How to Use a Patchbay for Recording

Recording music can be an intricate process. With all the instruments, effects processors, microphones and other studio equipment, you'll probably wind up tripping over cables at some point. You can alleviate the clutter by using a patchbay. This device lets you plug all your equipment in neatly and route signals between mixers and multi-track recorders.

Instructions

1. Learn how a patchbay works. A compact unit that fits on a rack mount, a patchbay contains two rows of cable jacks on the front and back of the unit. Each row on a patchbay consists of 24 jacks. You plug in your instruments in outputs and inputs in the back of the unit, then route them to the front of the unit with shorter cables to send the signals where you need them when recording.

2. Use a normaled connection. When you plug in all your cables to the back of the patchbay and leave the front jacks open, the instrument or effect you've connected automatically reverts to your mixer through the auxiliary jack.

3. Maintain a half-normaled connection. This means that you can break the connection between the jacks on the bottom row of the back of the unit by connecting a cable into the bottom row on the front of the unit. This allows you to direct the signal any way you wish.

4. Try a denormaled approach. In this mode, the patch points remain parallel, in other words, the inputs on the back travel directly to the corresponding front connections.

5. Look at patch bay options. You can choose a patchbay that has between 32 and 48 units. Some units need soldering, though most can be used right out of the box. If you need to switch between normaled and halfnormaled connections, check the PC card that comes with the unit. Most units will allow you to change between normaled, halfnormaled and denormaled connections.

Tips & Warnings

• A patchbay with TT (tiny telephone) jacks allows you to connect more cables when recording.