I've chosen what to get, no what about cables?!

[badgerer]

Hello,

I've decided to create my own little home studio to record some of my music. This is what I've decided to buy on my budget:

Shure SM57 Mic
DK112 Kick Drum/Bass Mic
Behringer MX1604A Mixer
AKG K240 Moniter Headphones
Audiophile 2496
Alesis Moniter One Mk2 Moniters

Now this should give me a start in recording (I have N-Tracks for software), but cables will I need? The whole prospect of cables confuses the hell outta me! Will the mics come with the cables? What size cables will I need to attach from soundcard > mixer > Mics?? Your help please!

Cheers,

Tom

 

[badgerer]

P.S. I haven't got a compressor. I'm a one man band, so I would assume I would only need one, considering I will be only using a maximum of two inputs at a time (for drums)...? But what would I need on a small budget (of say under £80)? Thanks

 

[BrettB]

mics, don't go with cables, you need a couple of XLR cables to connect them with your mixer.

I haven't got a clue about the price range of outboard compressors though.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Badge:

From the looks of your gear, you will need seveal types of cables. Mogami cables are reasonalbe and good quality. As well, I use cables like ProCo and Carvin -- they all seem to work pretty well, including my two high end cables -- one for my vocal mic and one for my synth.

Sounds like you are in England or somewhere where the Pound is the currency.

I'd check out some vendors in your area and look at the way items are set up and use of cables.

Sounds like your Alesis speakers are just plain old speaker cable [I don't think they are powered speakers] Depending what you hook your speakers into, you could use banana clips at one end, [kind of a squeeze-in type and fits very well] or solid tip ends.

You certainly can see speaker wire set ups in a store/vendor.

It will all work out as you plug in one cable at a time.

Green Hornet

 

[AlChuck]

If you have the M1 Active speakers (the powered ones), all you need for them is a pair of XLR cables to connect from the Behringer's main outs to the speakers. If you have the passive M1 speakers, you need a stereo power amp between the mixer and the speakers, and regular speaker wire from the amp to the speakers.

You need cables to connect from your mixer to your sound card two for the outputs, and two (I believe) for the inputs. I also don't know what connectors the Audiophile has -- are they RCA? You would either need cables with 1/4" plugs on one side and RCA on the other, or use the Two Track In/Out RCA connectors on the mixer. I'm not sure what the routing limitiations of doing that might be.

I have a similar situation -- a pair of Alesis M1 Actives, and the same mixer as you. What I do with my setup is send the Alt 3/4 outputs to two of my four inputs (I have a Delta 66 with four analog ins), and I have the outs of my soundcard into a pair of the non-preamp-equipped channels on the mixer. When I record through mics I need to disable the speakers and monitor through the phones plugged into the mixer, and route the mic channels to the Alt 3/4 outs.

 

[badgerer]

If you have the M1 Active speakers (the powered ones), all you need for them is a pair of XLR cables to connect from the Behringer's main outs to the speakers. If you have the passive M1 speakers, you need a stereo power amp between the mixer and the speakers, and regular speaker wire from the amp to the speakers.

You need cables to connect from your mixer to your sound card two for the outputs, and two (I believe) for the inputs. I also don't know what connectors the Audiophile has -- are they RCA? You would either need cables with 1/4" plugs on one side and RCA on the other, or use the Two Track In/Out RCA connectors on the mixer. I'm not sure what the routing limitiations of doing that might be.

I have a similar situation -- a pair of Alesis M1 Actives, and the same mixer as you. What I do with my setup is send the Alt 3/4 outputs to two of my four inputs (I have a Delta 66 with four analog ins), and I have the outs of my soundcard into a pair of the non-preamp-equipped channels on the mixer. When I record through mics I need to disable the speakers and monitor through the phones plugged into the mixer, and route the mic channels to the Alt 3/4 outs.

Hmm...Sounds like a bit of headache! I think the best strategy would to be buy all of the hardware, then work out what cables I need...yeah?

Also, does the setup sound good to you guys?

Thanks very much,

Tom

 

[badgerer]

By the way, in case you hadn't noticed I'm completely new to all this, and therefore don't know much in the way of jargon yet. I don't know anyone with any real knowledge on what I'm trying to acheive, so I'm learning everything from magazines and the internet. At times I feel I can't manage all this technical speak, and get completely lost! So bear with me please!

Cue stupid questions:

What's the difference between active and passive moniters? Actives have their own power source I'm guessing? So if I got passive moniters I would need some sort of power amp between them and the mixer? How much would this cost?

Thanks again

 

[AlChuck]

What's the difference between active and passive moniters? Actives have their own power source I'm guessing? So if I got passive moniters I would need some sort of power amp between them and the mixer? How much would this cost?

Bingo, you guessed it. Passive monitors would require a power amp to drive them. You can use a stereo receiver if you must; good power amps (amp only) cost anywhere from upwards of $250 or so. Powered speakers have a lot of advantages, and are very price competitive with a power amp + passive speakers.

 

[badgerer]

Bingo, you guessed it. Passive monitors would require a power amp to drive them. You can use a stereo receiver if you must; good power amps (amp only) cost anywhere from upwards of $250 or so. Powered speakers have a lot of advantages, and are very price competitive with a power amp + passive speakers.

Ok, right I'll be going for the active Alesis' then! Does anyone know what cables I will need for my setup at all? I will be resorting to buying everything but cables and then seeing what I will need otherwise, which is a bit frustrating. All the "you should output your XLR 3/4 alt current cable to the 3rd output on the 5th input of your mixer" type of speak really confuses me, sorry! (I know that quote didn't make any sense!)

From what I understand:

- 2 XLR cables for the two mics (where can I get these? I live in England)
- 1 cable for mixer > headphones (bog standard 1/4" cabling?)
- Cables from the mixer to the moniters...:

I have a similar situation -- a pair of Alesis M1 Actives, and the same mixer as you. What I do with my setup is send the Alt 3/4 outputs to two of my four inputs (I have a Delta 66 with four analog ins), and I have the outs of my soundcard into a pair of the non-preamp-equipped channels on the mixer. When I record through mics I need to disable the speakers and monitor through the phones plugged into the mixer, and route the mic channels to the Alt 3/4 outs.

Umm... I got completely lost on this! Sorry! From what I understand... I should hook my moniters into two inputs on the mixer (a stereo input?) (whats a delta 66?). I got well confused past that!

I need the cables from the soundcard to the mixer, what cables would I need for that? Sorry for the huge amount of questions here, but I'm really learning as I go along, and am really eager to start recording my songs!!

Thanks again,

Tom

 

[AlChuck]

Headphones have their own cables, usually.

You can usually get XLR cables at the same place that you can get microphones.

Sorry about the geek-speak, but it's kind of hard to understand what you need until you understand what it is what the gear does. You wouldn't buy a bicycle if you didn't know it was a two-wheeld conveyance to take you somewhere, would you?

It's normal to buy stuff before you're really ready to make intelligent choices -- I did the same thing when I started -- but of course the more you can grasp and think of up front, the fewer mistakes you will make, and the fewer times you'll say, oh shit, I guess I need another cable for this...

Take heart in the fact that it's really pretty easy to understand if you break it down and think of the audio signal as a flow of something (like water in a pipe) through passageways, into and out of entrances or exits from one piece of gear to another.

There are tons of books and good websites, and maybe you have friends or acquaintances that know some of this...

Umm... I got completely lost on this! Sorry! From what I understand... I should hook my moniters into two inputs on the mixer (a stereo input?) (whats a delta 66?). I got well confused past that!

Huh? SOunds like you sure are garbling things up there.

The monitors get hooked to a pair of outputs on the mixer -- could be the main outs or the control room outs. Of course, this makes no sense to you yet, but if you learn how mixers work and what they do, it will make perfect sense.

A Delta 66 is just another model of soundcard made by the same company (M Audio, that is) that makes the Audiophile 2496 card you are talking about getting.

 

[badgerer]

Headphones have their own cables, usually.

You can usually get XLR cables at the same place that you can get microphones.

Ok cool, will I be looking for XLR to XLR leads? I've found this site http://www.emismusic.com/cables.htm which seems to have a good selection of the different types...

So will I need two cables from the soundcard > mixer? What type of cables will I need for that? Aside from the headphones cable which should come with the cans, and the mic cables, is that all I need then? And the moniter leads as well of course!

Sorry about the geek-speak, but it's kind of hard to understand what you need until you understand what it is what the gear does. You wouldn't buy a bicycle if you didn't know it was a two-wheeld conveyance to take you somewhere, would you?

It's normal to buy stuff before you're really ready to make intelligent choices -- I did the same thing when I started -- but of course the more you can grasp and think of up front, the fewer mistakes you will make, and the fewer times you'll say, oh shit, I guess I need another cable for this...

Take heart in the fact that it's really pretty easy to understand if you break it down and think of the audio signal as a flow of something (like water in a pipe) through passageways, into and out of entrances or exits from one piece of gear to another.

There are tons of books and good websites, and maybe you have friends or acquaintances that know some of this...

Ok, thanks very much!

Huh? SOunds like you sure are garbling things up there.

The monitors get hooked to a pair of outputs on the mixer -- could be the main outs or the control room outs. Of course, this makes no sense to you yet, but if you learn how mixers work and what they do, it will make perfect sense.

A Delta 66 is just another model of soundcard made by the same company (M Audio, that is) that makes the Audiophile 2496 card you are talking about getting.

Ok well that makes more sense now!

Thanks again

 

[badgerer]

I may have just worked this out from AlChuck's post:

If you have the M1 Active speakers (the powered ones), all you need for them is a pair of XLR cables to connect from the Behringer's main outs to the speakers.

So I just need two normal XLR cables? Same as ones used for mics?

You need cables to connect from your mixer to your sound card two for the outputs, and two (I believe) for the inputs. I also don't know what connectors the Audiophile has -- are they RCA? You would either need cables with 1/4" plugs on one side and RCA on the other, or use the Two Track In/Out RCA connectors on the mixer. I'm not sure what the routing limitiations of doing that might be.

The 2496's manual says, "2x2 analog I/O accepts common unbalanced audio on RCA jacks." so I'm guessing that means it has RCA connectors! So I'll need 1/4" > RCA leads for the connection from mixer to soundcard, for of them for the 2 inputs and 2 outputs?

Thanks

 

[AlChuck]

Ok cool, will I be looking for XLR to XLR leads?

They are called "microphone cables." They have one end with a female connector (three small holes) that plugs into the mic end and one end with a male connector that has three pins surrounded by a cylindrical jacket.

So will I need two cables from the soundcard > mixer? What type of cables will I need for that?

Well, it depends. Assuming the Audiophile is the card that you want to get, it has two pairs of RCA jacks on it -- one pair for inputs, one pair for outputs.

If you wanted to plug the ALT 3/4 outputs of the mixer into the inputs of the soundcard, you would use two cables, each with a 1/4" mono connector on one end and an RCA on the other. Similarly, if you wanted to pipe the outputs of the soundcard into a pair of channels on the mixer, you could use two more of the same.

That's the way I would do it. There might also be a way to use the Tape In and Tape Out jacks on the mixer. That would prevent you from using any effects sends on the mixer (I think), but that might not matter (it wouldn't for my setup, I'm using software plug-in effects within my multitrack recording software entirely). Oh, yeah, there's no gain control on those either, which is probably an impediment.

Aside from the headphones cable which should come with the cans, and the mic cables, is that all I need then? And the moniter leads as well of course!

Do you have other things to plug in? Line outs from guitar processors or outboard preamps? Will you want to use outboard effects (digital reverb, delay, compressor, etc? You'll need cables for those (probably regular 1/4" instrument cables for the most part.)

As far as your other questions about what the other connectors do, why not download the PDF manual for the mixer off of the Behringer website? A good general article about mixers and their anatomy might also prove helfpul.

Here's a couple:

http://www.just-for-musicians.com/mixing-board.html
http://industryclick.com/magazinear...leaseid=2246&magazinearticleid=2046&siteid=15
http://www.tweakheadz.com/choosing_a_mixer_for_your_studio.html
http://www.musicianstechcentral.com/mixer.html
http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/equipment/mixers/mixers.html

Here's one on using a mixer with a computer recording setup:

http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/jun02/articles/mixercomputer.asp

OK, now I'll shut up too, I got a lot of stuff to do...

 

[badgerer]

If you wanted to plug the ALT 3/4 outputs of the mixer into the inputs of the soundcard, you would use two cables, each with a 1/4" mono connector on one end and an RCA on the other. Similarly, if you wanted to pipe the outputs of the soundcard into a pair of channels on the mixer, you could use two more of the same.

That's the way I would do it. There might also be a way to use the Tape In and Tape Out jacks on the mixer. That would prevent you from using any effects sends on the mixer (I think), but that might not matter (it wouldn't for my setup, I'm using software plug-in effects within my multitrack recording software entirely). Oh, yeah, there's no gain control on those either, which is probably an impediment.

Ok, so I'll need 4x RCA > 1/4" leads then and I'm set! Along with all the other leads of course, then I just need to figure out where everything plugs in when I get it all hehe!

Do you have other things to plug in? Line outs from guitar processors or outboard preamps? Will you want to use outboard effects (digital reverb, delay, compressor, etc? You'll need cables for those (probably regular 1/4" instrument cables for the most part.)

For now, I don't have anything else to plug in, I'll probably do that and complicate matters further in the future!

As far as your other questions about what the other connectors do, why not download the PDF manual for the mixer off of the Behringer website? A good general article about mixers and their anatomy might also prove helfpul.

Here's a couple:

http://www.just-for-musicians.com/mixing-board.html
http://industryclick.com/magazinear...leaseid=2246&magazinearticleid=2046&siteid=15
http://www.tweakheadz.com/choosing_a_mixer_for_your_studio.html
http://www.musicianstechcentral.com/mixer.html
http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/equipment/mixers/mixers.html

Here's one on using a mixer with a computer recording setup:

http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/jun02/articles/mixercomputer.asp

OK, now I'll shut up too, I got a lot of stuff to do...

Hehe, thanks very much you've all been a great help to me starting out with all this recording stuff! I think I'm done for now, I will let you know when I've got all my stuff and am ready for more questions!

Cheers,

Tom

 

[AlChuck]

Cool, best o' luck...

 

[badgerer]

I have a similar situation -- a pair of Alesis M1 Actives, and the same mixer as you. What I do with my setup is send the Alt 3/4 outputs to two of my four inputs (I have a Delta 66 with four analog ins), and I have the outs of my soundcard into a pair of the non-preamp-equipped channels on the mixer. When I record through mics I need to disable the speakers and monitor through the phones plugged into the mixer, and route the mic channels to the Alt 3/4 outs.

Just randomly bringing up an old thread here, still waiting for my recording stuff to arrive, with no luck yet. It's supposed to arrive today, but I doubt it will...

What are "non-preamp-equipped channels on the mixer"? I don't really understand...

Thanks

 

[AlChuck]

Well, the mixer has 12 input channels, not counting the stereo RCA Tape In. There are eight line-level ones, in pairs that share a fader for setting levels -- 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, and 11/12, Then there are the first four which have both XLR connectors and 1/4" connectors and have trimpots that set the gain applied to the input signal so that the mic level signal comes up to line level so it can be reouted into the mixer. These four are the preamp-equipped channels. The rest are therefore the non-preamp-equipped channels.

 

[badgerer]

Ah I geddit, cheers. Now just gotta wait for the stuff to arrive...