I’m wondering if someone could help me understand how the signal flow works in higher end studios?
I’ve been drooling over pictures of the Rupert Neve 5088, and very curious to know what gear is needed to run a 16ch console ‘out of the box’ so to speak (from microphone / source to a final stereo track).
More specifically, I don’t really understand how patch bays work, and at what point one would typically integrate outboard gear.
I realize this is a super noob question, but I'd be super grateful for any insight or resources anyone could provide to help satisfy my curiosity.
Many thanks in advance.
Rupert Neve 5088
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sounddevisor
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:31 pm
Re: Rupert Neve 5088
You have asked several pretty big questions - I'll try to answer them as concisely as possible.
1) A general picture of signal flow (digital recording):
Microphone -> microphone pre-amp -> (optional hardware processing, i.e. EQ or compression) -> Analog-to-Digital convertor (ADC) -> computer
- or -
Line-level signal (synth, drum machine) -> Direct Inject box (DI) -> pre-amp -> (optional processing) -> ADC -> computer
Skipping the console question for now, we come to
3) How patch bays work, and when to use them:
A patch bay is, in many ways the spine or nerve-center of a studio. Basically, all gear is connected to the patch bay, which then allows easy connection of any piece of gear to any other piece of gear. More specifically, if you have an assortment of different mic pre-amps, different hardware effects such as EQ, compression, reverbs, etc., you can use the patch bay to connect, say, a Neve pre-amp to an Avalon EQ, or Focusrite pre-amp to a dbx compressor.
The standard configuration for a patch bay is to have two (or multiples of two) rows of patch points. Each point represents one channel of input or output, and in most studios the signal flows from top to bottom, so in a two-row patch bay, the upper row would be signals coming FROM something (out from a pre-amp, for instance) and the bottom row would be signals going TO something (i.e., input to your ADC.) In addition, most patch bays use something called "normals," which simply means that, if no patch cables are plugged into the bay, the signal will, by default, flow from the upper point to the lower point. For instance, in my studio my patch bay is wired so that the outputs of my first 8 pre-amps are above the inputs to my first 8 channels of ADC. That means that with no patch cables plugged into the bay, the signal from pre-amp 1 will, by default, be sent to channel 1 of my ADC. Inserting a patch cable into the output of pre-amp 1 will interrupt that flow, and allow me to send that signal somewhere else.
You ask "...at what point would one typically integrate outboard gear"? Meaning, I guess, "when do I need a patch bay?" Well, if you already have several pieces of gear and you find yourself frequently needing to re-patch them, then you are ready for a patch bay. If you only have one or two input channels, and little or no outboard hardware, then a patch bay probably won't do much for you.
Moving on to question 2) "...very curious to know what gear is needed to run a 16ch console ‘out of the box’ so to speak (from microphone / source to a final stereo track)."
To a limited extent, a console may incorporate everything I've mentioned above (obviously, excluding microphones, cables, monitors, and your recording device of choice.) The Neve 5088, for example, can be configured with a number of modules, including pre-amps, EQs, and compressors, so depending on how it has been configured, that might be all you need. However, if you are serious enough about recording to be investing in a Neve 5088, you're probably serious enough to have a bunch of outboard gear as well - if you don't already, you eventually will. So although the 5088 might work fine by itself, chances are you will end up needing a patch bay sooner or later.
Hope this answers your questions - let me know if you need clarification on anything!
1) A general picture of signal flow (digital recording):
Microphone -> microphone pre-amp -> (optional hardware processing, i.e. EQ or compression) -> Analog-to-Digital convertor (ADC) -> computer
- or -
Line-level signal (synth, drum machine) -> Direct Inject box (DI) -> pre-amp -> (optional processing) -> ADC -> computer
Skipping the console question for now, we come to
3) How patch bays work, and when to use them:
A patch bay is, in many ways the spine or nerve-center of a studio. Basically, all gear is connected to the patch bay, which then allows easy connection of any piece of gear to any other piece of gear. More specifically, if you have an assortment of different mic pre-amps, different hardware effects such as EQ, compression, reverbs, etc., you can use the patch bay to connect, say, a Neve pre-amp to an Avalon EQ, or Focusrite pre-amp to a dbx compressor.
The standard configuration for a patch bay is to have two (or multiples of two) rows of patch points. Each point represents one channel of input or output, and in most studios the signal flows from top to bottom, so in a two-row patch bay, the upper row would be signals coming FROM something (out from a pre-amp, for instance) and the bottom row would be signals going TO something (i.e., input to your ADC.) In addition, most patch bays use something called "normals," which simply means that, if no patch cables are plugged into the bay, the signal will, by default, flow from the upper point to the lower point. For instance, in my studio my patch bay is wired so that the outputs of my first 8 pre-amps are above the inputs to my first 8 channels of ADC. That means that with no patch cables plugged into the bay, the signal from pre-amp 1 will, by default, be sent to channel 1 of my ADC. Inserting a patch cable into the output of pre-amp 1 will interrupt that flow, and allow me to send that signal somewhere else.
You ask "...at what point would one typically integrate outboard gear"? Meaning, I guess, "when do I need a patch bay?" Well, if you already have several pieces of gear and you find yourself frequently needing to re-patch them, then you are ready for a patch bay. If you only have one or two input channels, and little or no outboard hardware, then a patch bay probably won't do much for you.
Moving on to question 2) "...very curious to know what gear is needed to run a 16ch console ‘out of the box’ so to speak (from microphone / source to a final stereo track)."
To a limited extent, a console may incorporate everything I've mentioned above (obviously, excluding microphones, cables, monitors, and your recording device of choice.) The Neve 5088, for example, can be configured with a number of modules, including pre-amps, EQs, and compressors, so depending on how it has been configured, that might be all you need. However, if you are serious enough about recording to be investing in a Neve 5088, you're probably serious enough to have a bunch of outboard gear as well - if you don't already, you eventually will. So although the 5088 might work fine by itself, chances are you will end up needing a patch bay sooner or later.
Hope this answers your questions - let me know if you need clarification on anything!
Re: Rupert Neve 5088
Awesome!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all that out. That definitely clears it up!
Really appreciate your reply.
Cheers!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all that out. That definitely clears it up!
Really appreciate your reply.
Cheers!