A Pro Secret

R

Recording Engineer

Moderator
I was reading an article in this month's Electronic Musician exposing The Pro Secret. The idea behind the article was this:

OK. You've spent a good portion of that thing we call a pay check on gathering up what reviewers say are decent pieces of gear. You've connected it all together, studied up, trialed & errored, logged onto great sites such as HomeRecording.com on the net for help, more trial & error, etc. And for some reason, your mixes don't even come close to a "pro" studio. Why?

All over, home recordists are asking questions such as: "How do I get that pro sound?" And I think this article gave the best answer.

It's all about connections. It's the stuff you don't want to think about or forget to think about; the small stuff. No body wants to hear that after they've bought $xxkUS worth of gear that they really won't get the full potential of their gear unless they spend another $xkUS on the stuff needed to connect all their gear together. Not only that, they have to spend the time getting rather personal with the soldering iron. That's no fun. "I just wanna ROCK!"

This article really caught my eye given I recently took that plunge myself. I admit that up to about 6-9 months ago, I was ProCo and Hosa overloaded. But after a few months getting personal with the soldering iron, about 2k feet of different types of cable, hundreds of connectors, and 3 TT patchbays, I'm now, Mogami, Canare, Belden, Switchcraft, and Neutrik equipped. Damn, what a difference!

Now, I've been on both sides and I can say yes, it's worth it.
 
I have been thinking about buying the lower line monster cables to make my connections with, but I only have low budget equipment(4 trak minidisk, nanoverb, rode nt1,alesis midiverb,mp tube pre.) Do you think The low end Monster cables would make a difference for me? I dont know how to solder and dont want to learn. I am too lazy.
 
Not really sure through my own experience. Has anyone else had that experience? As far as being too lazy to learn how to work a soldering iron, that's ok. Just be ready to dish out some pretty hefty bucks. Come to think of it, quality cables may end up costing as much as the total cost of your gear. Not really worth it; I don't think.
 
I doubt you will hear much difference between low end monster cable and something like Horizon. Untill you get into the Studio Pro 500, or the Interlink 300 the other stuff below it is not all that special.

Plan on spending at least $2 a ft. for the good monster cable.

I did just score mogami 16 channel snake wire with the dialectic shield for about $5 a ft. Anyone with a little time and soldering skills could covert 20 ft. of this stuff into 16 20ft. cables for about $250 which would include buying all the XLR or TRS connectors. An average mic cable costs about $15-$20, so times that buy 16 and you come out with paying between $240-320 for wire that is garbage in comparison. So for about the same money and about 1 day of your time you can have wire that is super nice.

Ed
 
Howdy R.E.
I've been around doing recording for years. Started this as a hobbie about 1969 while still in high school. I also have tried those pre made factory cables. Mic, stereo, video, ect. The best bang for the buck is...
Sit down and make it yourself. It's not rocket science! Everybody knows someone who is good with a soldering iron. Get them to show you how to do it. Do you remember the days of CB radio. Find someone who survived and they can show you. Or a TV repair guy or plumber. Go to Radio shack and get some cheap connectors and a $12.00 soldiering kit and start playing around with it till you get it right. The sound you get will be well worth your efforts.

GRIZ
 
so you are saying it is better to buy better cable some cheap radioshack XLR/1/4'/RCA connectors, and solder them together, rather then buying something premade? dont bad connections create noise as well?
 
Fishmed:
I think only the gold plated ones are made by Switchrcaft; not really sure though.

kristian:
Yes, bad connectors (most Radio Shack ones) create bad connections too. However, I think what Grizzly was saying is to buy some cheap Radio Shack connectors and cable to pactice soldering with until you get the "nack".
 
Interesting. This creates a few questions in my mind since I just bought several ProCo balanced cables. What do Mogami, Canare, Belden, Switchcraft, and Neutrik make? I assume one makes cable, one makes connectors, etc, but who makes what? Where can I get the stuff? Anyplace online that sells the stuff cheap? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron.

GG
 
You can buy any of these brands stuff for cheap, but it will be there cheap stuff.

Magami, Canare, and Beldon are mostly famous for their wire, although you can purchase connectors with their name on it.

Switchcraft and Nuetrik are more famous for making connectors, although I believe they may have their own wire too.

Anyway, expect to pay handsomly for just wire if you are purchasing the top of the line Magami, Canare, or Beldon wire. None of it is as expensive as Monster Studio Pro line stuff, but it doesn't sound as good either. Monster cable is actually kind of on the cheap end when compared to solid silver wire that runs about $50 ft. for a stereo line.

Gold connectors are going to run about $150 more than regular stainless connectors. For gold plated XLR's, expect to pay about $5-6 a piece.

You are on your own on searching out places to get this stuff online. I looked for whole night once and found pretty much what I can find in most music stores. I have a REAL pro-audio dealer in town that can get me just about anything I could ever want. So when I need specialty stuff like Magami wire, I just head down there and hope that the owner is in a gracious mood that day and will cut me a good deal. I never truely know for sure if if is or not because there are no other sources for the high of quality stuff in town. So I pay..... :)

Good luck.

Ed
 
Ya know, I never have made my own cables because I suck at soldering. I took a very basic electonics course years ago and understood everything fine, but my soldering technique was beyond bad. I can get something to work, but it looks like crap and probably won't last too long.

If making your own cables with good wire, connectors, etc. really makes a BIG difference, then it is worth it and I think I will start practicing my soldering technique tonight.

Any advice/opinions?
 
Yes. Heat the work, not the solder.

Keep the iron on the work untill all the flux has burned up.

Be patient.

:)
 
How about the retrofit gold plate job. I work for a high-end plating shop that does gold plating to military specs. We keep the space shuttle from falling out of the sky. Oops, well most of the time, anyway.
What surfaces on a bare connector would need the gold plate and at what thickness? We do 24K stuff and some alloy with more hardness.
If anyone could provide some drawings or blue-print-like diagrams, maybe our price could compete with the connector guys.
Just a thought. We did anodizing and gold plating on circuit boards for a Cray Supercomputer; those suckers are intercooled with liquid Nitrogen!
Oh yeah- Gold on top of stainless is a BITCH!
 
Hey R.E.
You are correct, I was saying get som cheap Radio Shack stuff and develope your soldiering skills. $20.00 worth of junk at R.S. can teach you a lot and it's cheap education. And for your info, The gold plated connectors & plugs at R.S. are not Switchcraft they are look a like China dupes.
So sit back with a cold one and turn on some tunes and learn a new skill..
Just remember: If women don't find you hansom at least they'll find you handy..Quote from "Red Green"


[This message has been edited by Grizzly (edited 01-06-2000).]
 
Grizzly:
I didn't think so. But someone else on this BBS said they were; that's why I said I really wasn't sure. I do have to say I like Radio Shack's Headphones Extension, TRS female connectors with the metal casing a lot better than the other brands I've seen.

gulleyg:
I personally think the XLR ProCo connectors are just as good as the Neutriks, but they're just as expensive. Although, I think you can get a better deal on the Neutriks.
 
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