Recording Desk Upgrade Part I

Details

Category: Recording Studio

Published on Tuesday, 27 December 2011 00:10

Written by R. H. Amaro

Hits: 110

On this 1st installment of the recording desk upgrade I just wanted to introduce to you my current set up and some of the things that will be part of this laborious project.  I will start by recommending that when you have this much equipment, you should have an alarm system.

Now a day you can purchase a very basic plan with burglar, and fire protection as low as $50.00  a month, so it is definitely worth the investment.  Not only for the safety of your studio but most importantly for your entire family.

You can make your own choices but here's a couple that work very good: http://guardianalarm.com/ (Economical)http://www.adt.com (pricier but better protection)

I won't go too much into detail because this is worth looking into more yourself.  Make a choice and install it!

It's important but not absolutely necessary to take pictures of your current set up if for no other reason so that you can have a guide to how it looked before. My set up is designed for accessibility as I record multiple instruments in a very close area.

Recording by yourself requires that you can have access to your main instruments and the DAW controller. What is also to be taken into consideration is your console mixer. There's so much tweaking that occurs during the recording process that you definitely want to be in close proximity to all your gear.

In this upgrade, I have written some notes of where I would like certain hardware and controllers that were just not working for me with my current set. That should be part of any upgrade; to make it more functional based on your method of recording. Monitor speaker placement should never be neglected as this the most crucial component in your rig. Be sure that you have that down as a priority; in fact work everything else around your monitor placement!

These cables you see in this picture are from behind my console set up. It is not very distinct in this photo but they are all labeled. I want to make a big deal about this detail because reconnecting all your gear will be so much easier.

It is possible to be a freak of nature and know exactly where every cable goes. But, no one is that good, or at least I haven't met such a person. The most economical way to label cables is with yellow electrical tape and a permanent marker. You can also find labels specifically designed to mark cables, this will inflate your budget, not considerably but weight the options; Professional vs. Home Made. Personally I like to merge both together. Some of my cable labels are professional and some home made to look professional.

In the next installment I will detail how to mark cables. In the mean time I leave you with a couple pictures of the new desk finished waiting for pick up at the shop.

Good morning all, it is October 1st! On this brief installment I will give you the simplest way to mark your cables prior to disconnecting, so that the reconnection once you have replaced the desk is smooth!

This handy tool is an electrician Wire Marker (that simple). It is a tape dispenser which can be refilled with cartridges of the respective numbers "0" to "9". I discovered it when I use to install Surveillance equipment on covert operations in an old job I had.

Basically you have an unlimited amount of number combinations to mark both ends of a wire. A note on that; I assume too much when I mention to mark both ends and expect people to remember to mark both ends, of the same cable, with the same number. I know you're thinking that I'm undermining your intelligence but I'm not. It is details like these that can be over looked because they’re so obvious and simple that you can easily screw them up.

Sooooooooo... to be clear your first cable can be marked with a "1" on the front end, and on the other end with a "1". So simple, I know. Yet, I have spent hours re-cabling due to non-compliance by assistants on this because I had too much common sense to think that they had enough common sense that they would do it.

You can search for this item here you can get it with the initial rolls of numbers for about $40 and then a pack of 10 refills for about $20. As you can see in the picture, I need ones, and twos.

Here you can see the markers in action. Note that to the right and left there are cables that are not marked. Reason for that is that those are patch cables for inserts on effects processors and those cables are never set to one channel, etc.

The other two Monster cables on the left are for a keyboard. No need to label those by number but, as you can see they are color coded with the rubber band markers Monster provides when you buy those cables. They give you 4 color options to choose from and are easily interchangeable.

If you have the room, you can actually leave all your components with cables attached in the back while you replace your desk, but this always puts your cables at danger of you stepping on them as you carry stuff around.

Your snake is already marked! Don't go there, you sicko. These cables on the left are from the snake and as you can see they are factory marked. Of course since I'm so freaking blind I found it necessary to write on the metal part with a permanent, marker on some of them, like the cable for the bass drum which is usually #1.

Be creative with your markings, but whatever you do be thorough and accurate. Unless of course you rather spend your time figuring out which cable goes to what, instead of recording.

RULE OF THUMB: When handling cables in anyway, DO NOT make any sudden moves or kicks or tugs. Cables move by themselves usually wrapping themselves around your feet unbeknownst to you. And if you take a sudden hard right step you may damage your snake irreparably. And nobody cares for a damaged snake!

Have fun with that. Maybe someday we will truly be wireless!!!

One way to remember how to reconnect your cables after the switch is to take detail pictures of your current connections. I do not recommend this for a number of reasons. Personally, this is not practical because your equipment is so immobile that good clear pictures are sometimes a pain.

You would have to get pictures of all your cables attached showing all number markings along with channel markings and that's just impossible and time consuming.

But the most important reason is, if you reconnect from scratch you are actually learning something every time. Why pass up on the fun of "rigging up" your rig? Plus, you'll get all the jokes about re-wiring and getting shocked by your pedal board transformer.

But if you can get away with pictures, be my guest!

OK, we're at the dismantling phase. Before taking it apart, let's enjoy this moment with a few cold ones because you are about to enter hell! As much fun as I have recording, breaking down anything that must be put back together is a pain in the snake!

I recall those days with the band when it was time to break down our PA uuugh! Beer covered cables were not fun. This won't be anything like that but it will NOT be fun... then I again, I love doing this!

See you next Saturday 10/08/11 for another installment detailing "The Breakdown"!

As always I welcome comments, ideas, or corrections just visit my Zamantara Music on Facebook!

 COMING SOON!!! I am about to break down for the big Jelly Bean move and Oskar's new Musical Man Cave!!!

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