Introduction

If you are involved in recording music there will eventually come a time when you will need to buy an audio patchbay. If you run a professional working studio you will already have patchbays to allow complete flexibility in routing signals, but even the project studio will need to re-route some of its signals on a regular basis.

This article gives practical advice on choosing and buying a patchbay.

You may wish to read our article on interconnection and balanced/unbalanced signals first.

What is an audio patchbay?

The concept of an audio patchbay is easy to understand. Every piece of audio equipment, from synthesisers to mixing desks, connects to other equipment via cables plugged into sockets which are mostly located on the rear panel. If you need to change these connections you must remove and reconnect these cables.

So why is that a problem? ...

1. You may have difficulty getting to the connections if equipment is sited against walls or located inside cabinets.
2. You may find that the cables are not long enough to make your new connection.
3. It will not be immediately apparent what is connected to what (patchbays can be labeled).
4. Your creative flow will be disrupted if you need to stop what you're doing to reconnect your equipment in this way.

The solution is to run all the cables from your equipment to a centrally located series of sockets called a patch bay. Equipment can then easily be connected with short patch cords (or patch lead).

Why do I need a patchbay?

If you run a professional studio you will already have a comprehensive patchbay and know why. If you have a home studio and do not regularly change the routing of your equipment you may not need a patchbay for all your connections, but it is very likely that you will benefit from some of your equipment's connections being easily available.

Project studio patchbays

Like many people who have moved from running a professional studio to having a project studio at home, I found that I no longer needed a comprehensive patchbay. But there are some connections that I regularly change, and having a patchbay allows me to do this without disrupting my creative processes. On my patchbay I have the following connections ...

• Mixer 2-track (monitor) in
• PC out (L & R)
• Laptop out (L & R)
• Phono (record deck) pre-amp out (L & R)
• Channel strip pre-amp line in
• Channel strip pre-amp instrument in
• Guitar tuner (in & out)
• Guitar pedal board (in & out)
• Guitar rack effect processor (in & out)
• Guitar amp 1 instrument in
• Guitar amp 1 pre-amp out
• Guitar amp 1 power amp in
• Guitar amp 2 instrument in
• Guitar amp 2 pre-amp out
• Guitar amp 2 power amp in

Having these connections on a patchbay allows me to monitor the audio from my work computers (PC and laptop) and listen to my record deck, and create and record different guitar tone combinations quickly. All my other equipment is connected directly and has never been changed.

What sort of signals should I route through my audio patchbay?

As a general rule, you can route any signal through an audio patchbay except those which if accidentally patched to the wrong piece of equipment could damage it.

Acceptable	Unacceptable
Line level - keyboards, synthesisers, samplers, drum machines, tape recorders, soundcard's, mixers, effects, dynamics, CD players, headphones etc. Mic level - Microphones and pre-amps, guitars, bass and pre-amps, phono (record decks). Digital signals - AES and SPDIF.	Power amp outputs Speakers Mains power Digital optical (obviously!) MIDI Computer connections

 

Should I buy a balanced or unbalanced patchbay?

Even if you only have unbalanced equipment (usually unlikely) you still need a balanced patchbay to make your studio future proof. This is because the time WILL come when you acquire a balanced piece of equipment.

A balanced patchbay can easily be used with unbalanced signals.

An unbalanced patchbay cannot be used with balanced signals.

Here is a quick recap on some balanced and unbalanced interconnection types ...

Equipment type	Connection
	Balanced	Unbalanced
Microphone	Yes	No
Synthesiser / keyboard / rack	No	Yes
Guitar / bass	No	Yes
Outboard (effects, dynamics etc)	Yes	Yes
Mixing desk	Yes	Yes
CD player	No	Yes
Computer soundcard	No	Yes
Computer audio interface	Yes	Yes
AES digital	Yes	No
SPDIF digital	No	Yes

Balanced/unbalanced connection theory is covered in Interconnection.

What are the different types of audio patchbay?

Patchbay's are categorized by the 3 different connector types they use.

Type A jacks

These use the standard musical instrument (keyboards, guitars etc) and semi-pro recording equipment connector.

Type B jacks (GPO)

These connectors were used in the early days of telephone exchanges when connections were made manually by operators. They are very robust and hard wearing. The plug is physically similar to Type A but the tip is shaped differently and the metal is superior. You should never insert a Type A jack into a Type B socket.

Bantam

Essentially a mini version of the Type B (GPO) jack. Developed by mixing desk manufacturers to allow a greater density of sockets in a given space.

What are the pros and cons of the different types of audio patchbay?

	Balanced / unbalanced	Rear connections	Ease of wiring	Convenience	Cost	Reliability
Type A jacks	Balanced & unbalanced	Solder terminals or jack sockets	Simple	Good. Instruments can be connected directly to the front.	Low	Fair to poor. Cheap ones are a waste of money, the connections deteriorate soon.
Type B jacks	Balanced, but can carry unbalanced signals	Solder terminals or EDAC's	Simple	Good but front instrument connection requires Type A to B leads.	High	Excellent. Robust construction, brass contacts and large jack contact area.
Bantam	Balanced, but can carry unbalanced signals	Solder terminals	Tricky	Excellent and compact, but front instrument connection requires Type A to Bantam leads.	High	Good. Robust construction, brass contacts but small jack contact area.

 

Buying Recommendations

If you are still unsure about what type of patchbay to buy, here are my recommendations ...

• Patchbay type Buy a Type B GPO patchbay. They are incredibly strong and robust and will give you years of trouble free use.

• Normalizing options You should ensure that whatever patchbay you choose, the full range of normalization options is possible. Normalizing is the process whereby vertically adjacent. sockets are connected together when no patch cord is plugged in. The theory of patchbay wiring and normalization is covered in Ben Henderson's excellent pdf hand-out on patchbays. Download it by clicking here.

• Tie bar Ensure you get a tie bar to support your cables at the back.

From bitter experience I would suggest you avoid cheap type A patchbay's. They tend to be unreliable, become intermittent quickly and are NOT the cost effective solution they appear to be.

How do I design and configure a patchbay?

There are no absolute rights or wrongs but the following are a few sensible guidelines ...

• Create a list of all necessary connections/equipment.
• Create a diagrammatic illustration of your patchbay.
• Group rows of sockets into categories, eg mixer inputs.
• Alternate between rows of outputs and inputs. outputs above and inputs below.
• Obviously you will want connections which are to be normalised to be vertically adjacent.

 

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