Topic: Cables & adapters for a Soundboard feed / patch to a 3.5mm input (pic)

[su6oxone]

I went through the SBD threads and gathered the following equipment:

1. Dual RCA female to 1/8" stereo male cable (Monoprice)
2. (2) RCA female to RCA female adapters (Monoprice)
3. (2) XLR female to RCA female adapters (Hosa)
4. (2) XLR male to RCA female adapters (Hosa)
5. (2) 1/4" mono male to RCA female adapters (Hosa)
6. (1) 1/4" stereo male to dual RCA female adapter (Hosa)
7. (1) 1/8" stereo male to 1/8" stereo male cable (in case I need to patch out of a line-out jack)



Will this basically cover me for almost any SBD feed situation?  I'm not clear on the balanced versus unbalanced issues with this equipment, but is that something I need to be concerned about? 

[69mako]

Looks like you are good to go...

[dave570]

Agreed.  I did board patches from 1995-2005 to a D8 and all those in your pic is what I carried. But I also avoided splitters as much as possible and carried XLR (male and female) to mini, 1/4 inch RCA to mini, RCA to mini, etc without splitters. I don't think it mattered, but I bought the cables anyway. I'd say 50% of the boards I saw in clubs and theaters were XLR, 45% were 1/4 inch RCA and 5% were RCA. You may also want to get an attenuator if you are not taping in 24 bit. Board feeds are usually very hot. Distortion and noise can occur at any time. Always monitor the board feed via headphones, esp if its hot so you know before you get home.

One more piece of advice, a board feed may not sound like what you heard at a show. The engineer is mixing the show for the audience, not for your recorder. For example, the lead guitar may be low in the mix on the board but sound really good in the venue. There is nothing you can do about this. Asking the engineer to raise the lead guitar in the mix will not work. Their job is to make the band sound good in the venue. This is why people do matrix recording as blending in the audience & board feed make the recordings sound better than just pure board, IMO. Good luck!

[shaggy28]

thanks a lot for this topic. I've been lucky so far that there's only one venue in town with XLR's and i don't have anything but RCA's and 1/8 to 1/8. Thanks for putting this all in one place, will make getting the rest much easier.

[edtyre]

Thanks for the picture Phil

Looks like you have it covered
I have everything but the 1/4>dual rca
and thats what i needed last time out

[su6oxone]

Thanks for the picture Phil

Looks like you have it covered
I have everything but the 1/4>dual rca
and thats what i needed last time out

Cool, thanks for the input everyone!  I was always a bit confused about all the gear so I'm glad if it helps people visualize what you might need.

Looks like I should be good to go... although an attenuater seems like a good idea too. 

[yltfan]

Agreed.  I did board patches from 1995-2005 to a D8 and all those in your pic is what I carried. But I also avoided splitters as much as possible and carried XLR (male and female) to mini, 1/4 inch RCA to mini, RCA to mini, etc without splitters. I don't think it mattered, but I bought the cables anyway. I'd say 50% of the boards I saw in clubs and theaters were XLR, 45% were 1/4 inch RCA and 5% were RCA. You may also want to get an attenuator if you are not taping in 24 bit. Board feeds are usually very hot. Distortion and noise can occur at any time. Always monitor the board feed via headphones, esp if its hot so you know before you get home.

One more piece of advice, a board feed may not sound like what you heard at a show. The engineer is mixing the show for the audience, not for your recorder. For example, the lead guitar may be low in the mix on the board but sound really good in the venue. There is nothing you can do about this. Asking the engineer to raise the lead guitar in the mix will not work. Their job is to make the band sound good in the venue. This is why people do matrix recording as blending in the audience & board feed make the recordings sound better than just pure board, IMO. Good luck!

Yes--that looks like plenty of stuff. I only carry the female xlr's, 1/4 inch and rca-mini, and I've always been able to plug in.

On dave570's points, I have to disagree a tiny bit, or at least offer another point about getting your feed adjusted. I have almost always been able to get the engineer to cut the output to a good level. I set my levels fairly low (but with some room to drop back), and see what the (much lower level) canned music before the band is looking like, expecting the live sound to be 2-3 times louder. Ask them if it's possible to drop it back a bit, or maybe a bunch--but do this before things get too busy. Also, I have been able to get some engineers to adjust my mix a bit--I usually ask them to kind of even things out, boost the guitar, cut the drums, vocals--whatever they think will work best. Sometimes, that's not an option, but when it is, it's worth it--especially if you aren't able to mix with some room mics, which is where I definitely agree with dave570--matrix is the way to go!

[dave570]

I agree. Maybe I was too negative in my post. Adjusting the output by the engineer is always possible. Too hot or too cold output from the board sucks and they will usually help out if politely asked. Adjusting the instruments is more difficult, but it can be done if the engineer is in a good mood and has the time. It is very rare, but I have been able to make this happen.

Speaking of time, assuming you are in the venue for the soundcheck, this is the moment to get your board feed adjusted. Checking the output and lowing vocals/drums/keys while raising the guitars should be done during the soundcheck when the "stress" on everyone is less. Doing this while the show begins is not recommended, however it doesn't mean you won't have to do this even after you get everything right during the soundcheck. Sometimes things change after the set begins, so you have to check it out again.

There is this famous rock band that I used to board tape. Their rhythm guitarist would never attend any soundcheck and their roadie would play his instrument during the check. I would patch into the board and get everything set up just right. Their rhythm guitarist would come onstage for the show and turn up his amp to the dismay of everyone (other band members and engineer) due to his hearing loss. The tapes would sound funny. Finally, it got to a point where they disabled his amp switch and no matter what he did to it, the sound was the same as what was set in the soundcheck. 

[su6oxone]

There is this famous rock band that I used to board tape. Their rhythm guitarist would never attend any soundcheck and their roadie would play his instrument during the check. I would patch into the board and get everything set up just right. Their rhythm guitarist would come onstage for the show and turn up his amp to the dismay of everyone (other band members and engineer) due to his hearing loss. The tapes would sound funny. Finally, it got to a point where they disabled his amp switch and no matter what he did to it, the sound was the same as what was set in the soundcheck. 

Classic!

Pray tell what famous rock band this was. 

[popskull]

There is this famous rock band that I used to board tape. Their rhythm guitarist would never attend any soundcheck and their roadie would play his instrument during the check. I would patch into the board and get everything set up just right. Their rhythm guitarist would come onstage for the show and turn up his amp to the dismay of everyone (other band members and engineer) due to his hearing loss. The tapes would sound funny. Finally, it got to a point where they disabled his amp switch and no matter what he did to it, the sound was the same as what was set in the soundcheck. 

Classic!

Pray tell what famous rock band this was. 

Hearing loss? I thought it was all those Ricks he plays

[goodcooker]

Also, I have been able to get some engineers to adjust my mix a bit--I usually ask them to kind of even things out, boost the guitar, cut the drums, vocals--whatever they think will work best. Sometimes, that's not an option, but when it is, it's worth it--

Don't expect engineers to set you up a separate sub/group mix and maintain it unless you

a) know them personally
b) have greased their wheels considerably
c) work for the band

Like you said.......sometimes it is an option....just wouldn't want any noobs reading that and getting some ideas at the FOH with their MD. A lot of engineers would tell you to get lost if you asked for a separate mix if a,b or c were not the case.

More on topic - I carry two cables - a 1/4 inch stereo to mini and a stereo RCA to mini and a set of XLR female to 1/4 inch adapters. Never had a problem.

[wklitz]

picture looks like you have pretty much everything you'd need...I would add an XLR splitter as well for instances of sbd's with only a mono XLR out so you can run into both channels of your recorder.....

I'm not a big fan of those 1/4" to RCA female adapters, I would investigate a cable that does the same thing.