Shot wrote on Tue, 05 July 2005 18:20 |
What is your experience?
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Just my opinion, but you can never have enough cables from here to there, and there, and there...
A lot of dependencies here.
In my situation, I have 52 lines showing up on two different wall plates in the tracking room. They are all XLR, each plate has eight returns (or male XLR connectors) for headphones and other foldback requirements (studio monitors, P.A., re-amps, etc.).
This number is because of the size of the room (1,000 square feet) and the potential for an entire group to track in there simultaneously - live. This includes 16-20 piece jazz bands, as well a four or five piece rock bands.
I over spec'ed the requirements because I have freelancers whose requirements I cannot predict. If your room is for your own use exclusively, you may not need to be as thorough.
We also do a significant amount of A/B comparison and experimentation, so extra lines are a bonus. If someone shows up with a full kit, triggers and other electronic gizmos, we are ready. Room mics, in stereo, throughout the place? -- no problem.
Our iso has 12 lines.
Can you do a drum kit justice with merely 12 lines? Sure. Some feel three or four is enough.
I'd look at how many inputs CAN you support (how many pres or channels on your console)? How many outputs CAN you provide? and then add four more channels for expansion or redundancy -- connectors do fail over time, they are easy enough to repair, but "on session" is not the best time to pull out the soldering iron.
If the room is for your own private use, some of this may be overkill. But if you are bringing in clients from outside, you'll want to be able to facilitate whatever they may require.
More is more in this regard.
YMMV,
Fig