient inputs to the audio console?

3. Should there be some sort of parallel system of several input boxes conveniently located throughout the building?

4. What about headphone jacks for talkback. I'm thinking about 6 channels for the maximum number of people I may have to record at one time. Should those be run under the floor, in the wall, or just with a bunch of long cables.

If this is the subject of a FAQ or similar thread somewhere, please pardon the intrusion. I just stumbled upon your website at work and don't have much time here for searching through the postings just yet.

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dementedchord Tue, 08/14/2007 - 14:42

hard to believe nobody in so cal will consult on this... but anyway...

1.that's not a bad idea imo... though most find it ok as long as you cross the lines at right angles...

2.again not a bad idea... it's not unusuall to find troughs laid in to facilitate upgrading etc....

3.depends on what you're calling paralell... if you mean concurrently active lines...NO!! if you simply mean a secondary snake normaled to their own channels or perhaps run to a patchbay for convienienc ...yeah...

4.i'ld do it with individual cables laid in that trough we were talking about...

welcome to the club good first question...

anonymous Fri, 08/24/2007 - 07:55

You might want to read up on acoustics a bit before finishing up the space.

I agree you need headphone and mic lines, sounds great.

But a 10x20 room isn't really ideal. There are room dimensions that will give you less interference. Shortening the 20' length might be an option, maybe by adding a closet.

What about ceiling height? How high is the ceiling and do you have an option for making it higher (after reading about room dimensions?)

A closet or small booth for isolating, say guitar amps, if you're doing typical rock band recording, might change things for the better.