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Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default Studio wiring advice for newbies by newbies

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording. Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction, just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station, etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care - use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.
  #2   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I almost forgot. Another personal rule that has been helpfule is which point
positions to set as 1/2 normalled vs non-normalled on each patch bay. I find
that I always need about 1/4 of the points to be non-normalled, so I
standardize on 13-19 for that.

By following a fixed rule rather than setting up the patch bays ad hoc, I
always know which points I can use for non-normalled connections. I don't
have to spend time figuring that out in my wiring plan, and I don't have to
pull the patch bay out and reconfigure it when minor changes are made to the
wiring plan. I do have to swap connection point locations, but that's easier
than switching a module.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording. Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction, just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station, etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care - use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


  #3   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I almost forgot. Another personal rule that has been helpfule is which point
positions to set as 1/2 normalled vs non-normalled on each patch bay. I find
that I always need about 1/4 of the points to be non-normalled, so I
standardize on 13-19 for that.

By following a fixed rule rather than setting up the patch bays ad hoc, I
always know which points I can use for non-normalled connections. I don't
have to spend time figuring that out in my wiring plan, and I don't have to
pull the patch bay out and reconfigure it when minor changes are made to the
wiring plan. I do have to swap connection point locations, but that's easier
than switching a module.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording. Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction, just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station, etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care - use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


  #4   Report Post  
Raymond
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Steve wrote
I almost forgot. Another personal rule that has been helpfule is which point
positions to set as 1/2 normalled vs non-normalled on each patch bay. I find
that I always need about 1/4 of the points to be non-normalled, so I
standardize on 13-19 for that.

By following a fixed rule rather than setting up the patch bays ad hoc, I
always know which points I can use for non-normalled connections. I don't
have to spend time figuring that out in my wiring plan, and I don't have to
pull the patch bay out and reconfigure it when minor changes are made to the
wiring plan. I do have to swap connection point locations, but that's easier
than switching a module.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium

ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in

the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done

the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is

too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording.

Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and

what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can

to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge

of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in

the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list

the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction,

just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station,

etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the

earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so

you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or

subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a

nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care -

use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


Here's what I've got planned, avoid as much outboard gear as posable! I'm
setting up a DAW with only a simple mixer mainly for mic pre's and aux sends
(for a headphone amp). I have one or two racked mic pre's and will use
dedicated channel's on the mixer for them.


  #5   Report Post  
Raymond
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Steve wrote
I almost forgot. Another personal rule that has been helpfule is which point
positions to set as 1/2 normalled vs non-normalled on each patch bay. I find
that I always need about 1/4 of the points to be non-normalled, so I
standardize on 13-19 for that.

By following a fixed rule rather than setting up the patch bays ad hoc, I
always know which points I can use for non-normalled connections. I don't
have to spend time figuring that out in my wiring plan, and I don't have to
pull the patch bay out and reconfigure it when minor changes are made to the
wiring plan. I do have to swap connection point locations, but that's easier
than switching a module.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium

ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in

the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done

the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is

too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording.

Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and

what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can

to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge

of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in

the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list

the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction,

just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station,

etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the

earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so

you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or

subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a

nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care -

use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


Here's what I've got planned, avoid as much outboard gear as posable! I'm
setting up a DAW with only a simple mixer mainly for mic pre's and aux sends
(for a headphone amp). I have one or two racked mic pre's and will use
dedicated channel's on the mixer for them.




  #6   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
Posts: n/a
Default


In article am writes:


I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share.


Good list. You've obviously been thinking about it. It sounds to me
like you may be ready to take a major step and not wire things
with off-the-shelf cable assemblies, but rather, buy some two-pair,
four-pair, and eight-pair cable stock, a couple of big boxes of
connectors, patchbays with solder connections rather than
jacks-on-the-back, and some good tools.

One "rule" that I didn't notice in your list was that you should wire
everything with two-conductors plus shield, even if it isn't going to
balanced inputs or outputs, and use patchbays with two-conductor
(balanced) jacks. That way, you'll be ready for balanced gear when it
comes in the door, and you'll have more flexibility in "one end only"
shield grounding of unbalanced equipment if it's necessary to reduce
hum.

I like to cut out paper dolls - a pad of 3x5 Post-Its, one for each
piece of equipment (stick some together for mixers since there are
lots of connections) and stick them on a large sheet of paper, drawing
lines between them with a pencil. That way, you're sure you don't
forget anything, and you can easily move the blocks around to make
your drawing neater and easier to follow.

Label every cable at its end. This is easy if you're making your own
because you can print a label on your computer or with a label
printer, stick it on the cable lengthwise, slip a piece of clear heat
shrink tubing over it, and it's done. Label individual cables in a
snake, and give the snake a descriptive name (Mixer Direct Outs) as
well.

Think about how you're going to secure your cables so there's no
strain on the connectors. You don't want the weight of an 8-channel
snake hanging on a 1/4" phone jack, particualry one on the back of a
patchbay.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
  #7   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
Posts: n/a
Default


In article am writes:


I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share.


Good list. You've obviously been thinking about it. It sounds to me
like you may be ready to take a major step and not wire things
with off-the-shelf cable assemblies, but rather, buy some two-pair,
four-pair, and eight-pair cable stock, a couple of big boxes of
connectors, patchbays with solder connections rather than
jacks-on-the-back, and some good tools.

One "rule" that I didn't notice in your list was that you should wire
everything with two-conductors plus shield, even if it isn't going to
balanced inputs or outputs, and use patchbays with two-conductor
(balanced) jacks. That way, you'll be ready for balanced gear when it
comes in the door, and you'll have more flexibility in "one end only"
shield grounding of unbalanced equipment if it's necessary to reduce
hum.

I like to cut out paper dolls - a pad of 3x5 Post-Its, one for each
piece of equipment (stick some together for mixers since there are
lots of connections) and stick them on a large sheet of paper, drawing
lines between them with a pencil. That way, you're sure you don't
forget anything, and you can easily move the blocks around to make
your drawing neater and easier to follow.

Label every cable at its end. This is easy if you're making your own
because you can print a label on your computer or with a label
printer, stick it on the cable lengthwise, slip a piece of clear heat
shrink tubing over it, and it's done. Label individual cables in a
snake, and give the snake a descriptive name (Mixer Direct Outs) as
well.

Think about how you're going to secure your cables so there's no
strain on the connectors. You don't want the weight of an 8-channel
snake hanging on a 1/4" phone jack, particualry one on the back of a
patchbay.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
  #8   Report Post  
Danny Taddei
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how
heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -

just my 2 cents

Steve Jorgensen wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording. Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction, just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station, etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care - use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


  #9   Report Post  
Danny Taddei
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how
heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -

just my 2 cents

Steve Jorgensen wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.

Here goes...

1. Don't try to make your mixer do all your routing. Routing that way is too
obtuse, and it will get in your way, and waste time during recording. Use
your mixer for the kinds of routing it's good at, and use patch bays for
everything else.

2. Don't try to do all your routing with patch bays. Use the mixer for the
all kinds of routing it can be used for in the manner it was designed to
do well. Use patch bays for the things mixers don't do well.

3. Before you start wiring - I have tried many systems for diagramming my
wiring plan before hooking it up. All of those systems failed miserably
until I came up with this one.
- Begin with your mental picture of what the major stations are, and what
physical order they are in. Come up with the closest thing you can to
a sequential arrangement of them, and write them down the left edge of
a page (an Excel spreadsheet is great).
- Now, list all the gear to hook up across the bottom of the page not
including mixers and patch bays which should be well represented in the
column on the left. If something has both inputs and outputs, list the
input and output as separate items.
- Now, draw lines in the columns under each piece of gear showing the
normal route of the signal to or from the device with dots at each
connecting point along the path. If the path reverses direction, just
make a U shaped line, and keep following the path. If the path
connects to a point in another column, write a letter next to the
point, and the same letter next to the matching point in the other
column.
- If there are common alternate paths you will need, draw the lines for
those paths in a different color. Use letter designations as above
where needed.
Now, finally, you're ready to see how many balanced and unbalanced lines
you need from where to where, how many patch points at each station, etc.
As you start working that up, you'll find minor problems with the earlier
planning stage, so clean them up. The diagramming system above is
simple enough that it's not too time consuming to redraw from scratch if
corrections get too messy, or use artists tape to cover up a column, and
redraw it.

4. Follow the standard rules for wiring patch bays without exception, so you
never have to wonder which are the exceptions - there are none. If you
need just that one extra connection, you are so close to needing another
patch bay anyway, that you might as well buy it now.

In case you're wondering, standard rules for patch bays include...
- Always using the top row for signals coming to the patch bay from the
back (even when non-normalled).
- Always use the bottom row for signals going from the patch bay in the
back.
- Always put left channels on odd numbers.
- Always put right channels on even numbers.

5. In addition to the standard rules for patch bays, invent your own more
detailed usage pattern rules, and stick to them as much as possible.
Create standard rules for exceptions to the main rules, when exceptions
are required. Some of my favorites are...
- Always connect the same colored snake cable connector to the top and
bottom points in the back of a 1/2 normalled connection.
- Always route mixer channels Aux sends, etc., to the same numbered
points on the patch bay if possible. If not possible, add or subtract
exactly 10 if that is possible. Yes, I know your patch bay has a nice,
intuitive divider in the middle between 12 and 13. I don't care - use
offsets of 10.

6. Pick a standard order for the colors of your snake cable connectors, and
always use it. A few judicious exceptions are OK, but just a few.

I hope someone finds this info as useful as I do.


  #10   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 25 Jun 2004 13:37:31 -0400, (Mike Rivers) wrote:


In article
am writes:


I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share.


Good list. You've obviously been thinking about it. It sounds to me
like you may be ready to take a major step and not wire things
with off-the-shelf cable assemblies, but rather, buy some two-pair,
four-pair, and eight-pair cable stock, a couple of big boxes of
connectors, patchbays with solder connections rather than
jacks-on-the-back, and some good tools.

One "rule" that I didn't notice in your list was that you should wire
everything with two-conductors plus shield, even if it isn't going to
balanced inputs or outputs, and use patchbays with two-conductor
(balanced) jacks. That way, you'll be ready for balanced gear when it
comes in the door, and you'll have more flexibility in "one end only"
shield grounding of unbalanced equipment if it's necessary to reduce
hum.

I like to cut out paper dolls - a pad of 3x5 Post-Its, one for each
piece of equipment (stick some together for mixers since there are
lots of connections) and stick them on a large sheet of paper, drawing
lines between them with a pencil. That way, you're sure you don't
forget anything, and you can easily move the blocks around to make
your drawing neater and easier to follow.

Label every cable at its end. This is easy if you're making your own
because you can print a label on your computer or with a label
printer, stick it on the cable lengthwise, slip a piece of clear heat
shrink tubing over it, and it's done. Label individual cables in a
snake, and give the snake a descriptive name (Mixer Direct Outs) as
well.

Think about how you're going to secure your cables so there's no
strain on the connectors. You don't want the weight of an 8-channel
snake hanging on a 1/4" phone jack, particualry one on the back of a
patchbay.


Thanks, you've got several things I didn't already know in that list.


  #11   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 25 Jun 2004 13:37:31 -0400, (Mike Rivers) wrote:


In article
am writes:


I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share.


Good list. You've obviously been thinking about it. It sounds to me
like you may be ready to take a major step and not wire things
with off-the-shelf cable assemblies, but rather, buy some two-pair,
four-pair, and eight-pair cable stock, a couple of big boxes of
connectors, patchbays with solder connections rather than
jacks-on-the-back, and some good tools.

One "rule" that I didn't notice in your list was that you should wire
everything with two-conductors plus shield, even if it isn't going to
balanced inputs or outputs, and use patchbays with two-conductor
(balanced) jacks. That way, you'll be ready for balanced gear when it
comes in the door, and you'll have more flexibility in "one end only"
shield grounding of unbalanced equipment if it's necessary to reduce
hum.

I like to cut out paper dolls - a pad of 3x5 Post-Its, one for each
piece of equipment (stick some together for mixers since there are
lots of connections) and stick them on a large sheet of paper, drawing
lines between them with a pencil. That way, you're sure you don't
forget anything, and you can easily move the blocks around to make
your drawing neater and easier to follow.

Label every cable at its end. This is easy if you're making your own
because you can print a label on your computer or with a label
printer, stick it on the cable lengthwise, slip a piece of clear heat
shrink tubing over it, and it's done. Label individual cables in a
snake, and give the snake a descriptive name (Mixer Direct Outs) as
well.

Think about how you're going to secure your cables so there's no
strain on the connectors. You don't want the weight of an 8-channel
snake hanging on a 1/4" phone jack, particualry one on the back of a
patchbay.


Thanks, you've got several things I didn't already know in that list.
  #12   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:50:31 -0700, Danny Taddei wrote:

I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how
heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -

....

Thanks - that's 2 times that came up in reply to my post, and I've always
wondered why the connections go flakey on the back of my $100 patch bays. I
guess that's probably why.
  #13   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:50:31 -0700, Danny Taddei wrote:

I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how
heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -

....

Thanks - that's 2 times that came up in reply to my post, and I've always
wondered why the connections go flakey on the back of my $100 patch bays. I
guess that's probably why.
  #14   Report Post  
Raymond
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Danny wrote
I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how

heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -



Yes, its called a wire loom, not unlike the one's used for car motor sparkplug
wires. Also you can use a snake and rout thing's so they don't cross high volt
AC lines.
  #15   Report Post  
Raymond
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Danny wrote
I've got one for you -

always find a way to support your cables. I never imagined just how

heavy all that crap gets until I had to tear it all out and put in
storage. I noticed that the wire ties that kept everything (almost)
organized were about to crack or had already cracked under the weight of
the miles of wire. (I had a 48 channel board with anal retentive
connections :-). When I rewire a new studio I plan on actually making
wood supports to lay the wiring on from the console to the patch bays
and equipment. The weight must have some negative affect on something.
Connectors are obviously strained and who knows what another year of
hanging would have done -



Yes, its called a wire loom, not unlike the one's used for car motor sparkplug
wires. Also you can use a snake and rout thing's so they don't cross high volt
AC lines.


  #16   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.


I thought of some more...

Sticky notes:
When doing the actual wiring, and prior to finalizing, put a sticky note at
every point saying where the signal comes from or goes to, via what other
points. If you change a routing, change the sticky note, and use the -via-
info to see what other sticky ntoes also need to be updated.

Labelling:
After the wiring is doner and finalized (nothing is ever final, but you know
what I mean) copy the info from sticky notes to strips of artist's tape. Make
sure the from/to information is in think black lines you can read in dim
light, and add "via" info in small print, possibly on a second strip next to
the first on a blank plate, or something along those lines.


Refactoring:
My day job is computer programming. There's a rather newish concept in
computer programming called refactoring. Refactoring is making changes that
improve the design, and should have no effect on the functionality. The idea
is that if a new requirement needs a different infrastructure, first get the
infrastructure changes done and tested without actually implementing any of
the new functionality (refactor), then implement the new functionality.
Refactoring is done in the smallest possible steps, and testing is done after
each step. Everything should be just as functional after each small
change/test as it was before.

As an example of "refactoring", I find that I want to group things
differently, and I now want to use patch point 5 for what point 1 was doing,
and point 19 for what point 5 was doing. So, I first move point 5 to 19, test
it, then update all the affected sticky notes. If I get interrupted now,
everything still works, and everything is still properly documented. Next, I
do the same moving point 1 to 5. Now, the refactoring is done, and point 1 is
available for the new functionality it needs to handle.

This may sound a bit arduous and excessive, but it ends up saving vastly more
time than it costs, because when something goes wrong, you know exactly what
the cause is - the cause is the very last thing you changed. Worst case,
change it back, and everything should be OK until you have time to look at it
again. Now, you can diagnose and fix the problem at the first time it occurs
before it becomes vastly more difficult to track down, and before there are
multiple problems masking each other.


Keep simplifying:
After wiring, look for things that are complex or deviate from the standards
and don't actually need to be that way. Fix those. After that, you'll see
some more, fix them. In all these changes, use the refactoring technique
described above.
  #17   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 08:23:54 GMT, Steve Jorgensen
wrote:

Hi all,

I just realized I'm at that early stage in learning to wire a medium ambitious
home studio where I'm experienced enough to have some advice, but not so
experienced that I forgot one even needs to mention these things, so it's a
great time to share. If this makes anyone else think of good advice in a
simiar vein, please do share, or if anyone disagrees with any of this, I'd
love to know.

I have found that the following rules save so much time in understanding and
using the studio that it even ends up saving vast amounts of time just in the
rest of the wiring process itself because you don't have to repeatedly trace
things down to recall what you were doing or find out what didn't get done the
way you thought.


I thought of some more...

Sticky notes:
When doing the actual wiring, and prior to finalizing, put a sticky note at
every point saying where the signal comes from or goes to, via what other
points. If you change a routing, change the sticky note, and use the -via-
info to see what other sticky ntoes also need to be updated.

Labelling:
After the wiring is doner and finalized (nothing is ever final, but you know
what I mean) copy the info from sticky notes to strips of artist's tape. Make
sure the from/to information is in think black lines you can read in dim
light, and add "via" info in small print, possibly on a second strip next to
the first on a blank plate, or something along those lines.


Refactoring:
My day job is computer programming. There's a rather newish concept in
computer programming called refactoring. Refactoring is making changes that
improve the design, and should have no effect on the functionality. The idea
is that if a new requirement needs a different infrastructure, first get the
infrastructure changes done and tested without actually implementing any of
the new functionality (refactor), then implement the new functionality.
Refactoring is done in the smallest possible steps, and testing is done after
each step. Everything should be just as functional after each small
change/test as it was before.

As an example of "refactoring", I find that I want to group things
differently, and I now want to use patch point 5 for what point 1 was doing,
and point 19 for what point 5 was doing. So, I first move point 5 to 19, test
it, then update all the affected sticky notes. If I get interrupted now,
everything still works, and everything is still properly documented. Next, I
do the same moving point 1 to 5. Now, the refactoring is done, and point 1 is
available for the new functionality it needs to handle.

This may sound a bit arduous and excessive, but it ends up saving vastly more
time than it costs, because when something goes wrong, you know exactly what
the cause is - the cause is the very last thing you changed. Worst case,
change it back, and everything should be OK until you have time to look at it
again. Now, you can diagnose and fix the problem at the first time it occurs
before it becomes vastly more difficult to track down, and before there are
multiple problems masking each other.


Keep simplifying:
After wiring, look for things that are complex or deviate from the standards
and don't actually need to be that way. Fix those. After that, you'll see
some more, fix them. In all these changes, use the refactoring technique
described above.
  #18   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
Posts: n/a
Default


In article am writes:

My day job is computer programming. There's a rather newish concept in
computer programming called refactoring. Refactoring is making changes that
improve the design, and should have no effect on the functionality.


Good in theory, but unless you're a highly disciplined programmer
working in a shop that goes strictly according to process, almost
every design "improvement" has an effect on functionality. Hopefully
it's positive, but not always, and sometimes some of the goofs slip
through because nobody ever thought that a user would try whatever
doesn't work.

As an example of "refactoring", I find that I want to group things
differently, and I now want to use patch point 5 for what point 1 was doing,
and point 19 for what point 5 was doing. So, I first move point 5 to 19, test
it, then update all the affected sticky notes. If I get interrupted now,
everything still works, and everything is still properly documented. Next, I
do the same moving point 1 to 5. Now, the refactoring is done, and point 1 is
available for the new functionality it needs to handle.

This may sound a bit arduous and excessive


Actually it makes good sense, but with something like a patchbay, you
don't really need to test the electrical continuity (which doesn't
change since you're using the same wires and the same jacks), you need
to test the user interface - do you REALLY want to have that patch
point in a different location all the time?

Keep simplifying:
After wiring, look for things that are complex or deviate from the standards
and don't actually need to be that way.


If you set standards to begin with, nothing should deviate from them.
The problem with patchbays is that most of the ones we use in studios
is that they're constructed with two parallel rows of jacks, and
there's presumed to be a direct relationship between the two rows. If
you have, for instance, more outputs than inputs, you'll have jacks on
the top row that correspond to "not connected" jacks below them.
Because we're a frugal lot, we hate to waste those jacks so we connect
something to them that's unrealted to the jacks above them and there
goes the system. While you can remove the normalling in most patchbays
so you don't have a connection that you never want, it does make
things hard to find.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
  #19   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 27 Jun 2004 11:54:49 -0400, (Mike Rivers) wrote:


In article
am writes:

My day job is computer programming. There's a rather newish concept in
computer programming called refactoring. Refactoring is making changes that
improve the design, and should have no effect on the functionality.


Good in theory, but unless you're a highly disciplined programmer
working in a shop that goes strictly according to process, almost
every design "improvement" has an effect on functionality. Hopefully
it's positive, but not always, and sometimes some of the goofs slip
through because nobody ever thought that a user would try whatever
doesn't work.


Actually, there are a lot of us programmers who have learned that strictly
following processes that divide up refactoring and improvement stages are well
worth doing, and we do it pretty rigorously.

Refactorings are, by definition, things that should not affect functionality
unless done wrong, such as finding 2 blocks of code that do the same thing,
changing the code so that they are literally identical (1 step), then moving
the block of duplicated code into its own procedure (another step). This can
be done in conjunction with Test Driven Development in which a test sequence
will have already existed to ensure everything that was completed worked, and
the test sequence can be re-run after each refactoring step to make sure
everything still works. If something broke, your last step was the problem,
so roll it back, and find out what's going on.

Unfortunately, fully automated, complete, repeatable testing is, AFAIK, not
possible with a studio wiring plan. it would be nice if it were.

As an example of "refactoring", I find that I want to group things
differently, and I now want to use patch point 5 for what point 1 was doing,
and point 19 for what point 5 was doing. So, I first move point 5 to 19, test
it, then update all the affected sticky notes. If I get interrupted now,
everything still works, and everything is still properly documented. Next, I
do the same moving point 1 to 5. Now, the refactoring is done, and point 1 is
available for the new functionality it needs to handle.

This may sound a bit arduous and excessive


Actually it makes good sense, but with something like a patchbay, you
don't really need to test the electrical continuity (which doesn't
change since you're using the same wires and the same jacks), you need
to test the user interface - do you REALLY want to have that patch
point in a different location all the time?


Ah, but it's not the same jack, and was the module properly normalled? Is it
the same wire, or did I use a different cord because it needed to be longer?

Last night, in fact, I spent a lot of time tracking down a problem that could
have been more easily caught if I'd done better tesing as I went. I had a
point that was supposed to be non-normalled, and I tested it only after
patching the top and bottom points together for both left and right
connections. I should have tested the normal case first (no sound), then the
left, then the right.

Later, when the points were unpatched, there was still sound coming to the
main mix on the right channel! I didn't think of checking the patch point for
a while, and of course, when I found it, I had to unhook all the wires from
the patch point, get behind the rack with a flashlight, and turn the module
around while the band waited for me.

Keep simplifying:
After wiring, look for things that are complex or deviate from the standards
and don't actually need to be that way.


If you set standards to begin with, nothing should deviate from them.
The problem with patchbays is that most of the ones we use in studios
is that they're constructed with two parallel rows of jacks, and
there's presumed to be a direct relationship between the two rows. If
you have, for instance, more outputs than inputs, you'll have jacks on
the top row that correspond to "not connected" jacks below them.
Because we're a frugal lot, we hate to waste those jacks so we connect
something to them that's unrealted to the jacks above them and there
goes the system. While you can remove the normalling in most patchbays
so you don't have a connection that you never want, it does make
things hard to find.


I should have been more clear. Yes, as I said in my previous post, there are
-rules- that should never be broken, but there are also lesser, target rules
and rules of simplicity that must often be broken because concerns conflict
with one another. This includes things like matching the numbers of the patch
points with the corresponding channel numbers (or offset by 10) conflicting
with a personal rule of having 1-12 and 19-24 1/2-norm, and 13-18 non-norm.
After wiring, it is usually possible to mitigate a couple of these problems,
and after those changes, something is usually freed up to mitigate some more.

Ideally, when all is said and done, the wiring plan looks, for the most part,
very simple and inuitive, though the process to arrive at it might have been
anything but.

  #20   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
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In article am writes:

Actually, there are a lot of us programmers who have learned that strictly
following processes that divide up refactoring and improvement stages are well
worth doing, and we do it pretty rigorously.


That's a good thing if you're working for customers who can afford it.
But it's one of the things that makes software more expensive than
many people believe it should be.

Unfortunately, fully automated, complete, repeatable testing is, AFAIK, not
possible with a studio wiring plan. it would be nice if it were.


It's not automated, but you should test every path, and every jack. It
takes time, but it can (and should) be done, at least once, when you
install it. Unlike software, wires break and jacks don't always make
good contact, so even if you know it used to work, sometimes it
breaks.

Ah, but it's not the same jack, and was the module properly normalled? Is it
the same wire, or did I use a different cord because it needed to be longer?


Well, you're using a jack that used to work (but you may have miswired
it when you make the change). And if you change the cable, then you've
made two changes without testing.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo


  #21   Report Post  
Steve Jorgensen
 
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On 28 Jun 2004 07:35:09 -0400, (Mike Rivers) wrote:


In article
am writes:

Actually, there are a lot of us programmers who have learned that strictly
following processes that divide up refactoring and improvement stages are well
worth doing, and we do it pretty rigorously.


That's a good thing if you're working for customers who can afford it.
But it's one of the things that makes software more expensive than
many people believe it should be.


That point can be debated, but I'll assert that it's not at all true. The
fact is that most of the time spent in the programming process is debugging
your own work, and figuring out why what you just wrote doesn't work.
Programming using a cycle of refactoring and improving stages means you find
bugs sooner after they are created, and spend less time tracking them down
later. Keeping code quality high as you go makes it easier and less time
consuming to work on the code.

Unfortunately, fully automated, complete, repeatable testing is, AFAIK, not
possible with a studio wiring plan. it would be nice if it were.


It's not automated, but you should test every path, and every jack. It
takes time, but it can (and should) be done, at least once, when you
install it. Unlike software, wires break and jacks don't always make
good contact, so even if you know it used to work, sometimes it
breaks.

Ah, but it's not the same jack, and was the module properly normalled? Is it
the same wire, or did I use a different cord because it needed to be longer?


Well, you're using a jack that used to work (but you may have miswired
it when you make the change). And if you change the cable, then you've
made two changes without testing.


I think we're on the same page.
  #22   Report Post  
Logan Shaw
 
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Mike Rivers wrote:

In article am writes:


Actually, there are a lot of us programmers who have learned that strictly
following processes that divide up refactoring and improvement stages are well
worth doing, and we do it pretty rigorously.


That's a good thing if you're working for customers who can afford it.
But it's one of the things that makes software more expensive than
many people believe it should be.


Some of the newer development environments will actually do automated
refactoring. In theory this makes it pretty cheap to do and makes it
less error-prone.

Even without automated help, you might be surprised how mechanical a
process refactoring is. There is a procedure, and it's designed to
minimize errors. For instance, when you are removing code from a
function and making it its own function, you create the new function
and *copy* the code into it without deleting the original. Then you
compile, then you comment out the copied code and replace it with a
function call. Then you compile and test. Or something like that.
The point is, the process is designed so that there are safeguards
to ensure you didn't screw something up, and even if you did, you
can easily put everything back like it was before.

Anyway, most of the work that's put in on a lot of software (games
excepted) is in maintenance, and it's often being done by someone
different than the person who wrote the original code. Cleaning
up the code can make that process smoother and less likely to
introduce new bugs.

- Logan
  #23   Report Post  
hollywood_steve
 
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I like to cut out paper dolls - a pad of 3x5 Post-Its, one for each
piece of equipment (stick some together for mixers since there are
lots of connections) and stick them on a large sheet of paper, drawing
lines between them with a pencil. That way, you're sure you don't
forget anything, and you can easily move the blocks around to make
your drawing neater and easier to follow.

Label every cable at its end. This is easy if you're making your own
because you can print a label on your computer or with a label
printer, stick it on the cable lengthwise, slip a piece of clear heat
shrink tubing over it, and it's done. Label individual cables in a
snake, and give the snake a descriptive name (Mixer Direct Outs) as
well.



I agree with the labelling of every cable, at BOTH ends. I've gone
with a numbering system, its not as obvious to someone else trying to
trace a cable, but now that I have my own place, I don't have to worry
about anyone else. If you have Excel or a similar spreadsheet
program, its easy to set up a multi page workbook with separate sheets
listing each category of equipment. Every piece of gear gets a unique
number and each piece of cable is indexed to the gear at either end.
Building it all inside of a single workbook allows you to set things
up so that a single change gets carried throughout the various pages
with minimal fuss.

There may be some slick way of doing this in a database, but I like
the ability of sketching basic diagrams in Excel to help with the
endless lists. I've found Excel to be a surprisingly good program for
drawing wiring diagrams - just set up square cells at an appropriate
scale and take advantage of the grid system.

My final comment concerns do it yourself cabling verus pre-fab. While
I have wired a couple of studios "from scratch" starting with thousand
foot coils of Mogami 2944, there is an alternative worth considering.
There are several custom wiring shops out there that will take your
detailed sketches and fabricate exactly what you need for surprisingly
fair prices. I recently took delivery of a complete cable "system"
from AVCable.com for my monitoring system. These guys must get some
amazing prices on parts, connectors, cable, etc. because their final
price for a dozen pre-fab'd cables was less than I would have paid,
for the same parts they used! And instead of spending countless hours
measuring, stripping, tinning, soldering, labeling, shrink tubing,
etc., I just opened a big box and plugged the cables in. They all
were fabricated to the exact dimensions that I had supplied and the
quality of the work was definitely better than I could have done.
While any studio owner should know how to build whatever cable they
might need, these pre-fab places can save you an enormous amount of
time that you can then spend on other work. Highly recommended.

Good luck.

Steve

  #24   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
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In article writes:

Even without automated help, you might be surprised how mechanical a
process refactoring is. There is a procedure, and it's designed to
minimize errors. For instance, when you are removing code from a
function and making it its own function, you create the new function
and *copy* the code into it without deleting the original. Then you
compile, then you comment out the copied code and replace it with a
function call. Then you compile and test. Or something like that.


Other than the first compile (after which you do nothing but comment
out the code from the source file and recompile) it makes perfectly
good sense to me. I'm not a programmer, but that's how I'd do it.

When I'm writing something and decide to move a paragraph to a
different section to make it independent, that's sort of what I do.
First I copy it into the new section, see if it makes sense there, put
a reference in the original place (if one is needed, maybe even using
a sentence from the original paragraph) then, delete the orginal (now
redundant) section.

Thing is that with software and version controlled processes, you
probably keep the before and after versions.

The point is, the process is designed so that there are safeguards
to ensure you didn't screw something up, and even if you did, you
can easily put everything back like it was before.


That's why we don't throw away the original wiring diagram until we've
tested the new wiring.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
  #25   Report Post  
Mike Rivers
 
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In article writes:

My final comment concerns do it yourself cabling verus pre-fab. While
I have wired a couple of studios "from scratch" starting with thousand
foot coils of Mogami 2944, there is an alternative worth considering.


Yup, some of those places can do the job for practically the end
user's parts cost, and they do neater work than many of us. It takes
good planning, though. When you're working on site, you pull enough
cable off the roll to get from here to there and you know it fits. If
you're going to order cables, you need to measure accurately and allow
for bends, hangers, and a little slop in case you want to move
something. Planning often takes nearly as much time as just doing but
it's worth it if you have a big job.

But if you just need a few cables, it's quicker and easier to just
make them yourself.

I've seen a few programs for system designers that include a data base
for cables, but they're pretty expensive and I haven't seen one yet
(I've seen maybe three - don't remember any names) where I haven't
thought (and said to the one demonstrating it to me) "Why are they
doing it THAT way? It doesn't make sense."

Write one, sell it for $25, and about 50 people will beat a path to
your door. g



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo
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