On the Canare console cable it is like a very thin tin foil. You never solder the foil shield itself. This type of cable has what is called a "drain wire" that runs alongside the shield, and this is what makes the soldering a lot easier. You just cut the shield off where you need to, and you are left with three wires (if you are making balanced cables), the positive, negative, and the drain. So instead of doing all that business of combing the braided shield out, you just trim the shield and then solder the three wires. It sure makes things go faster.
*However*!!!
Cable with foil shield is not meant to be moved around a lot or handled a lot, it is intended basically for permanent installs. The reason being that the foil will break down more easily than braid if it is moved around a lot. Braid is more flexible. So foil shield is perfect for rear of the rack cabling, because that is typically set up and then left alone.
Another however...
What I like about the Connectronics cable is that they got around this limitation by making their cables with conductive plastic shielding. This allows for *super* flexibility, and the cables can be used for situations where they will be handled a lot. I make my patchbay cables of this, and also any cables for synths that I use on live gigs. I also make some of my longer run studio cables from this, the stuff that might get moved around a lot of stepped on from time to time.
Hope this helps.
