General view of studio desk end, with Yamaha DM1000 console shelf pulled out.
For anyone interested in seeing more details of SOS Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns' home studio workspace, Hugh's kindly supplied lots of extra photos and information that we were unable to publish in the print magazine. Enjoy!
- You'll find the main Studio SOS: Making A Small Room Sound Good article here:
- www.soundonsound.com/techniques/studio-sos-making-small-room-sound-good
Above: Close up of (bay 4) rack under Yamaha mixing console shelf containing console patchbay, MOTU MIDI Express 128 interface, Coleman 6-channel A/B switcher, and Quad amp (which will power surround speakers when I get around to installing them). The patchbay is mostly concerned with the console I/O and the Coleman A/B switcher.
Rack bays 1, 2 and 3; computer hung under desk and my bass guitar. The middle bay (2) is mostly patchbays, with the Crookwood mastering console electronics at the bottom. My Nagra VI recorder was dumped on the top, alongside an old Linn Axis turntable. The right hand bay (3) contains the digital master clocking and tape machine interfacing.
Close-up of the clocking system.
Close up of the clocking arrangements comprising a Drawmer M-Clock and an Aardvark Ardsync II, with a dedicated BNC patchbay.
View of bay 3 and the Studer A807 reel-to-reel on a trolley. In the base of bay 3 is a DAB radio tuner.
Left: Detail of the base of bay 3. I use the old Apogee PSX1000 (purple panel) to digitise the tape recorders when necessary, and the SSL X‑Patch below it handles all the signal routing for the tape machines and two Dolby units.
Right: Another view of bay 1 which contains mic preamps, effects units and CD machines, with a Z‑Sys digital router and API Lunchbox at the top within easy reach.
(Above) The Cloud, complete with coloured mood uplighting and LED downlighters.
(Above) Crookwood Mastering Console controller. The left panel controls the levels in and out of the insert chain, as well as the MS matrix. The middle panel handles monitor and transfer source selections, and selects and orders the analogue and digital inserts. The right panel is the monitoring controller.
(Above) The left-hand side of the desk. DK Technologies meter above a traditional BBC-style dual twin-PPM. The desk racking holds a patch panel for easy connection of temporary SOS review gear, and below that is a mains switcher which powers just the bits of the studio I require at any time.
(Above) The right-hand side of the desk carries my beloved Drawmer Masterflow digital mastering processor and a Lexicon PCM digital reverb. Separate telephones for business and home line.
(Above) Bay 2 patchbay detail. I have dedicated breakout panels for both analogue and digital AES59 connections (the D‑sub ends are on flying cables I can easily plug into review gear). The TRS patchbay carries the outputs of the mic preamps and I/O for most of the gear in the bays on either side, as well as some of the Crookwood I/O. I'm currently using the XLR patchbay that came with the Crookwood, but I will rewire all that through another TRS patchbay at some point to free up space in the rack.
(Above) Cable corner! The entry door is to the left. The shelf at the top carries the broadband modem and routers.