Have a question on the Samson PB. Ive linked my Apollo8 up with the Samson PB exactly as the diagram posted round 11.00. Also connected my 76 as shown. When I turn on my Apollo8 the meters go to red and I have to switch off. Didn't switch the 76 on. Used all balanced cables. Is there a reason it might do this? Thank you for any help or advice you could give.
What configuration do you have your patchbay set up for? Normal, half-normal or thru? The Apollo ins and outs should not be connected to one another with the normal or half-normal configuration. It would be the same as running a cable from the output of the Apollo directly to the input of the Apollo. You would get feedback! You want the ins and outs to be set up in the Thru configuration for that group of ins and outs. You would simply be using the patchbay to make it physically easier to access the ins and outs of the Apollo in this example. In other words - you would not have to climb all over your gear to gain access to the ins and outs of that unit - especially if it is installed in a rack or something similar.
I just built those out of wood, and removed some of the top piece where the speakers would normally sit to make room. much easier to see your gear this way than to have it down below
Love the video have some of the same gear and the golden kitty!! Having a problem with finding how you set up your warm audio gear in the software of the Apollo interface. I know the INS and outs but I have to mute stereo inserts to hear them, so it's not doubled and also unmute the mono inputs to hear my mono gear 😢 how do I fix this? Using Pro tools 12 and a quad firewire also any help would be appreciated. Searched every where for the video
excellent video.. I want to ask what cables are used to connect the 2 units that I see warm audio wa-76 and wa-2a until it reaches the sound card together with the patch bay? balanced stereo or unbalanced mono?
Great video man! Question, I’m in the middle of reorganizing my studio as well. If you had to have a summing mixer in between your Apollo and your patchbay, how would you go about connecting everything? This is my scenario and is driving me crazy I know is a heavy question,
yeah thats a tough one, I'd have to really see it to figure that out with you. I'd suggest just see if someone has posted about this already, maybe its buried in a forum some place. god luck!
I only use my preamp and one mic for my vocal chain. Would I be able to connect the preamp to a 1/4 inch patchbay or no? Im catching on how to use the patchbay finally but the preamp thing keeps coming up. How u shouldnt plug anything with phantom power into the patchbay because it could blow up lol. I want to have my preamp setup to connect to my compressors while also using the compressors for printing later on, just not sure if im going to be able to use the 1/4 inch trs on the preamp directly into the patchbay. Or would I have to buy a whole other xlr patchbay just for my one mic/preamp?! Thanks lol
what kind of pre amp do you have? there should be an insert or send quarter inch input that you could hook to you patch bay. I did that for a long time--hooking my isa110s into my samson patchbay and then routing that signal (with phantom power) to a Wa2a or Wa76. its definitely possible. all about what the capabilities of your pre amp are.
@@engineersandfriends4799 currently have the heritage audio ha73 but my bae 1073 comes tomorrow. YES tho, thats how I route my vocal chain (1/4 inch) into my compressors then to my interface. Im interested in the TRS patchbay instead of the XLR, but I keep seeing how preamps and patchbays shouldnt be connected because of the phantom power. So connecting my insert directly into the TRS patchbay will be fine and wont blow it up? Lol. Idk why I keep reading about plugging the mic directly into an XLR patchbay. Maybe its for multiple mics idk. Patchbays are like another language to me I swear lol
@@gusdee4844 I used the send on my ISA Two to go through my patch bay (not xlr patchbay) and i never had an issue. I can't speak for other patch bays, but i think as long as you are routing it from the send. you would be fine. Keep doing research on this though! Every patchbay is most likely different! I cant say enough about the samson S patch that you see in this video. these things are quite annoying when you first are starting to work with them. dont get frustrated and keep at it until you figure out your set up. the workflow is incredible after that.
@@engineersandfriends4799 hmm yeah im researching more but would suck if I need to leave my preamp seperate and not patched which would kind of defeat the purpose for my vocal chain. I did see the samson at first but then sweetwater recommended the art pro trs. So will decide between those two! Appreciate u man thank u!
@@gusdee4844 your welcome. i dont think you need to leave the preamp separate. if you're having a lot of trouble for a temporary fix...until you figure it out...just record direct from your preamp and then apply your other externals later.--its a great pre amp, way better than you will get from most audio interfaces so its worth it. The HA73 doesn't have the send in the back though, so check out their forums about wiring it to a patchbay. When using external gear these days, I record from the preamp to the line in on my apollo--I'm pretty in the box with that stuff. I go through the ISA preamps and then use the apollo software compressors, eqs, etc on the way in. If I need a specific sound, then I turn to my externals to get it.
Awesome video man I’ll have to watch it a couple times to fully grasp it but I’m definitely confident enough to use a couple pieces of hardware like EQs and Comps. 400th Sub woo!!
Thanks for the sub!!! and I know its a lot of information at once. What kid of Eqs and Comps do you have? Were you able to apply any of what I said to your set up?
Good stuff man, I bought a LT 2 bus and decided to also get that same Samson patchbay to connect everything. Let's see how it goes. Keep them coming man!
@@engineersandfriends4799 hey man! little by little getting used to the new setup. I definitely hear a difference with the 2bus LT, can't quite describe it, but it seams more open and defined. The patchbayinto
This is a great video! Appreciate all the detail gone into this must have took a good while! Im taking the plunge and just ordered the same PB (Samson s patch plus). I only have an Avalon 737 as my pre and two compressors. I plan to hook up my guitar pedal board to see what stuff I can do with a synth at some point. And like the idea of the XLR patchbay for the future. Subscribed.
Nice video. So I have a 500 series preamp and want to connect it to a hardware compressor that is not a 500 series. So how do I connect the preamp to the compressor? If anyone know please let me know thanks
Thanks! This was super helpful. I'm hooking up a very smaller studio and using Audient id22 + 880 and I'm trying to blend it with outboard compressors etc.. I think the main problem I'm having is with routing cue mixes inside the Audient in conjunction with Ableton.. we are recording live as a three piece bass, guitar, drums and need decent headphone mixes.. seems like it would be the easiest thing but of course for me it's the hardest... 🤪 Definitely going to implement a patch Bay..
nice explanation! I have been wanting to get a warm audio WA76 and the EQP-WA to use with my Focusrite 18i20... would I need to use a patchbay for this or can I simply hook them up in sequence so that the EQ goes into the Comp and then into the back of the focusrite audio interface and then into my DAW? for EQ, It would be great to go from the mic through the EQ and into the comp before I then post process within my DAW... Thanks in advance
Hey man, looks like nobody answered your question so far, so I'll see if I can help you out. You can't just plug a mic into an EQ or compressor - it needs to hit a preamp first. The purpose of a mic preamp is to take the very low mic level of signal and raise it to line level (a much higher level of signal). If you run through those 2 pieces of outboard gear without hitting a preamp first, it won't work. If you already had an external mic preamp, you wouldn't "need" a patchbay in order to integrate those 2 WA pieces. You would go like this: mic - into mic pre - into WA EQ - into WA comp - to audio interface input (since your Scarlett has its own preamp, you would turn the input gain completely off since you are already at line level coming in). However, if all you plan to use is the mic preamp built into the Scarlett, I think it's safe to say a patchbay will be necessary. After connecting the outputs/inputs of WA gear into the patchbay, as well as the inputs/outputs of your Scarlett, you could run your mic into the patchbay first, hitting the Scarlett's input/mic pre, then route into the inputs of the WA. Finally, take the outputs of the last WA piece and go into another one the Scarlett's inputs. You will need to do this because you used the first input for it's mic pre, and the next input is to get that vocal chain you made back into your DAW. FYI, nearly all patchbays nowadays can pass phantom power through them if you are using a condenser mic. I think the P16 is a useful piece of gear because you connect right into the front of it, have it's outputs hit a second patchbay like the one in this video, and once your're in the main patchbay you can route into everything else. I hope that makes sense. I know it gets a little confusing, so let me know if you still need further clarification.
hiya man, came across your vid looking for answers to my patchy. first time im setting one up and I wanted to patch the headphone out of my interface through a patchbay. but then I read somewhere that an amplified signal like headphones or speakers is not a good thing. I always thought patch bays were just a direct connection but someone mentioned it could blow the patchbay. any advice would be great, thanks man
Great video... one quick Q.. Can I link the focusrite liquid channel ‘digitally’ to an audio interface with SPDIF in/out??? Sorry if this question is weird.. that’s because I have no idea... Thank you 😊
yes, it has the connection as far as I know. I have not tried it, but you can find the user manual online just by googling Focusrite Liquid Channel--that should take you through all the connections. Mine is has always run as an input through my audio interface. good luck!
This video is now a year old but I hope you can answer my question. I've got an 1176LN on the way and it doesn't have the 1/4" outputs on the back, only XLR. Do you think I'll lose any sound quality or character if I use a XLR-to1/4" cable to connect it to a 1/4" patchbay? It's an expensive unit and I'm really torn about losing any tone it might impart to my track. Thanks and good video.
I dont believe you will. Just make sure you are using TRS 1/4 cables. I would suggest getting an XLR to 1/4 TRS and stick with a good brand of cable and you should be ok. I have a few of these and don't really hear any loss of quality. Congrats on the 1176! it makes a heck of a sound!
@@engineersandfriends4799 Yeah I got the 1176LN yesterday. Drove around all night listening to what it did to my bass and guitar tracks. Just wow. Ok I'll stick to high quality cables. Thanks for the reply!
@@hummarstraful always great when hearing your stuff through high end analog equipment. its like hearing your music in a brand new way. congrats on the purchase and keep creating!
Does it make more sense to have an XLR patchbay due to potential Phantom power issues if you have an XLR to TRS out and only have a TRS patchbay? Thanks
Thanks for the reply. Bought a Apollo x8 with a satellite to connect to my Logic x. At present I do not do live recording i just do backing tracks until I am more confident using my setup. Would you think a preamp (6) would be of use for live work or a good quality drum machine for recording (i only do country music)
What kind of preamp? If I'm reading your question correctly, are you asking if 6 preamps would be enough to do live recording with? The Apollo x8 has 4 unison preamps which are great and you can even purchase different preamps for the apollo to run--I happen to like the Neve 1073 and the API vision inserts. If you want to do live recordings, you would at minimum need 4 more pre amps--which would be enough to get indie style sounds from a drum kit and plenty of inputs for all other sources. If you are using a drum machine, you would likely only need two inputs (L and R), unless you are using a more complicated set up. But, with country and the direction its heading, big and organic sounding drum kits are where its at and for that you would really need an additional 8 pre amps (check out the focusrite 828 MKII (pro.focusrite.com/category/mic-pres/item/isa-828-mkii). That would do the trick to add to your X8 (can even go optical like this video talks about) and then you could record basically anything live.
If I have a patchbay with 1/4" plugs, can I plug in a mic using a female XLR (from Mic) to 1/4" cable (into patchbay) if I want to patcth different preamps? Will the 48v damage the 1/4" connection or does it have to be XLR?
My Apollo only has ADAT in, so I can use the preamps from another device to expand my inputs. But what about the extra outputs of the expansion device, can they still be used as outputs going to other gear or will they just remain unused in this situation?
So I own 2 audio interfaces--Presonus Quantum 8in/8out and Apollo Twin X Duo. Are you saying that I can just use my Apollo Twin only and run it out to a patch bay and then hook in any additional analog equipment into the patch bay? I mistakenly thought I needed the larger I/O interface (Presonus) to handle the ins/outs. I'm a newbie to analog hardware so maybe I should return the Presonus if that's the case--unless there's latency going from Apollo Twin out to the patch bay and back.
Thanks for the rig rundown and great explanation on studio / patch-bay setup. I finally added a patch-bay and some outboard gear to my studio and could really use some help. Super rusty. I'd like to use the 4 XLR mic pre's on the Apollo x8 but seems at some point you have to have XLR to TRS in order for any of that to happen, or get an XLR patch-bay and do what you did. So, here's my gear; any help would be great. Instead of trying to run a mic to the S patch (output), maybe just get the outboard gear into patch-bay and run mics right to mic pre's? You were running multiple interfaces and using optical etc..mine is much more simple, but I'm still stumped. haha!! Also, I have a nice Roland Juno to run into patch-bay but need to figure out the main gear first. I'd be happy to shoot over spreadsheet, but wanted to check with ya first. Might not be necessary. Apollo X8 (thunderbolt) Sampson S patch La-610 WA273-EQ Mackie headphone amp, but that's not important. Mainly the guts of studio above.
Hi thank you for your vidéo ! great explanation & great studio ! I actually have a question ! I'm looking to buy some analog compressors,pre amps & more, but I have a mixer / audio interface presonus ar8c without inserts on channels and with only one "fx" and one "aux", so the question is do you know how I can wire all the analog on this kind of mixer ? if yes how ? if not ! is there some splitters to have more "aux" or add "inserts" on channels?? Or do i got to change mixer ? thank you ! PS: I got an Icon M+ for mixing and it's really awesome !
Thanks for commenting and glad you got the Icon, such a great midi controller to use for mixing! As far as your mixer, thats really hard to tell without seeing it. Have you researched how to do this on any gear forums? That would be a great place to start. If you are striking out, let me know and we can connect about figuring this out.
Thanks for the question! Those I actually made--I'll probably do a video on that sometime soon. But basically, I just made a rectangle with 1X2 pieces of wood, put good sound absorption insulation (nothing crazy, got it at home depot) inside of the frame and then wrapped burlap around it to hold it in place. The three stripes of purple I did using painting tape and acrylic paint (I just googled good paint to use for burlap) and that was it. Each panel cost me roughly 20 bucks to make--and completely do the job. I measured the room before and after using my IK Media Arc 2 system and what a difference! Hope this helps!
@@engineersandfriends4799 oh wow thats cool! Im in the process of acoustic treating one of my room and this info will definitely help! Thanks for your reply and for the great videos!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
I just used all my Apollo 8 Quad as hardware inserts and just kept mic input 1 from the XLR to TRS patchy. All my gear are patched into the patch bay and just patch when I need to send it to the Apollo. Sell me your Liquid Channel? Also don't you get loops when you stacked them top out bottom in? Normal or Halfnormal?
I dont run into feedback loops with the set up I described here. The liquid is great, not getting mine though lol, go on reverb...they are under a grand. the samson can switch between normal and half normal and through
Awesome video! Very Informative Is there any way possible for me to send you a diagram of my setup, and let me know what Im doing wrong.....we have a lot of the same gear?
Hey man, I'm really interested in how you got this outboard gear into the mix. You're probably using it for both tracking and daw inserts. Do you just do it like this: Mic -> XLR Patch bay -> Preamp -> Audio Interface IN -> DAW IN -> DAW OUT -> Audio Interface OUT and/or ADAT connected outs (These outs are are connected to your Samson TRS patchbay) -> Samson Patchbay -> Compressor IN -> Compressor Out -> Samson Patch bay -> XLR Patchbay -> Yet another Preamp -> Audio Interface IN -> DAW. That seems really hideous.
It seems that way, but its really not. Basically all the patch bay does is give you the ins and outs of whatever outboard gear you are using. Everything is wired basically as you said into the interface, then I have two outs which run into my patchbay. I then take that out signal and patch it into whichever piece of gear I have wired to my patchbay--then patch it right back into the ins of my apollo and record it almost like I'm tracking an instrument. If I want to use outboard during tracking, I have two of my ISA preamps wired directly into the patchbay, so I would take signal from them, route it to whatever equipment, then route it into my ins on the apollo. Hope this helps!
One question I’ve always had about patch bays, is if you’re normalling the input/output of a piece of gear to a specific destination, how is it that you’re simply able to just patch it over to a new destination if there’s no line running directly there?
Great question Joel! On the back of the patch bay, each outboard has its input and output connected via 1/4 inch TRS cables. So, just think of its designated place on the patch bay as its in and out. You would plug your signal into that input, take it back out the output and route it to wherever you want it to go next, either to another piece of gear, or back into your audio interface. A patch bay basically just puts every units ins and outs in one spot and lets you access them quickly. Hope this helps!
Greetings, Amazing video, but I am lost on one aspect. You take your mics -> preamp -> Apollo. This completely by passes all you analog gear. Part of the beauty of analog is being able to hit it prior to going into the box. Why didn't you run mic -> preamp -> patchbay -> uad? That would allow you to patch in any of the outboard gear to create a vocal chain prior to getting in the box, creating an amazing sound coming in prior to mix. It would be less work on the vocals on the back end.
you're absolutely right. and my xlr patch bay is what takes that mic signal direct to my analog preamps, which can be routed via the samson patchbay to any compressor or eq i'd like. there are only two outputs to the apollo on the patchbay, and they are used to take that signal into the apollo, which can deliver it to the computer. Even with that, work on the back end is still required and the less processing coming in gives you more options on the back end--software has come such a long way that this approach is incredibly effective. thanks for commenting
I am a ** year old gent who has put a studio together in my bedroom. Could you please help me with some info on how to set up my gear I live in Scotland and wonder if that would pose a problem with communication.
Sure, please let me know what you need help with. this is a great forum to not only get information for your studio, but others can chime in with their set ups and experience so we can all learn and solve our studio set up problems! What would you like to know?
outs and ins dont make a difference as long as they are available. i know that my ins are one and two. I'm using other things for outs for 1 and 2, so three and four were the next logical choice. As long as you know what is what and have it written down, you are ok. at the end of the day, its whatever works for you! thanks for watching and commenting!
Yes those preamps discussed in the video are the Focusrite ISA 110s and are amazing in sound. There are some haters out there with them, but if you can't get a good sound out of those mic pre's there's probably something else going on like mic placement or not a great performance from the source itself. I highly recommend them for the home studio!
Thanks for commenting David! That depends on your set up, how many drums, etc. For a traditional 4 piece drum set (1 rack, 1 floor, 1 snare, 1 bass drum), I go with 2 kick mics (in and out), 2 tom mics (1 each), 2 snare mics (top, bottom) 2 overheads and 2 rooms. Thats ten mics, which would need ten pre amps. compressors you don't really need any, as that all can be done using stock software plugins from your DAW. Hope this helps!
I'm limited by 1 thunderbolt daisy chain Apollo to Apollo satellite, then limited by usb Eleven rack guitar processor, pro tools usb dongle two usb hard drives playback for cpu crash relief full memory bays maxed.I have a small 8 channel board not even hooked in I don't use no usb's left. Apollo 8P w/no spdif no digital in/o, no digital abs no 1/4" stereo send no stereo return, no aex in/out; light wire but guitar processor has no light wire. I don't want to run the Apollo thunderbolt thru the elevenrack usb 2.0 into protools just crashes. How do I run the elevenrack as a processor only thru the Apollo thunderbolt. Do I run them both thru the small 8 channel usb board? Guitar processor does nothing in Send or Return to Apollo inputs 3/4. Out LR 1/2 in processor LR Snd/Rtn, out S/R in/o 3/4 in Apollo., 3/4 no signal on Apollo 3/4. I want the processor to run as a parallel effects mixer in 3/4 processor not a serial processor chain. Is the hardware processors send and return just for direct output analog?
A way to explain it better is to say something like from your preamp your gonna plug your microphone into the mic input then from the line output on the preamp goes into the input on the compressor then from the compressor output goes into the EQ input and from the EQ output goes into the audio interface input and explain what inputs and outputs your pluging them into so if you plug it into input 1 then say input 1 or if your pluging a cable into output 3 then say output 3 And one more tip if you took all your gear out of the rack maybe show how to put it together outside of the rack like show plugging the wires in and show where everything goes before putting it back in the rack so people no what to do It kinda just felt like you where jumping all over the places explaining things I’m not trying to tell you how to do things I’m just giving you some advice on how to explain it easier to people So I hope you understand I’m not trying to tell you how to do things
Why have Americans changed the way "ROUTE" is said? For years it was pronouced "R-OO-T" noe ALLAmericans pronouce it "R-OW-T." A lot of us Brits hate the way Americans ruin English. We have a massive problem with the amount of U.S. shows we have in the UK and our children have problems in their 'English' lessons.
@@ralphashford9022 Football has many forms. There is association football which is the most played team sport in the world. It is also known as soccer. The governing body is known as 'Federation Internationale de Football Association.' The rest of sports called 'football' are played with an oblong shaped ball. Rugby football has two codes, league which is played bt two teams of 13 and union played with two teams of 15. There is Australian Rules football. Then there is Canadian football and American football.
Thank you, it’s very well shot, it’s so clearly and clearly shown in a good example - parsing-collecting ..
Thanks very much for the comment! Hope you are staying safe out there!
all i knew was mic preamp compressor and interface this is like a whole nother level lol good job im learnin keep em comin!
awesome glad you like!
Love this video! Thanks for sharing. Yours is one of the rare videos that actually goes into depth the BACK of the patchbays. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I pressed the like button at the One Direction joke 😂
hahaha thanks....
Have a question on the Samson PB. Ive linked my Apollo8 up with the Samson PB exactly as the diagram posted round 11.00. Also connected my 76 as shown. When I turn on my Apollo8 the meters go to red and I have to switch off. Didn't switch the 76 on. Used all balanced cables. Is there a reason it might do this? Thank you for any help or advice you could give.
What configuration do you have your patchbay set up for? Normal, half-normal or thru? The Apollo ins and outs should not be connected to one another with the normal or half-normal configuration. It would be the same as running a cable from the output of the Apollo directly to the input of the Apollo. You would get feedback! You want the ins and outs to be set up in the Thru configuration for that group of ins and outs. You would simply be using the patchbay to make it physically easier to access the ins and outs of the Apollo in this example. In other words - you would not have to climb all over your gear to gain access to the ins and outs of that unit - especially if it is installed in a rack or something similar.
nolarocks is right--check what your settings are on the patch bay, make sure its set to Thru for how I'm using it!
You are awesome and love your sense of humor
I have that same desk! How'd you do the extra rack space to either side of the top front clusters?
I just built those out of wood, and removed some of the top piece where the speakers would normally sit to make room. much easier to see your gear this way than to have it down below
I watch this video a few times and love your set up, I am setting up my studio so thanks for the great information
Glad it was helpful! Hope the studio came together nicely!
I’ve been looking for this for weeks. Saved me. New sub!
Thanks for the sub!
Love the video have some of the same gear and the golden kitty!! Having a problem with finding how you set up your warm audio gear in the software of the Apollo interface. I know the INS and outs but I have to mute stereo inserts to hear them, so it's not doubled and also unmute the mono inputs to hear my mono gear 😢 how do I fix this? Using Pro tools 12 and a quad firewire also any help would be appreciated. Searched every where for the video
Awesome setup! My next piece of gear is gonna be the WA-2A…I have a couple of the WA-76 comps and they sound great!!
Sounds great!
excellent video.. I want to ask what cables are used to connect the 2 units that I see warm audio wa-76 and wa-2a until it reaches the sound card together with the patch bay? balanced stereo or unbalanced mono?
balanced
Great video man!
Question, I’m in the middle of reorganizing my studio as well.
If you had to have a summing mixer in between your Apollo and your patchbay, how would you go about connecting everything? This is my scenario and is driving me crazy
I know is a heavy question,
yeah thats a tough one, I'd have to really see it to figure that out with you. I'd suggest just see if someone has posted about this already, maybe its buried in a forum some place. god luck!
Who makes your colorful patch cables? Who’re they by?
thank you very much for this video !! the best about patchbays on youtube !!
thanks really appreciate you checking it out!
I only use my preamp and one mic for my vocal chain. Would I be able to connect the preamp to a 1/4 inch patchbay or no? Im catching on how to use the patchbay finally but the preamp thing keeps coming up. How u shouldnt plug anything with phantom power into the patchbay because it could blow up lol. I want to have my preamp setup to connect to my compressors while also using the compressors for printing later on, just not sure if im going to be able to use the 1/4 inch trs on the preamp directly into the patchbay. Or would I have to buy a whole other xlr patchbay just for my one mic/preamp?! Thanks lol
what kind of pre amp do you have? there should be an insert or send quarter inch input that you could hook to you patch bay. I did that for a long time--hooking my isa110s into my samson patchbay and then routing that signal (with phantom power) to a Wa2a or Wa76. its definitely possible. all about what the capabilities of your pre amp are.
@@engineersandfriends4799 currently have the heritage audio ha73 but my bae 1073 comes tomorrow. YES tho, thats how I route my vocal chain (1/4 inch) into my compressors then to my interface. Im interested in the TRS patchbay instead of the XLR, but I keep seeing how preamps and patchbays shouldnt be connected because of the phantom power. So connecting my insert directly into the TRS patchbay will be fine and wont blow it up? Lol. Idk why I keep reading about plugging the mic directly into an XLR patchbay. Maybe its for multiple mics idk. Patchbays are like another language to me I swear lol
@@gusdee4844 I used the send on my ISA Two to go through my patch bay (not xlr patchbay) and i never had an issue. I can't speak for other patch bays, but i think as long as you are routing it from the send. you would be fine. Keep doing research on this though! Every patchbay is most likely different! I cant say enough about the samson S patch that you see in this video. these things are quite annoying when you first are starting to work with them. dont get frustrated and keep at it until you figure out your set up. the workflow is incredible after that.
@@engineersandfriends4799 hmm yeah im researching more but would suck if I need to leave my preamp seperate and not patched which would kind of defeat the purpose for my vocal chain. I did see the samson at first but then sweetwater recommended the art pro trs. So will decide between those two! Appreciate u man thank u!
@@gusdee4844 your welcome. i dont think you need to leave the preamp separate. if you're having a lot of trouble for a temporary fix...until you figure it out...just record direct from your preamp and then apply your other externals later.--its a great pre amp, way better than you will get from most audio interfaces so its worth it. The HA73 doesn't have the send in the back though, so check out their forums about wiring it to a patchbay. When using external gear these days, I record from the preamp to the line in on my apollo--I'm pretty in the box with that stuff. I go through the ISA preamps and then use the apollo software compressors, eqs, etc on the way in. If I need a specific sound, then I turn to my externals to get it.
Awesome video man I’ll have to watch it a couple times to fully grasp it but I’m definitely confident enough to use a couple pieces of hardware like EQs and Comps. 400th Sub woo!!
Thanks for the sub!!! and I know its a lot of information at once. What kid of Eqs and Comps do you have? Were you able to apply any of what I said to your set up?
@@engineersandfriends4799 I haven’t got any outboard gear yet I just use the stock eqs and comps in Logic Pro X.
Just seeing it makes a huge difference! Thanks!
Good stuff man, I bought a LT 2 bus and decided to also get that same Samson patchbay to connect everything. Let's see how it goes. Keep them coming man!
how are you liking it?
@@engineersandfriends4799 hey man! little by little getting used to the new setup. I definitely hear a difference with the 2bus LT, can't quite describe it, but it seams more open and defined. The patchbayinto
This is a great video! Appreciate all the detail gone into this must have took a good while! Im taking the plunge and just ordered the same PB (Samson s patch plus). I only have an Avalon 737 as my pre and two compressors. I plan to hook up my guitar pedal board to see what stuff I can do with a synth at some point. And like the idea of the XLR patchbay for the future. Subscribed.
Nice video. So I have a 500 series preamp and want to connect it to a hardware compressor that is not a 500 series. So how do I connect the preamp to the compressor? If anyone know please let me know thanks
Thanks! This was super helpful.
I'm hooking up a very smaller studio and using Audient id22 + 880 and I'm trying to blend it with outboard compressors etc..
I think the main problem I'm having is with routing cue mixes inside the Audient in conjunction with Ableton.. we are recording live as a three piece bass, guitar, drums and need decent headphone mixes.. seems like it would be the easiest thing but of course for me it's the hardest... 🤪
Definitely going to implement a patch Bay..
nice explanation!
I have been wanting to get a warm audio WA76 and the EQP-WA to use with my Focusrite 18i20... would I need to use a patchbay for this or can I simply hook them up in sequence so that the EQ goes into the Comp and then into the back of the focusrite audio interface and then into my DAW?
for EQ, It would be great to go from the mic through the EQ and into the comp before I then post process within my DAW...
Thanks in advance
Hey man, looks like nobody answered your question so far, so I'll see if I can help you out. You can't just plug a mic into an EQ or compressor - it needs to hit a preamp first. The purpose of a mic preamp is to take the very low mic level of signal and raise it to line level (a much higher level of signal). If you run through those 2 pieces of outboard gear without hitting a preamp first, it won't work.
If you already had an external mic preamp, you wouldn't "need" a patchbay in order to integrate those 2 WA pieces. You would go like this: mic - into mic pre - into WA EQ - into WA comp - to audio interface input (since your Scarlett has its own preamp, you would turn the input gain completely off since you are already at line level coming in). However, if all you plan to use is the mic preamp built into the Scarlett, I think it's safe to say a patchbay will be necessary. After connecting the outputs/inputs of WA gear into the patchbay, as well as the inputs/outputs of your Scarlett, you could run your mic into the patchbay first, hitting the Scarlett's input/mic pre, then route into the inputs of the WA. Finally, take the outputs of the last WA piece and go into another one the Scarlett's inputs. You will need to do this because you used the first input for it's mic pre, and the next input is to get that vocal chain you made back into your DAW. FYI, nearly all patchbays nowadays can pass phantom power through them if you are using a condenser mic. I think the P16 is a useful piece of gear because you connect right into the front of it, have it's outputs hit a second patchbay like the one in this video, and once your're in the main patchbay you can route into everything else.
I hope that makes sense. I know it gets a little confusing, so let me know if you still need further clarification.
thanks so much for this video- Quick Question- how do you have the patchbay set up - Normal? Half-Normal? or Thru?
I have it set to Thru
hiya man, came across your vid looking for answers to my patchy. first time im setting one up and I wanted to patch the headphone out of my interface through a patchbay. but then I read somewhere that an amplified signal like headphones or speakers is not a good thing. I always thought patch bays were just a direct connection but someone mentioned it could blow the patchbay. any advice would be great, thanks man
Great video... one quick Q.. Can I link the focusrite liquid channel ‘digitally’ to an audio interface with SPDIF in/out??? Sorry if this question is weird.. that’s because I have no idea... Thank you 😊
yes, it has the connection as far as I know. I have not tried it, but you can find the user manual online just by googling Focusrite Liquid Channel--that should take you through all the connections. Mine is has always run as an input through my audio interface. good luck!
This video is now a year old but I hope you can answer my question. I've got an 1176LN on the way and it doesn't have the 1/4" outputs on the back, only XLR. Do you think I'll lose any sound quality or character if I use a XLR-to1/4" cable to connect it to a 1/4" patchbay? It's an expensive unit and I'm really torn about losing any tone it might impart to my track. Thanks and good video.
I dont believe you will. Just make sure you are using TRS 1/4 cables. I would suggest getting an XLR to 1/4 TRS and stick with a good brand of cable and you should be ok. I have a few of these and don't really hear any loss of quality. Congrats on the 1176! it makes a heck of a sound!
@@engineersandfriends4799 Yeah I got the 1176LN yesterday. Drove around all night listening to what it did to my bass and guitar tracks. Just wow. Ok I'll stick to high quality cables. Thanks for the reply!
@@hummarstraful always great when hearing your stuff through high end analog equipment. its like hearing your music in a brand new way. congrats on the purchase and keep creating!
Does it make more sense to have an XLR patchbay due to potential Phantom power issues if you have an XLR to TRS out and only have a TRS patchbay? Thanks
Thanks for the reply. Bought a Apollo x8 with a satellite to connect to my Logic x. At present I do not do live recording i just do backing tracks until I am more confident using my setup. Would you think a preamp (6) would be of use for live work or a good quality drum machine for recording (i only do country music)
What kind of preamp? If I'm reading your question correctly, are you asking if 6 preamps would be enough to do live recording with? The Apollo x8 has 4 unison preamps which are great and you can even purchase different preamps for the apollo to run--I happen to like the Neve 1073 and the API vision inserts. If you want to do live recordings, you would at minimum need 4 more pre amps--which would be enough to get indie style sounds from a drum kit and plenty of inputs for all other sources. If you are using a drum machine, you would likely only need two inputs (L and R), unless you are using a more complicated set up. But, with country and the direction its heading, big and organic sounding drum kits are where its at and for that you would really need an additional 8 pre amps (check out the focusrite 828 MKII (pro.focusrite.com/category/mic-pres/item/isa-828-mkii). That would do the trick to add to your X8 (can even go optical like this video talks about) and then you could record basically anything live.
@@engineersandfriends4799 Thanks my friend will be checking it out ASAP
If I have a patchbay with 1/4" plugs, can I plug in a mic using a female XLR (from Mic) to 1/4" cable (into patchbay) if I want to patcth different preamps? Will the 48v damage the 1/4" connection or does it have to be XLR?
I'm not sure on this one, keep researching!
My Apollo only has ADAT in, so I can use the preamps from another device to expand my inputs. But what about the extra outputs of the expansion device, can they still be used as outputs going to other gear or will they just remain unused in this situation?
Hey great video! For your coloured XLR cables, which brand are you using? Thanks!
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S9IAZA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
So I own 2 audio interfaces--Presonus Quantum 8in/8out and Apollo Twin X Duo. Are you saying that I can just use my Apollo Twin only and run it out to a patch bay and then hook in any additional analog equipment into the patch bay? I mistakenly thought I needed the larger I/O interface (Presonus) to handle the ins/outs. I'm a newbie to analog hardware so maybe I should return the Presonus if that's the case--unless there's latency going from Apollo Twin out to the patch bay and back.
Thanks for the rig rundown and great explanation on studio / patch-bay setup. I finally added a patch-bay and some outboard gear to my studio and could really use some help. Super rusty. I'd like to use the 4 XLR mic pre's on the Apollo x8 but seems at some point you have to have XLR to TRS in order for any of that to happen, or get an XLR patch-bay and do what you did. So, here's my gear; any help would be great. Instead of trying to run a mic to the S patch (output), maybe just get the outboard gear into patch-bay and run mics right to mic pre's? You were running multiple interfaces and using optical etc..mine is much more simple, but I'm still stumped. haha!! Also, I have a nice Roland Juno to run into patch-bay but need to figure out the main gear first. I'd be happy to shoot over spreadsheet, but wanted to check with ya first. Might not be necessary.
Apollo X8 (thunderbolt)
Sampson S patch
La-610
WA273-EQ
Mackie headphone amp, but that's not important. Mainly the guts of studio above.
Hi thank you for your vidéo ! great explanation & great studio ! I actually have a question ! I'm looking to buy some analog compressors,pre amps & more, but I have a mixer / audio interface presonus ar8c without inserts on channels and with only one "fx" and one "aux", so the question is do you know how I can wire all the analog on this kind of mixer ? if yes how ? if not ! is there some splitters to have more "aux" or add "inserts" on channels?? Or do i got to change mixer ? thank you ! PS: I got an Icon M+ for mixing and it's really awesome !
Thanks for commenting and glad you got the Icon, such a great midi controller to use for mixing! As far as your mixer, thats really hard to tell without seeing it. Have you researched how to do this on any gear forums? That would be a great place to start. If you are striking out, let me know and we can connect about figuring this out.
Hi I was wondering about the acoustic drapes you had hanging on your walls. Where could I buy them?
Thanks for the question! Those I actually made--I'll probably do a video on that sometime soon. But basically, I just made a rectangle with 1X2 pieces of wood, put good sound absorption insulation (nothing crazy, got it at home depot) inside of the frame and then wrapped burlap around it to hold it in place. The three stripes of purple I did using painting tape and acrylic paint (I just googled good paint to use for burlap) and that was it. Each panel cost me roughly 20 bucks to make--and completely do the job. I measured the room before and after using my IK Media Arc 2 system and what a difference! Hope this helps!
@@engineersandfriends4799 oh wow thats cool! Im in the process of acoustic treating one of my room and this info will definitely help! Thanks for your reply and for the great videos!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
This helped so much!
great! glad to be of help!
I just used all my Apollo 8 Quad as hardware inserts and just kept mic input 1 from the XLR to TRS patchy. All my gear are patched into the patch bay and just patch when I need to send it to the Apollo. Sell me your Liquid Channel? Also don't you get loops when you stacked them top out bottom in? Normal or Halfnormal?
I dont run into feedback loops with the set up I described here. The liquid is great, not getting mine though lol, go on reverb...they are under a grand. the samson can switch between normal and half normal and through
Awesome video! Very Informative
Is there any way possible for me to send you a diagram of my setup, and let me know what Im doing wrong.....we have a lot of the same gear?
absolutely, hmu at mike.therecordingengineer@gmail.com and I'll take a look.
Blessings to you ❤💛💚
Is really preamp required with a audio interface or I can use only audio interface.
you can use your audio interface directly -- depending on your interface preamps results will vary--most modern stuff is pretty good though
Hey man, I'm really interested in how you got this outboard gear into the mix. You're probably using it for both tracking and daw inserts. Do you just do it like this:
Mic -> XLR Patch bay -> Preamp -> Audio Interface IN -> DAW IN -> DAW OUT -> Audio Interface OUT and/or ADAT connected outs (These outs are are connected to your Samson TRS patchbay) -> Samson Patchbay -> Compressor IN -> Compressor Out -> Samson Patch bay -> XLR Patchbay -> Yet another Preamp -> Audio Interface IN -> DAW.
That seems really hideous.
It seems that way, but its really not. Basically all the patch bay does is give you the ins and outs of whatever outboard gear you are using. Everything is wired basically as you said into the interface, then I have two outs which run into my patchbay. I then take that out signal and patch it into whichever piece of gear I have wired to my patchbay--then patch it right back into the ins of my apollo and record it almost like I'm tracking an instrument. If I want to use outboard during tracking, I have two of my ISA preamps wired directly into the patchbay, so I would take signal from them, route it to whatever equipment, then route it into my ins on the apollo. Hope this helps!
One question I’ve always had about patch bays, is if you’re normalling the input/output of a piece of gear to a specific destination, how is it that you’re simply able to just patch it over to a new destination if there’s no line running directly there?
Great question Joel! On the back of the patch bay, each outboard has its input and output connected via 1/4 inch TRS cables. So, just think of its designated place on the patch bay as its in and out. You would plug your signal into that input, take it back out the output and route it to wherever you want it to go next, either to another piece of gear, or back into your audio interface. A patch bay basically just puts every units ins and outs in one spot and lets you access them quickly. Hope this helps!
Greetings,
Amazing video, but I am lost on one aspect. You take your mics -> preamp -> Apollo. This completely by passes all you analog gear. Part of the beauty of analog is being able to hit it prior to going into the box. Why didn't you run mic -> preamp -> patchbay -> uad? That would allow you to patch in any of the outboard gear to create a vocal chain prior to getting in the box, creating an amazing sound coming in prior to mix. It would be less work on the vocals on the back end.
you're absolutely right. and my xlr patch bay is what takes that mic signal direct to my analog preamps, which can be routed via the samson patchbay to any compressor or eq i'd like. there are only two outputs to the apollo on the patchbay, and they are used to take that signal into the apollo, which can deliver it to the computer. Even with that, work on the back end is still required and the less processing coming in gives you more options on the back end--software has come such a long way that this approach is incredibly effective. thanks for commenting
I am a ** year old gent who has put a studio together in my bedroom. Could you please help me with some info on how to set up my gear I live in Scotland and wonder if that would pose a problem with communication.
Sure, please let me know what you need help with. this is a great forum to not only get information for your studio, but others can chime in with their set ups and experience so we can all learn and solve our studio set up problems! What would you like to know?
So confusing you plugged in Apollo line 1-2 in the bottom and Apollo 3-4 on top . Should it not be Apollo 1-2 top and Apollo 1-2 bottom ? Thanks
outs and ins dont make a difference as long as they are available. i know that my ins are one and two. I'm using other things for outs for 1 and 2, so three and four were the next logical choice. As long as you know what is what and have it written down, you are ok. at the end of the day, its whatever works for you! thanks for watching and commenting!
Really nice set up man. Wow. Any preamp? That's pretty cool.
Yes those preamps discussed in the video are the Focusrite ISA 110s and are amazing in sound. There are some haters out there with them, but if you can't get a good sound out of those mic pre's there's probably something else going on like mic placement or not a great performance from the source itself. I highly recommend them for the home studio!
thank you very much
if you're recording drums, how many preamps compressors do you need? great vid btw!
Thanks for commenting David! That depends on your set up, how many drums, etc. For a traditional 4 piece drum set (1 rack, 1 floor, 1 snare, 1 bass drum), I go with 2 kick mics (in and out), 2 tom mics (1 each), 2 snare mics (top, bottom) 2 overheads and 2 rooms. Thats ten mics, which would need ten pre amps. compressors you don't really need any, as that all can be done using stock software plugins from your DAW. Hope this helps!
I'm limited by 1 thunderbolt daisy chain Apollo to Apollo satellite, then limited by usb Eleven rack guitar processor, pro tools usb dongle two usb hard drives playback for cpu crash relief full memory bays maxed.I have a small 8 channel board not even hooked in I don't use no usb's left. Apollo 8P w/no spdif no digital in/o, no digital abs no 1/4" stereo send no stereo return, no aex in/out; light wire but guitar processor has no light wire. I don't want to run the Apollo thunderbolt thru the elevenrack usb 2.0 into protools just crashes. How do I run the elevenrack as a processor only thru the Apollo thunderbolt. Do I run them both thru the small 8 channel usb board? Guitar processor does nothing in Send or Return to Apollo inputs 3/4. Out LR 1/2 in processor LR Snd/Rtn, out S/R in/o 3/4 in Apollo., 3/4 no signal on Apollo 3/4. I want the processor to run as a parallel effects mixer in 3/4 processor not a serial processor chain. Is the hardware processors send and return just for direct output analog?
Bass players and drummers are the heart of music! WTF.
hahaha yep. I'm a drummer....just a lame attempt at humor...
🙏
A way to explain it better is to say something like from your preamp your gonna plug your microphone into the mic input then from the line output on the preamp goes into the input on the compressor then from the compressor output goes into the EQ input and from the EQ output goes into the audio interface input and explain what inputs and outputs your pluging them into so if you plug it into input 1 then say input 1 or if your pluging a cable into output 3 then say output 3
And one more tip if you took all your gear out of the rack maybe show how to put it together outside of the rack like show plugging the wires in and show where everything goes before putting it back in the rack so people no what to do
It kinda just felt like you where jumping all over the places explaining things
I’m not trying to tell you how to do things I’m just giving you some advice on how to explain it easier to people
So I hope you understand I’m not trying to tell you how to do things
Why have Americans changed the way "ROUTE" is said? For years it was pronouced "R-OO-T" noe ALLAmericans pronouce it "R-OW-T." A lot of us Brits hate the way Americans ruin English. We have a massive problem with the amount of U.S. shows we have in the UK and our children have problems in their 'English' lessons.
Did you want to argue that football is actually soccer while we're here?
@@ralphashford9022 Football has many forms. There is association football which is the most played team sport in the world. It is also known as soccer. The governing body is known as 'Federation Internationale de Football Association.' The rest of sports called 'football' are played with an oblong shaped ball. Rugby football has two codes, league which is played bt two teams of 13 and union played with two teams of 15. There is Australian Rules football. Then there is Canadian football and American football.