Without a good selection of cables and cable adapters, you may find that your recording session grinds to a halt because of compatibility issues or a lack of replacements for faulty cables.
Cables should be regarded as part of your studio infrastructure. Therefore, ensure you invest in good quality cables. There is nothing worse than having interference on a track or signal issues and finding out it is caused by a cable.
There are various types of cable you will need for your analogue and digital gear.
Before the digital era signals were transmitted using electricity. Analogue equipment will still be part of your studio infrastructure, like microphones and instruments. However, in most home studios you will also have digital equipment so you will need analogue cables that are digitally compatible or have the relevant adapters.
Digital equipment transmits signals using binary code. Even if your studio is 100% digital there are still many different types of connections.
Cable Type | Description |
Balanced | Greatly reduce interference produced by electronic equipment. It has three wires that are designed to cancel unwanted noise. |
Unbalanced | With two wires these cables do not have inherent noise cancelling design. |
Optical | Also known as lightpipe can carry multiple channels of audio through a single cable |
There are many connectors the most common are listed below.
Connector | Description |
XLR male | This will connect to your hardware's inputs. |
XLR female | Connects to a microphone |
TRS | Tip, Ring, Sleeve. This connects to inputs and outputs and can carry a balanced signal. |
TS | Tip, Sleeve. Connects to inputs and outputs and carries an unbalanced signal. |
USB 2.0 | Universal Serial Bus. An industry standard for connecting computers to peripheral equipment. It can handle full speed, low speed or high speed. |
Fireware | Also called IEEE 1394 has faster transfer rates than USB. |
Thunderbolt | High transfer rates. Tends to be on higher-end interfaces. |
USB 3.0 | Universal Serial Bus. Often referred to as Superspeed USB. |
MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface. An industry standard communications protocol. For connecting your MIDI controller to your MIDI interface connected to your DAW. |