Gear / Technical Help > Cables
Cables for soundboard patches
Brian Skalinder:
When it comes to cables, there are three factors to consider when patching out of the soundboard:
<1> plugging into the soundboard
There are only so many options for soundboard outputs. These outputs are usually XLR-male, RCA-female, and 1/4" mono female (and occasionally 1/4" stereo female which I won't address here). So we need to have cables or adapters that will allows us to plug into the outputs listed above.
<2> running a length of cable to get out of the way
Since the soundboard outputs are, well, part of the soundboard, it's best to have a length of cable so we may run our gear out of the sound engineer's way. Six feet should suffice.
<3> plugging into the preamp/ADC/recorder
How to feed the signal to our preamp/ADC/recorder depends on the connectors on our preamp/ADC/connector. The most common preamps/ADCs/recorders have the following connectors: XLR-female, RCA-female, and stereo mini female.
Let's look at precisely what it would take to plug into the soundboard with a preamp/ADC/recorder having each of the connectors mentioned above. All three options below addresses the three factors from above: <1> supports the three most common soundboard connectors, <2> provides a length of cable to run your gear out of the sound engineer's way, and <3> includes the appropriate plug for the preamp/ADC/recorder. In each case, there are multiple ways to configure your own cables/adapters, but hopefully this will give an idea of what's required for each. If the preamp/ADC/recorder connector is:
<a> stereo mini female
David Klein took a pic of probably the easiest solution for those wanting to plug in their portable recorder that has a stereo mini female plug (also attached below). The list of cables / adapters:
[*][2] XLR-female / RCA-female adapters (see DKlein pic)
[*][2] 1/4" mono male / RCA-female adapters (see DKlein pic)
[*]length of cable with [2] RCA-male on one end and [1] stereo mini male on the other end (see DKlein pic)
[/list]
<b> RCA-male
This scenario requires a minimal change to the one David shows above in his picture. Instead of the stereo mini male adapter on one end of the cable run, simply replace it with a pair of RCA-male connectors. The list of cables/adapters:
[*][2] XLR-female / RCA-female adapters (see DKlein pic)
[*][2] 1/4" mono male / RCA-female adapters (see DKlein pic)
[*]length of cable with [2] RCA-male on both ends (not pictured)
[/list]
<c> XLR-male
I would mix up the solution for this one a bit. Since the preamp/ADC/recorder takes XLR-male connectors, I would use a pair of XLR-male / XLR-female cables for my run length. That way, I could use the cables as interconnects, or even short mic cables, if necessary. This would also require a change from the adapters listed above. The list of cables / adapters (see attached for pics of the different adapters):
[*][2] RCA-male / XLR-male adapters (see attached pic)
[*][2] 1/4" mono male / XLR-male adapters (see attached pic)
[*]length of cable with [2] XLR-male on one end and [2] XLR-female on the other end (not pictured)
[/list]
Cooker:
--- Quote from: Brian Skalinder on February 20, 2004, 10:24:20 AM ---
[2] 1/4" female | RCA male adapter
--- End quote ---
shouldn't this be the other way around?
[2] 1/4" male | RCA female adapter
basically, two of these:
nickgregory:
I actually made a couple of 6' XLRF->1/4" (1/4" to go into my mixer), and I ordered a couple of 1/4"/XLRM and RCA/XLRM adapters....basically did this in agreement with Brian...makes it easier to haul around 2 SBD cables and adapters for all possible outputs...
Brian Skalinder:
--- Quote from: cooker on February 23, 2004, 01:45:45 PM ---
--- Quote from: Brian Skalinder on February 20, 2004, 10:24:20 AM ---
[2] 1/4" female | RCA male adapter
--- End quote ---
shouldn't this be the other way around?
[2] 1/4" male | RCA female adapter
--- End quote ---
Good catch, Cooker. I meant to have that one on there, too. I'm not sure which is appropriate as I'm unsure if most 1/4" outputs are male or female. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have both handy (I do, but haven't used them yet as I rarely patch into the board).
Cooker:
boards typically have all female jacks on them - but that doesn't mean that the board patch the engineer gives you won't be a male cable...
many engineers will not have tapers plugging anything into their boards, and will hand you a shitty whirlwind cable when you ask for a patch.
one other important thing to mention, is that you will need 2 mono 1/4" to RCA adapters like pictured above, not one stereo RCA / stereo 1/4" adapter.
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