the length of mic cables

[Nick The Man]

does the length of the cables effect the quality

how about if i connect three 25 foot cables to reach a specific spot ...will that affect the quality alot

 

[DonF]

As long as the cables and connectors are in good shape, and the mic and input are low impedance and balanced, connecting three cables end-to-end should not affect your sound at all.

 

[thajeremy]

I often connect 2 cables end to end like that. If you think about it, when you use a snake, that is what you are doing. Take a 100ft snake and stretch it out, connect one side to your mixer and the other to what?...another cable. Although I have heard that you will loose signal strength when connecting cables like that, many of us "Home Recorders" work with what we have. I wouldnt expect the high end studios to practice this.

 

[Nick The Man]

ok thanks alot guys



how about instrument cable..... same deal?

 

[crazydoc]

It seems even professionals can't fully agree on this, but I think it's safe to assume that in the home recording environment anything less than 100-200 feet would have no audible effect.

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/5390/0/0/0

 

[DonF]

how about instrument cable..... same deal?

Nope. The impedance of an instrument input is a bit higher than that of a mic input, and it is also unbalanced. You will probably pick up quite a bit of noise and hum with a long cable run. But that's what direct boxes are for. Plug the instrument into a direct box, connect your long mic cable, and plug the other end of the mic cable into a mic input.

 

[lbcstudios]

ya.. if u are going to make longs runs.. try to use a balanced cable for less hiss and noise.

 

[analogelectric]

I'm pretty anal about xlr's and instrument cables.

If I get more than 20 feet on any config I use a powered DI cuz without it I get hiss, line noise, and signal loss; it's not how I have my studio set up but it's because of signal integrity over "x" amount of feet.

My XLR snake is less than 50 feet of Mogami cables from the control room to a box in the performance area.

The only type of hum I notice is when there isn't good star-point grounding in a studio I'm working in so therefore they have to stand direct Magnetic North or Magnetic South in order to lessen the hum.

25 feet is subjective. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you really want to, do a test of 20' as opposed to 25'.... you probably won't notice much difference.

-- Adam Lazlo

 

[turnitdown]

Try to keep them away from power cords... (AC...)

 

[analogelectric]

Try to keep them away from power cords... (AC...)

Yes, do avoid power cords and/or AC lines as much as possible but if you have to run them, do it perpendicular to one another and not parallel. You'll possibly get line noise running cables parallel to AC/power cords lines.

Perpendicular "+"
Parallel "="

I've also noticed to stay away from logic control units with I/O pulse circuits, like a Remote Control Unit.

-- Adam Lazlo