I was just looking at picking up some new 1/4" cables to connect stuff in my home studio. Basically, need them to connect preamps to compressors, compressors to the soundcard inputs, nothing fancy. Probably looking at buying about 10 or so for now, probably about 3' to 6' in length. My question is this... would I find a noticeable difference in sound quality using Monster Cable Studiolink cables instead of just some Hosa cables?
Keep in mind I'm using mostly cheap condensor mics (like the AT2020), and SM57 and MD421 dynamics, so no high-end mics here. Preamps are mostly Mackie VLZ, and an M-Audio DMP3. Compression is an ART Pro VLA. Recording drums, bass and electric guitar simultaneously. I'm currently using some no-name 3' patch cables I got from a friend. They look really cheap!
I was also wondering about mic cables. I'm currently using mostly Whirlwind cables. I was reading that they are not properly grounded, and don't work with condensor mics, but I've had no trouble thus far. Some people seemed to think the Whirlwind cables were actually dangerous to use with phantom power. Is this true? Seems I need to learn me some basic electronics about now! Any input on any of these issues would be great! Thanks! Andy
Comments
Some people, believe they can hear the difference in cable quali
Some people, believe they can hear the difference in cable quality. Some people swear by Monster cable but I really don't know anybody that uses that stuff with a low-end system. You should purchase at least a couple and see if you could hear a difference?
Personally I don't like the "HoseA" cables. They're awful pieces of Taiwanese crap! I've had the tips of their 1/4" patch cords, come off inside the Alesis HD24 recorder jacks! It almost trashed the machine! I'll never use them again. I've made my own since then with Switchcraft and Neutric connectors. Although I do think that goldplated connectors are a worthy investment. Your intermittents will be far less. And if you only need 10 patch cords, go for the gold! I couldn't afford all gold but then my patch cords are brass, which need to be polished when they tarnish and nickel plated which I find much more consistent. Besides, I have over 60 patch cords in the control room. Or is that 80 patch cords??? It's too many.
Some people like Mogami cables. I had some of their microphone cable, that actually had a nice, full wrap stranded shield, make noise when you move the cable! Microphonic cable for microphones is no good. They have other grades of microphone cable which I haven't used and have heard that are better. I've talked to a couple of other people that have the same experience as I with those cables. I like their 24 pair snake cables however and wired my control room with those with the leftover scraps from the NBC digital conversion in Washington DC. I love dumpster diving!! But it's not very ladylike. I haven't done it for a while since they haven't thrown anything else out since 1996 and I haven't worked there since 1999! Oh well.
Each one of my paragraphs are two spaces. Did you try to hit the enter button twice?? (Just kidding)
There's nothing wrong with whirlwind tables. Absolutely nothing. The only danger is in the hands of goofballs. Like myself. In fact I like just about everything they make.
In a whirlwind of confusion
Ms. Remy Ann David
stay away from the hoser type stuff... anything witha molded plu
stay away from the hoser type stuff... anything witha molded plug has to be trash IMO... there are several places that will do custom cables for you... i generally make myown but they buy in bulk and for what they charge it's not much of a saving... redco.com seems to be one of the better... it's a roll your own... you specify which cable and connector and length...
For 1/4 inch TS cables I really like George L's. Easy as sin to
For 1/4 inch TS cables I really like George L's. Easy as sin to put together. I have never had any problems with them, which is almost a shame since they would be so easy to repair. They are low capacitance, I can hear the difference in a 20' run, but I can't in shorter runs. If you are making short rack connections, you can use the thinner .125 cable. Slightly cheaper and easier to manipulate in the rack.
I'm also wondering why the spaces I typed in my post don't show
I'm also wondering why the spaces I typed in my post don't show up in the forum? I swear, I indented the beginning of each paragraph two spaces...what gives? Andy