Recording room, control room scenario

[hybridarts]

Not quite sure where to post this topic but hopefully some knowledgable people will find it and provide some ideas. Basically it goes like this:

I have a large room away from my house. I've had to do some repairs and though this room is not ready for recording I'd like to one day maybe use it as a recording room. I've read of live sound using networking cable to bring their channels from stage to the desk. Would this work for recording? Long story short, it may not be possible to run any sort of cable later without some destructive damage to the repairs. So in the hope of trying to cater for the future, if I was to pull 50m of Cat 6 through this conduit now; would it allow me to route it to my monitor room and record successfully and also provide some sort of returns for the talent? The existing conduit carries power(possibly 3 phase but yet to be confirmed), so any cable would be running along side it and it could be tight.

Cheers,
j.

[c-tone]

Yes, digital audio networking would work great for recording in this scenario. I would also suggest that you run 2 Cat 6 cables if you can while you are at it. That would give you more options later such as for redundancy (such as secondary Dante connection) or running another network (such as wired internet connection) with the second cable.

[albee1952]

Ditto on pulling 2 cables! So are you thinking about having the control room in the house, away from the recording room? If so, I would try to fit in a video line or two, or maybe that could be hung from roof to roof(this could also be done with cat 6 if you buy professional snake cable as the outer sheathing is really strong). Having 2-way video communications will be a really good thing. In my last studio, I didn't have sight between drums and vocal booth so I installed cameras and screens. It was worth every cent!

[musicman691]

A few thought about pulling cable through conduit:
Pull two like was said before but sheath them in some kind of covering before pulling them through - the reason why will become evident below.

At the same time pull through a dummy line of some strong cord/rope. This is so if in the future you need to have extra paths for some kind of signals/data you already have the means in place to do so. This is where sheathing the first pair comes into play - because they're sheathed pulling through any new cabling won't get tangled in the original pair of cables. I've done enough of this kind of thing in the past and am just passing on lessons learned. This all assumes your conduit has a big enough diameter to accomodate everything.

[guitardom]

The problem element here is the power. Network cabling can "cross" power in some situations. It should NEVER be ran with power. They make a shielded cat 6 (look up cat6e) though it is thicker and more expensive. I believe the NEC specs states that it should be 2" away from power unless it is enclosed in separate conduits.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by guitardom

The problem element here is the power. Network cabling can "cross" power in some situations. It should NEVER be ran with power. They make a shielded cat 6 (look up cat6e) though it is thicker and more expensive. I believe the NEC specs states that it should be 2" away from power unless it is enclosed in separate conduits.

If network cabling should never be run with power then how do you explain the existence of wall outlets with both AC mains outlets and network connections in the same box? And does it make a difference whether it's in conduit or not?

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by musicman691

If network cabling should never be run with power then how do you explain the existence of wall outlets with both AC mains outlets and network connections in the same box? And does it make a difference whether it's in conduit or not?

the power is on 1 side of the stud, the network cabling is run down the other side of the stud. Then a hole is drilled for the network cabling to go through the stud and into the box. Another way is to have power and network cables are ran on the opposing studs in the chamber. If it is a 2x6 frame, you can staple one to the front side and one to the backside on the same side of the stud. Regardless, they must come through different penetrations in the header, and not be run together in the ceiling. This is only seen in residential. There is no other way in residential to do this without using conduits. It will not pass code or an inspection to have them ran down a wall "together". When they are mounted in boxes side by side like this, the twist of the cable into the block is VITAL for EMI phase cancelling.

I have never seen these side installed in a commercial install. I specialized in Fiber optics but did more than my share of network cabling for over 12 years. Networking 101 is NEVER run power and network cables side by side, and I stated the NEC (National Electrical Code) specs above and yes conduit makes a difference. This is not really debatable or questionable. Any minor amount of research will tell you not to do this.

[gives]

Originally Posted by hybridarts

Not quite sure where to post this topic but hopefully some knowledgable people will find it and provide some ideas. Basically it goes like this:

I have a large room away from my house. I've had to do some repairs and though this room is not ready for recording I'd like to one day maybe use it as a recording room. I've read of live sound using networking cable to bring their channels from stage to the desk. Would this work for recording? Long story short, it may not be possible to run any sort of cable later without some destructive damage to the repairs. So in the hope of trying to cater for the future, if I was to pull 50m of Cat 6 through this conduit now; would it allow me to route it to my monitor room and record successfully and also provide some sort of returns for the talent? The existing conduit carries power(possibly 3 phase but yet to be confirmed), so any cable would be running along side it and it could be tight.

Cheers,
j.

If you are really needing help. Give my friend Chris Huston a call or email him in US. He's a a legendary engineer and also a fabulous studio designer. He may be able to offer some help over the phone or something.
http://www.hustondesigngroup.com/home.html
Greg

[hybridarts]

Thanks all for the feedback, its much appreciated. The repairs are finished and rather than pull through the existing conduit, which was probably run at the time I was born:), I've decided to run a new conduit. This will be away from any existing power but will also allow me to run what ever I may need. It will take a little longer but in the scheme of things I think will be a better solution.

Thanks again,
j.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by hybridarts

Thanks all for the feedback, its much appreciated. The repairs are finished and rather than pull through the existing conduit, which was probably run at the time I was born:), I've decided to run a new conduit. This will be away from any existing power but will also allow me to run what ever I may need. It will take a little longer but in the scheme of things I think will be a better solution.

Thanks again,
j.

Sounds good. Think about what I wrote about pulling not just the two ethernet lines but also a couple of just plain ropes or such so that in the future you can pull through more cables as needed.