Trailer Studio Build...

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:14 pm

Wow. Looks beautiful. Congranulations.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:33 pm

Corey Y wrote: I know it's OT, but how do you like that Toft console?

So far, so good. To be honest, I haven't really put it through it's paces yet, even though I've had it for about a year. Mostly been using a few channels at a time, and the aux's for monitoring, but I haven't started using it for summing yet. It sounds clean and full to me and the EQ is something I'm not afraid to use at all. I'll really get to see what happens when I start multitracking drumset through it, which I should be able to do once I finish the drum booth. I still need to make a bunch of short cables for going from the inserts, aux's, and busses to the patchbay, and from there to all my other outboard gear... and back again. I don't know what I was waiting for, except that most of what I've ended up doing this year was alot of ITB virtual instrument stuff, as I didn't really have the space to record as much acoustically as I thought I would when I bought the damn mixer. No regrets, though. And now, as this space starts to take shape, I've got it (mostly) all ready to go.

norton · Post by **norton** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:40 pm

Looks SUPER cool.

But is the studio-trailer, (stu-railer? stud-railer? trail-udio?) big enough for the brass band??

congrats!

It really looks great and I hope it works really well for you.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:34 pm

Brass Band? Probably not.

I've actually never recorded the full sized brass band in my own spaces, only overdubs. All the basic tracking was done at other studios, where I can focus on running the band and let someone else focus on getting the sounds...

When I'm a side man, I've got no problem engineering the session (well, not NO problem), but, at least with THAT band, there's so much that happens during recording sessions that isn't worked out before hand... It might even be less rehearsed than our gigs are

. Anyway, I just can't get around splitting my focus. I was so extremely happy that I made that decision on the first brass band record that I don't think I could ever go back, but who knows.

It could, on the other hand, be cool to do an outdoor, yet well mic'd, recording with the band, assuming they come out to LA, or I actually put together a real west coast version. Hmmm, might piss off the neighbors. Hey, we could call it a block party!

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:25 am

ANybody have any thoughts on the mixer power supply question??

Don't make me start an entirely other thread on this...

norton · Post by **norton** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:30 pm

I keep mine far away... but only because it's insufferably loud... fans and all.

Do your best to keep your power on one side of the rack and your signal cables on the other... and i'm sure you'll be fine.

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:00 pm

DrummerMan wrote:
Well yesterday, I noticed this power cord coming out of the wall:

It came from around where the bathroom and kitchen used to be and I had kind of forgotten about it, but lo and behold it has 3 wires. It must have been for some built in appliance, not the fridge though (wrong part of the trailer). All the other outlets have a white hot (+) wire and a black negative (-) wire. Would it be possible to imagine that the green wire from this here group could conceivably be the ellusive ground I've been hoping and dreaming for?

In AC wiring, Black is usually hot, white neutral, and green ground.

For an RV of that era, I'd guess that cord is either after-market, or went originally to something wet, like the pump system for the h2o or toilet.

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:02 pm

DrummerMan wrote:ANybody have any thoughts on the mixer power supply question??

Don't make me start an entirely other thread on this...

If it makes noise, either fan or RF, I'd get it out of the way. I haven't noticed any issues with the PS for my board (otari PS for a Logex console).

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:02 am

newfuturevintage wrote: In AC wiring, Black is usually hot, white neutral, and green ground.

that's interesting. Last week, one of the caps came off the unterminated end of a white wire and it was, unbeknownst to me, touching a metal part of my AC (air conditioning, that is) unit. Well, I was cleaning around the door (which is also aluminum) and I got quite a jolt. I just assumed that it had to be the hot wire, but I'm obviously no expert on electrical stuff.

newfuturevintage wrote: For an RV of that era, I'd guess that cord is either after-market, or went originally to something wet, like the pump system for the h2o or toilet.

Just out of curiosity, why would you say that it's probably going to something wet? I don't doubt you, in fact you're probably right, I just don't understand the reasoning. If this were the case would you expect that green wire to be a proper ground?

I don't think that set of wires is after-market because it was hidden somewhere between the toilet/shower and the kitchen, probably not seen until I dismantled all that.

I took Snarl12/8's advice and got the plug in tester. It told me I had an open ground, which I guess I'm understanding to mean that that green wire isn't actually grounded. I double checked to make sure that the extension cord going to the trailer was properly grounded (which it was), but then all of a sudden, I stopped getting any power to that 3-wire setup (which I wired to an outlet) at all, no matter what configuration it was wired in. There's a switch on the wall that let power through to that outlet, and I'm guessing something got fucked while I was switching back and forth.

Anyway, I got frustrated and kind of gave up for the time being. Instead, for now, I'm just splitting the power from the extension cord outside so that one flow is going to the regular outlets in the trailer, ungrounded, via the transformer, and the other is just coming straight in through the window, grounded, to power whatever needs that. So far that seems to be working, and I can deal with doing it how I really want it later.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:34 am

Just out of curiosity, why would you say that it's probably going to something wet?

'Cause wet shit really needs to be grounded properly. Maybe the poster meant something else, but you want electrical near your shower to be grounded.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldie ... index.html

If I was in your shoes I would want to truly verify that the grounded sockets in all my plugs were well wired to a true ground. Like follow each wire and make sure it's not shakey anywhere.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:11 am

Snarl 12/8 wrote: If I was in your shoes I would want to truly verify that the grounded sockets in all my plugs were well wired to a true ground. Like follow each wire and make sure it's not shakey anywhere.

Well, as of now, I can verify, without a doubt, that the one grounded socket that the trailer has is not wired to a true ground.

So, I'll just keep using the extension chord's direct power through the window until I can get that all figured out. It seems like the thing that might even be worth having a real electrician help me with.

Luckily, we are moving soon (within the next few months) to a house that'll need some construction and electrical work done, so perhaps I'll hijack the electrician then for a minute...

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:03 am

congrats on getting a house!

you're bringing the trailer, right?

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:15 pm

Snarl 12/8 wrote:
Just out of curiosity, why would you say that it's probably going to something wet?
'Cause wet shit really needs to be grounded properly. Maybe the poster meant something else, but you want electrical near your shower to be grounded.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldie ... index.html

If I was in your shoes I would want to truly verify that the grounded sockets in all my plugs were well wired to a true ground. Like follow each wire and make sure it's not shakey anywhere.

Yep, that's exactly what I meant, also, when electrical codes were modernizing, it seems that areas near water (outdoor, kitchen, bath) were brought to 3-prong before dry general living spaces.

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:21 pm

DrummerMan wrote:
newfuturevintage wrote: In AC wiring, Black is usually hot, white neutral, and green ground.
that's interesting. Last week, one of the caps came off the unterminated end of a white wire and it was, unbeknownst to me, touching a metal part of my AC (air conditioning, that is) unit. Well, I was cleaning around the door (which is also aluminum) and I got quite a jolt. I just assumed that it had to be the hot wire, but I'm obviously no expert on electrical stuff.

That will wake you right up!

also, just because these colors typically mean the above, doesn't mean that all the wiring was done properly, it could be flipped anywhere along the AC path. I wouldn't be surprised if your meter also read "hot/neutral swap" in addition to

pen ground".

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:18 pm

DrummerMan wrote: that's interesting. Last week, one of the caps came off the unterminated end of a white wire and it was, unbeknownst to me, touching a metal part of my AC (air conditioning, that is) unit. Well, I was cleaning around the door (which is also aluminum) and I got quite a jolt. I just assumed that it had to be the hot wire, but I'm obviously no expert on electrical stuff.

Ouch! Glad you're OK!

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