Lesson 5 - Patch Bay and Signal Flow - Posted on 2013-10-03 by Natasha Turner

Hello, the other day Pierce and I discussed Lesson 5, Patch Bay and Signal Flow.

Joining hardware or sodtware within the console or virtual console, signal procressing is accomplished through the use of a patch bay.

The patch bay may also be used to insert a signal to several other sources, such as the effects processor or compressor.

Furthermore, the studio patch bay can be configured in four ways.

a) open - no plug ins are inserted, independant of the other.

b) half normaled - no plugs are inserted, each I/O connection entering the panel is electrically connected.

c) normaled - no plug ins inserted, each I/O connection entering the panel is electrically connected, (with input routing to the output).

d) parallel - connection entering the panel is electrically connected.

Also, to hook up a commercial studio in a multi-room facility, a normalled patch bay is used.

To continue, the balanced plug has three components: ground (common), cold (pin 1 xLr), hot (tip ring sleeve).

To conclude, we spoke about what the difference between a balanced versus an unbalanced audio input/jack; in an unbalanced circuit, a single lead carries a positive current potential to a device, while a second, grounded shield (which is tied to the chasis ground) is used to complete the circuits return path. In a balanced circuit, two of the wires are used to carry the signal voltage, while a third lead is used as a neutral ground wire. A balanced cable can be really long but an unbalanced is limited to 25 feet.

At last, we went over the types of microphones; dynamic microphone/moving coil, dynamic microphone/ ribbon microphone, condensor microphone, electric condensor, carbon microphone, and crystal microphone.

Cheers,

Tash