Cables & Cords:
What Kind of Signals Are You Sending?
By Ben Strano and Scott Velazco
Close your eyes and imagine your dream studio. What do you see? An impressive console that has more channels than Direct TV? A Studer 2” tape machine? Walls lined with outboard gear? Maybe you envision the newest top-of-the-line computer loaded with all of the hottest plug-ins, and monitors that are so accurate you could hear John Bonham’s kick drum pedal squeak. What’s missing here? Oh yeah, those pesky cables! You know the wires that connect all of your über-expensive pre-amps to your discrete EQs. Don’t feel bad, a lot of people overlook the importance of the cables in their studio. But, if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on your recording rig, you don’t want to hook it all together with home theater cables from Radio Shack. You need to make sure that you are using high-quality cables to pass high-quality audio signal. But more importantly you need to make sure that you use the right cable for the right job. Audio cables can be broken into two major groups: balanced and unbalanced.
Unbalanced Cables
Unbalanced cables use only two wires: one hot and one cold. They are typically used for consumer-level equipment. Consumer-level runs at -10dB and is used in CD players, DVD players, and lower grade pro audio gear. When lower grade pro audio gear uses unbalanced cables it generally means that there are no transformers, thus making it susceptible to extraneous noise from anything such as bad light switches to computer monitors. Some of the coolest pieces of gear are still unbalanced, however. Why? It is often because this is an easy corner to cut when manufacturers are trying to lower suggested retail price.
There are two main types of unbalanced cables: RCA connectors and 1/4-inch  connectors. Most of today’s unbalanced gear uses RCA connectors (right). These are the red and white plugs on the back of your home stereo and even on the back of your television. The other common style of unbalanced cable is your instrument cable with a 1/4-inch jack (below left). There isn’t much to say about these cables, they are cheap and you probably have about seven lying around in each room of your house. The thing to look for in an instrument cable is durability. Nothing kills the creative vibe like your guitar cable shorting out in the middle of “THE” take. Most studios have several twenty-five foot instrument cables and about ten or fifteen in varying lengths, from one to five feet. Remember when you have ten guitar pedals to pick from, you have to have at least eleven cables to hook them all up.
Unbalanced cables are generally the type of cables that we don’t spend a lot of money on when we invest in our personal rig. Many people would argue this point, but most Performers find that as long as a cable passes signal, then they have done their job.
Balanced Cables
Balanced cables deliver a much more pure signal than unbalanced. There are actually three wires in each cable: hot, cold, and ground. The idea behind balanced cables and connectors is to send the same signal down the cable twice. However, one of the wires is flipped out of phase at the first connector. That way, when extraneous noise is added (due to bad lighting or power in the studio or venue) it gets phased out when the second connector flips the audio’s signal back in phase. It may sound a bit technical, but it actually works. This basically means that you can run longer lengths of cabling with much less loss of signal or interference.
Balanced cables can be broken up into three styles: XLR (or Cannon), 1/4-inch TRS, and TT. You will generally find a lot of XLR cables lying around any studio, with a few TRS, and a bunch of short TT cables.
XLR are probably the most important cables you will buy (right). You will use them when hooking up microphones, pre-amps, equalizers, multi-track recorders and DAWs. The great thing is that you can buy a decent XLR cable from just about any music store in the world. It might say ‘microphone cable’ on the packaging, but it will work for any analog signal whether it is at a mic or a line level.
 1/4-inch TRS cables (left) can be very deceiving at first glance. When you look at them you will probably think that it is a regular old instrument cable, but look at the connector. There’s an extra ring on the input jack. That is the third contact point. A TRS cable works exactly the same way an XLR does but it takes up much less space on a piece of gear. We are starting to see TRS jacks on the back of a many digital audio interfaces because there is a sudden need for many ins and outs, but very little space to squeeze them in on the back of gear, patchbays, etc. The  problem that we run into with TRS connections is that it is very easy for them to fall either partially (leaving one with an out-of-phase “half signal”) or completely (leaving no signal and no idea what the problem is!) out of the gear one may be connecting. An XLR connector (righ) “locks” in and is a much more reliable connection.
It is important to avoid using instrument or guitar cable instead of a TRS cable when dealing with gear that is balanced. You will notice a significant improvement in audio quality if you use balanced cables going into and out of your DAW as opposed to whatever guitar cables you had lying around. But don’t worry... we have all been guilty of making due with an instrument cable at one time or another!
Another type of cable that you will normally find in high-end studios is TT or Tiny Telephone. That is really what TT means — no joking... Tiny Telephone. The great thing about TT cables is that they allow a balanced connection using a very small piece of real estate. They also seem to be much more secure than TRS cables, probably not because of design, but just because of the quality of construction. Your average 18” TT patch cable costs around twenty dollars and your average TT patch bay costs around a thousand dollars.
It’s not unusual for half of the costs of setting up a professional studio to go toward the wiring, cables, and connectors. The patch bay is often the most expensive thing in a studio, if you include all of the labor and materials that go into making it work. But it is also one of the most important components in a studio. If cables are the veins of the studio, the patch bay is the beating heart.
Take note, if you are spending a significant amount of money on cables, you better take care of them. If you aren’t sure then ask an engineer to show you how to properly wrap cables (and no, wrapping it around your arm is not considered proper) and you will get years out of them as opposed to months. Also, go to a hardware store and pick up some double-sided velcro strips made for wrapping wires and cabling. If you play out live a lot buy a large tupperware container that is dedicated to your cables. This way it is easier to find them and harder to lose them because you aren’t putting them in the back of your guitar amp or stuffed in your gig bag with your guitar. Studios will have wooden dowels attached to a wall to hang cables on. The great thing about this is that you can label your cables and keep them organized by style and length.
Cabling is one of the most important things in any studio or live rig. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, an audio chain is only as strong as it weakest cable. You don’t have to go out and buy all new designer cables, just use the right cables for the right job and you will hear a huge improvement.
A Few Good Cables
Horizon Silver-Flex Cables
www.horizonmusic.com
Horizon Silver-Flex Cables are well-made cables that have silver-plated, copper conductors and a silver-plated, copper-braided shield. The 24-gauge center conductor microphone cable has gold-plated pins on the XLR connectors. Prices range from $23.99 to $62.97 according to length.
Monster Cables
www.monstercable.com
Monster cables are the brand many people associate with higher quality and more expensive audio cables. They have reliable cables that are made for a huge range of budgets. Monster’s line starts at $14.95-$24.95 for the standard 100 series mic cables which are 3’ to 15’ in length and are perfectly acceptable for home studio use. For the ultimate in audio reproduction, the Monster line extends all the way to the 1000 series which includes a 100’ mic cable for $599.95 that utilizes patented Time Correct windings, multiple-gauge wire networks, MicroFiber, an extra-dense braid shield, heavy-duty 24K gold-plated plugs with strain relief, and bandwidth balanced construction.
Audio-Technica
www.audio-technica.com
Audio-Technica recently released a new line of microphone, guitar, and speaker cables. The Premium Microphone cables (XLRF-XLRM) are designed for maximum signal transfer and minimum loss. These balanced cables feature heavy-duty construction (24-gauge stranded copper conductors) and Neutrik connectors. Lengths are available from 1.5 to 100 feet.
The A-T Premium Instrument Cables have high-quality 1/4-inch connectors with strain relief, dual-jacket design, and 24-gauge stranded copper conductors. A wide variety of cable lengths are available ranging from 1.5 to 30 feet. The Premium Instrument Cables come with a limited lifetime warranty.
BLUE KiwiCab
The Kiwi cable is a balanced XLR cable that uses Blue’s proprietary materials. The quad design gives the cable an advantage when trying to achieve the highest quality recordings. It uses 4-22Awg twisted pair conductors and a 95% tinned copper braided shield to eliminate electromagnetic interference and microphonic pick-up. The Kiwicab is available for about $39.95 street price for a 20’ cable
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