Ballpark cost of professional studio wiring

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klangtone
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Ballpark cost of professional studio wiring

Post by klangtone » Sat May 12, 2012 7:12 pm

Greetings,

I'm wondering if anyone has a ballpark idea of how much it costs to have an 800sqft studio professionally wired? I'm not talking power, just audio wiring.

I'm working on getting an estimate from someone, but I'm just being impatient and hoping for a faster number to use in my budgeting, even if it's just a ballpark number.

Thanks!

Roy
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"No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media,
and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful." -Kurt Vonnegut

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Snarl 12/8
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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Sat May 12, 2012 8:53 pm

There's about a million ways to wire up an 800 sq ft studio. I think you're going to have to be more specific even for a ballpark. Can you describe the gear requirements, how many channels you want in the main room, how many points on the patchbay, etc., etc. A four track studio with a coupla compressors is going to a different story than a 48 track studio with an API and 5 racks of pres and compressors, etc.
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Post by The Scum » Sun May 13, 2012 12:17 am

For custom, handwired in-situ work, somewhere between $3 and $5 a connector (or per channel of a multi channel connector) for labor. That's assuming you're using standard paired cable, soldered, not crimped. More like $8 if you're using quad core, and even more if situations are inconvenient (like having to solder inside access hatches or ceilings...service loops that can reach a table are highly recommended).

Crimping is less reliable, but can save you a bit.

Plus the cost of the parts.
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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Sun May 13, 2012 2:30 am

I'm just being impatient and hoping for a faster number
2 billion trillion dollars, in a lamborghini going 201 MPH.

Is that a fast enough number?
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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goose134
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Post by goose134 » Mon May 14, 2012 8:43 pm

Too many variables to really give a good answer. I can tell you what i did, though. I bought the cable and connectors, made the faceplates, pulled and identified the cables and had it ready for my buddy to help me solder it all together. This is a guy who puts more solder on in a day at work than I have in all my years on Earth. If you can find someone that works at an electronic repair store that will do the bulk of the soldering as a side job? You'll do OK.

It should be noted that I helped, but he was literally doing 5 connections to my 1.
I make a living as an electrician, not recording in the basement.

dwelle
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Post by dwelle » Thu May 17, 2012 9:37 am

probably 3 or 4 times more than you think!...

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Post by stylus flanger » Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am

ALWAYS 3 or 4 times what you think.

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Post by Justin Foley » Thu May 24, 2012 7:25 am

General rule of thumb is that your interconnects should end up being about 10% of your total recording gear budget.

= Justin

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klangtone
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Post by klangtone » Fri Dec 07, 2012 4:05 pm

Sorry to have bailed on my own post...

I ended up going with Thom Canova, http://thomcanova.com/Wiring___Consultation.html , and for my situation the ballpark cost was about $20k parts and labor.

So at least that's a point of reference for future people searching for numbers in this area.

I also spent a lot of time on the phone with Scott Hasson at http://studiowiring.com/ and he could have done it for about half that much, but I would of had to install it all myself which in the end I just was not comfortable with. But if you're on a tighter budget and are comfortable running cable, installing boxes, etc., he might be a good bet. Plus he has a lot of funny stories. ;-)

Thom is awesome, though, and I've been helping him onsite with the wiring which has been a good learning experience.

Roy
www.rarefiedrecording.com
"No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media,
and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful." -Kurt Vonnegut

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trodden
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Post by trodden » Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:51 pm

I've spent thousands of dollars on supplies and hundreds of hours in time assembling the wiring of my 800 sq ft studio.

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