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Types of Cables Used At a Recording Studio

It helps to think of cables not by their length or their color but by their function. A cable transports a signal, of course, but in music and audio recording, a cable carries only one of three types of signal: audio, data, or power. (A power cord is a fairly straightforward concept, so we don't need to devote much thought to it.) The type of connector at the end of an audio or data cable further defines its function within that category. Following is a look at both the connectors and the functions of the various cables.

Audio cables

These transport analog audio, or „actual music“ that, when put through a speaker or headphones, produce music. Audio is the most fragile of the three types of signals, and it doesn't take much to corrupt it—introducing hum or noise into the system. So buy high-quality cables from music stores, rather than a no-label brand at a consumer electronics store (though these will certainly serve their purpose in a pinch). Following are the different types of connectors you'll find on audio cables.

1/8" Stereo

Also known as „mini,“ this is the type of connection used for DiscMan and MP3 player headphones. The 1/8" jack is found on soundcards for both mic inputs and speaker outputs. Apple still builds them into their Macintosh computers. You can convert a 1 /8" stereo cable into other types of connections through adapters.

1/4" Mono or Stereo

Mono 1 /4" cables are unbalanced, consisting of a tip and a sleeve (and are sometimes referred to as TS) for signal and ground. These include instrument cables, which are used to connect guitars, keyboards, and drum machines, and line-level cables, used for hooking together components. Line-level cables can have either RCA (sometimes called Phono) plugs on them or 1 /4" plugs.

Stereo 1 /4" cables consist of a tip, ring, and sleeve, and they can be used to carry three kinds of signals:

  1. Balanced audio (tip = + signal; ring = – signal; sleeve = ground)
  2. Stereo (tip = left channel; ring = right channel; sleeve = ground)
  3. Send/return for a stereo insert jack (tip = send; ring = return; sleeve = ground)

As if this weren't versatile enough, a stereo 1 /4" plug can substitute for a mono 1 /4" plug (but not vice versa).

RCA

This connector features a center post and surrounding flange, which looks like a castle turret (see the below figure). RCA cables carry unbalanced audio and are commonly found on home stereo gear. You can easily convert an RCA to a 1/4" TS plug or jack with an adapter. (RCA plugs and jacks are also used for S/PDIF data).

RCA cable

XLR

An XLR connection has a three-pronged plug that carries balanced audio (see the below figure). Electrically identical to 1/4" balanced lines, XLR connections use more heavy-duty wire and insulation, and they're found in microphones, P.A. connections, and balanced-line situations where a more robust approach to cabling is warranted. (XLR is also used for AES/EBU data.)

XLR cable

Data Cables

Data signals include everything from MIDI to computer messages to digital clock. It's important to remember that MIDI, although it usually makes music in the final analysis (by driving a synth module or triggering a hard disk sample), is a data connection. Following are some of the different types of data connections you'll encounter.

MIDI

An acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI uses a five-pin connection, arranged in a semicircle (see the below figure). It's unidirec­tional, so you need two cables to establish an in and out connection between any two pieces of gear. But one MIDI cable can carry up to 16 separate channels.

MIDI cable

S/PDIF Pronounced ess-pee-diffor SPIH-diff, S/PDIF is short for Sony/Philips Digital Interface. It's a stereo digital-audio protocol (unidirectional) that transfers a signal across an instrument cable with RCA plugs, or via Toslink (after Toshiba, who invented it) fiber-optic cables (see the below figure).

S/PDIF cable

ADAT Lightpipe

Lightpipe is the name given to Alesis' eight-channel digital-audio protocol, which travels over Toslink fiber-optic cables. Lightpipe is a standard, and many digital mixers and audio interfaces sport ADAT Lightpipe connections.

TDIF

TDIF stands for TASCAM Digital Interface. This is TASCAM's digital-audio format, which carries digital multitrack, digital audio, and sync information, and it uses a computer-style 25-pin connector, called a DB25 (see the below figure).

TDIF cable

AES/EBU

AES/EBU stands for Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcast Union. This format carries stereo digital audio via an XLR connection (see the below figure). It's used largely in Europe in professional-level audio applications.

AES/EBU cable

BNC

Also called a bayonet connection, because of the twisting motion used to lock it intc place (like affixing a bayonet to a rifle), BNC uses a center pin and sleeve to make Word Clock connections (see the below figure).

BNC cable
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