Is Recording With Mic Snakes A Bad Idea?

[ghetto3jon]

i've read that most mic snakes are not generally used in recording environments because they deteriorate your sound...is this true? can't that be said about all mic cables (if you're picky enough)?

i'm looking at this 8 xlr to 8 xlr snake:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=021031194253140186049214270792/search/bigpid/base_id/54200

should i be worried about this supposed "sound quality deterioration?"

i've no recording-with-a-snake experience...if you do, please give me your opinion...

thanks.

 

[Stealthtech]

If your tracking 8 mics at once, I guess you would need a snake right ? If tracking one at a time, I would use a high quality cable as short as possible.

 

[littledog]

I use three of them in my studio:

One to get mics from my drum room to my control room.
One to get from my isolation room to my control room.
One functioning as an XLR patchbay going to all my outboard preamp inputs.

It's a convenient and economical way of working. There may be a slight compromise in signal quality compared to some other solutions, but it works well enough for me.

 

[Light]

A high quality snake (Mogami) is just as good as a high quality cable (also Mogami).

Light

"Politics is about making peoples lives better."
--Senator Paul Wellstone--

 

[TexRoadkill]

One functioning as an XLR patchbay going to all my outboard preamp inputs.

Are you just using that for Preamp inputs or outputs also? Do you run the Live Room snake into the Preamp snake?

 

[Uladine]

I use a 12 channel 100 ft. snake for recording every once in a while and although I'm no veteran audiophile, I couldn't really tell the difference between my "snake recordings" and my "mic cable only recordings". It really comes in handy when doing drums if you can use a whole house for recording, because you can put the loud stuff (drums) at the other end of the house and monitor with your regular studio monitors at the other end. No need for an isolation booth or monitoring headphones.

Oh and I use the return channels on the snake to feed a headphone mix to my heaphone amp for the performer(s).

 

[littledog]

Are you just using that for Preamp inputs or outputs also? Do you run the Live Room snake into the Preamp snake?

Good point, Uladine - I also use the returns for headphone sends.

Anyway, Tex, no... there's no reason to use a mic snake for preamp outputs. It's the inputs that send the phantom power to the mics, which is why I want an XLR patchbay for the inputs. The outputs are hardwired to my TT patchbay.

And, yes, that's exactly how I do it: the live room snake channels get routed to the appropriate channel on the mic pre snake. It's a quick an easy way of getting the right mic to the right preamp.

 

[analogelectric]

Long length means signal loss...

I bought a 100 foot snake for my old studio when I had bands record throughout the whole building and found some issues.

You have to be concerned with the Impedance of long cables. When you have long distances signal becomes weaker. I ended up trimming a lot of the cable down to about 25 feet to rectify any problems. I used my Ohmmeter once to see how much resistance I was getting from 100 feet as opposed to 25 and there was a vast difference. Before I cut it down I did notice a fair amount of high-end signal loss. If you have to go long distances I would suggest a line driver to boost the signal. I’m really trying not to go over anyone’s head so I hope this makes sense without me going into electronic jargon.

 

[sjoko2]

Snake or individual cable, there is no difference ...... it al depends on quality.
Cheap cable - get signal deterioration, good cable - good signal.
Cheap snake - crap signal, good snake - good signal.

 

[analogelectric]

"Snake or individual cable, there is no difference ...... it all depends on quality."

The hell if that's true. 100 feet is 100 feet even if the cable is made out of pure gold or fiber optic. The longer you go the more degradation you have in the long run! I can't believe you'd have an opinion like that without losing quality in signal. I spent over $2000 on cabling at one point for studio installations and found that line/mic level was a concern once you hit over the 20-foot mark, or sometimes less. It didn't matter whether it was Mogami or ProCo Gold my measurements showed significant losses in Impedance.

 

[sjoko2]

"Snake or individual cable, there is no difference ...... it all depends on quality."

The hell if that's true. 100 feet is 100 feet even if the cable is made out of pure gold or fiber optic. The longer you go the more degradation you have in the long run! I can't believe you'd have an opinion like that without losing quality in signal. I spent over $2000 on cabling at one point for studio installations and found that line/mic level was a concern once you hit over the 20-foot mark, or sometimes less. It didn't matter whether it was Mogami or ProCo Gold my measurements showed significant losses in Impedance.

??????
I'm sorry bro, you missed the point by a hefty 100%
The question was: Does using a snake cause deterioration in sound quality as opposed to individual cable.
The answer remains the same, no, depending on the quality of material used.
Obviously length is a factor for analogue and the majority of digital cable (the majority - not all - as some new formats can transmit multiple channels for over a mile without significant loss or latency). But then............who would run a 100 feet if you can get away with 20?
In addition, there is certainly cable available that reduces loss of runs up to approximately 100 feet to practically insignificant, but neiter mogamy nor procogold fall into that catagory.