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Tying It All Together
About twelve
years ago a friend of mine was working as a tech for a San Diego-based
electronics repair company. His job was to put broken equipment back
together. So, he had the raw materials needed to do work on all manner of
electronic equipment.
At the same time I was doing a lot of experimenting with acoustic guitar
amplification, as well as a lot of coffeehouse performing. Since I was using
very high-impedance pickups for my acoustic guitar I noticed a lot of
interference and noise when I amplified it. I inquired with him about
custom-building me some cables using higher-quality components to see what
the difference would be. I was amazed at the improvement. Quality cable had
better shielding and thicker gauge wire that translated into better
frequency response and a more open sound. I was hooked.
Cables are just as important as any other piece of equipment in your
recording or performance environment. Amazingly, though, many people – even
professionals – use fairly cheap off-the-rack cable to connect their
equipment.
For a lot of people, it’s an issue of cost. However, if you know how to put
cable together from bulk supplies you can cut your expenses in half.
Companies like Canare and Neutrik sell bulk cable and connectors
(respectively) that are as good as one can ask for. After you’ve procured
the bulk supplies it’s just a question of finding an electronics-savvy
friend who is handy with a soldering iron to wire up the cables for your
needs. As a bonus, custom-made cable can easily be made to specific lengths
that fit your needs.
If you have deeper pockets and want to go with pre-configured cables there
are a plethora of choices. Some companies are sold on utilizing silver,
others on oxygen-free copper. The conductive materials and specific trends
of cable creation evolve as our understanding of perceiving sound expands.
Today I use the best quality cable I can afford to connect my mastering
studio, and I’m always on the lookout for better stuff. What quality cable
offers is a more pure, accurate transference of an electronic signal that
ultimately ends up vibrating a speaker and moving air molecules into sound.
Pretty important, huh?
© 2003
Paul Abbott. |
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