Building The Equipment Rack - Sound Advice 12

The equipment rack houses the core “active” electronic components of the sound system. With many different styles and options to choose from, it can be very overwhelming. And not knowing where to begin can be that one thing that keeps you from ever starting. This video is a great springboard for anyone learning to build, load, and wire an equipment rack. It demonstrates practical tips and steps for any pro audio rack build. For the seasoned audio veteran, I present my best practices and styles honed over two decades in the profession and wisdom from some of the industry greats. Always take time to be a craftsman!
Equipment used in this build:
Middle Atlantic BRK14
Middle Atlantic Rack Screws
Panduit Finger Duct G2X2BL6
Furman PL Plus
Audio Technica System 10
DBX Driverack VENU360
Ashly SRA4150
Ashly NE800PE
Altec Lansing 70V Transformer
Plenty of zip ties

[@kc360awareness]

Hi I’m Kevin and here’s my Sound Advice..... It might be helpful to customize your traffic sign to say “talk” “no talk” during filming.

[@audiobuff]

Good idea. I’ll see what I can find.

[@henryvanweeren7233]

I first found out about your channel with your description of micing a grand piano. This particular video was helpful to inspire me to clean up the wiring in my portable audio recording setup. Thank you!!

[@audiobuff]

I love the sound from our pianos. Its very easy to slam in gear and wire with the best intentions to clean it up later. But for me, later never comes. Thank you for witching and keep up the clean wiring in your racks!

[@henryvanweeren7233]

@@audiobuff I did buy a couple of older CAD boundary mics earlier this year. I hope to have an opportunity to wire them into our church's piano and try different positions for optimal high/low sound. Cheers!

[@amonster8mymother]

Hey Jude. Nice video. Nice presentation. I have not seen such videos yet but here you are and professional. 👍👍👍I've been building my racks for my home studio for a while now and I appreciate the tips. You do a good job there. I'm looking forward to the other videos. 👍🇨🇦

[@ojjailvicekilimanjaro]

Just headed for a clean up this very moment......Thank you bro.

[@g.fortin3228]

Very neat install. I'll take some of those tips ! thanks !

[@bedroomrockstudios408]

super sweet cab my man Jude!

[@audiobuff]

Thank you for noticing the work. I enjoy trying to make things right.

[@glennwilson8560]

Thank you for the video! This was super helpful on a project that I am working on. Have you considered doing a video on how to properly install cables running in/out of a booth? I've been told our cables are out of code, but don't really know how to get them into code.

[@audiobuff]

That would be a good video. I will add that to my list of ideas. Thanks!

[@eduugr]

Hey cool channel!! I recently builded my first wooden rack for my home studio and it was such an awesome experience. I decided to place the power source at the botton so that my audio cables are not that close the the power cables (I'm recording instruments with my units). Why do you place it at the top? Thanks for sharing!!

[@MichaelNatrin]

Fantastic work! You sound Canadian.

[@audiobuff]

I grew up in the north but never in North Montana. Thank you for watching and more to come!

[@neluma]

Do you ever use the mounting points at the back of amplifiers? It doesn't feel right to have such heavy units rest only on the front plate like that. Are there racks that allow for mounting in the rear also?

[@audiobuff]

Most of the time I don't use the rear mounting holes, unless it is a portable setup where there will be a lot of hard use. The rack rears are designed to hold the weight of the equipment. And yes, there are rear rack rails available. Thank you for watching!

[@joelockhart6986]

What is the big transformer for? Great job, love the detail.

[@audiobuff]

Good catch. The transformer is for a 70 volt speaker system. I put speakers in foyers, nurseries, halls, and bathrooms. Thanks for watching and more to come. Oh yes, working on a transformer video now!

[@apostolicway2604]

Hello, your thoughts on adding wheels

[@audiobuff]

If the application fits wheels, than go for it. I’d recommend 2 casters fixed and 2 casters crazy. That way it should roll in and out easy. Thank you for watching and more to come…

[@whigdon411]

Your rack work is a solid B, you have no heat shrink at the end of the jacket to the conductors, no labeling on each end of the conductors and most importantly there’s no leasing bars!. Gravity holding the wires up to the lower rack mounted devices is unacceptable. You should come out vertically to a lacing bar, either straight or offset, then return to the rock unit device below or go to the vertical rack rails down to the appropriate leasing bar to feed the rack mount a unit below are above. You did excellent work on the high-voltage cable management. If you were going to pre-make the harness you have to allow for extra cabling and where you’re going to secure that. Another main point is zip ties are a definite no! In the rack should be Velcro only. The next time you need to service the device or upgrade you will be cutting wire ties!

[@audiobuff]

Thank you for the tips. I never did well in school so when I got a B, it was a good day. Move videos to come…

[@rhysboehm9991]

as a cabler I always do like a neat install. Well done. I become extremely pedantic when it comes to cable installs. mainly on IT and data equipment but the occasional audio install as well. A few little tips for you. 1. not sure if its just me that it looks like your using standard pliers. Try a set of these www.totaltools.com.au/155264-wattmaster-flush-cutting-nippers-for-soft-wire-watma600b benefit of these (there are other brands, excuse site from Australia), is that the cable tie excess tail can be cut dead flat with the end. This means no chance of cutting yourself open on a sharp corner of the cable tie. Sorry if your pliers are flush cut, but they just don't look like it. 2. Even better, skip cable ties, use velcro. Not sure if you can buy it where you are but you can buy it by the roll here. Other benefit of velcro is you can't accidently crush the cable too tight (rarely happens but no chance at all with velcro) 3. Have you tried right angle IEC cables? Means a lesser chance of knocking the cable out of place when or if rack is being moved around or put into place due to plug sticking out. 4. Have you tried spiral binding to neaten your audio cables?www.jaycar.com.au/6mm-clear-spiral-binding-2-5m/p/HP1218 Otherwise love the install and good too see people take pride in their cable install. Well done.

[@audiobuff]

All very good tips and links-Thank you for taking the time to replay and watch the video! More to come…