Analog and Digital Cables used in studios.

1. Important Studio Cables…
What??

2. Important Studio Cables
• This is Subrina from Singapore but currently in Seattle,
Washington State, welcome to my presentation on
“Important Studio Cables”. I picked this topic because on
various occasions, I have struggled with understanding
the usage of cables.
• I hope that by teaching this topic, I would obtain a much
better perspective on the use of cables and in the course
of doing so, allow you to grasp a thing or two you may
not know about cables.

3. Objectives
• Types of cables used in studios
• Usage of these cables

4. Types of Cables
Cables
Analog
Digital
When we are thinking about cables, the very first
question we need to ask ourselves is; what is the
difference between analog and digital cables?

5. Analog vs Digital
• Analog cables work
by transmitting
information through
stream of electricity, and…
• Digital cables work by
transmitting information
through a long string of 1’s
and 0’s (aka binary code).

6. Balanced vs Unbalanced
The next thing to keep in mind; balanced and
unbalanced cables. What is the difference?
Let us think in terms of :
• Performance
• Design

7. Balanced vs Unbalanced
In terms of performance:-
Balanced cables are relatively immune to noise from
interference such as radio frequencies, electronic equipment,
etc. This is why they are the standard for pro audio.
In terms of design:-
• BALANCED cables have 3 wires:
• Signal (+)
• Signal (-)
• Ground
• While UNBALANCED cables have only 2:
• Signal
• Ground

8. Analog Connectors
• On either end of
a balanced analog cable, you
will find 1 of 3 connectors:
• XLR Male – which connects to
various hardware inputs.
• XLR Female – which connects to
the microphone, and various
hardware outputs.
• TRS – which connects to
both inputs AND outputs.

9. Analog Connectors
Each of these connectors has 3 contact points which carry
signals from the positive,negative, and ground wires
previously mentioned.
• XLR male has 3 pins
• XLR female has 3 holes
• TRS has 3 surfaces known as Tip, Ring, and Sleeve
Unbalanced analog cables typically only use one connector,
which is the TS connectors commonly seen on
instrument/guitar cables. So what is the difference between TRS
and TS?

10. TRS vs TS Connectors
TRS connectors have 3 contact points, while TS
connectors have only 2.The extra 3rd contact point on a
TRS connector is what allows it to carry a balanced signal.
The balanced wiring for TRS :
• Tip = Positive
• Ring = Negative
• Sleeve = Ground
• While the unbalanced wiring
• for TS :
• Tip = Positive
• Sleeve = Ground

11. Digital Cables
The Disadvantage.
There are oh so
many of them!
Current ones are
always being
replaced by newer
ones as technology
evolves.
The Advantage.
Unlike the
analog cables,
you do not
need to know
much about
how they work
in order to use
them.

12. The 3 Interface Cables
The one cable that every studio must have
is one of the following 3:-
• USB - the standard for budget interfaces, it
has the slowest data transfer of the 3, but
still works well enough for home studios.
• Firewire - typically seen on pricier
interfaces, it offers significantly faster
speeds than USB.
• Thunderbolt - only seen on newer high-end
interfaces, it offers unprecedented data
transfer rates, previously only seen on
dedicated PCIe processing cards.

13. Digital Cables
Other digital cables include:
1. Midi cables – used by electronic musicians
MIDI cables transfer data between various electronic instruments and related
digital devices…

14. Digital Cables
2. Optical Cables - Also known as lightpipe cables, can
carry multiple channels of digital audio through a single cable.

15. Digital Cables
3. BNC cables - Identical to the coaxial cables used to connect your cable TV…
But with a different name and purpose…
BNC cables are used in the studio to sync
the internal clocks of multiple digital
devices, whenever two or more
are connected.

16. Digital Cables
4. AES/EBU cables – the peculiar of all cables..
AES/EBU cables use the XLR connectors of an analog mic cable…
To transmit the S/PDIF signal of a digital optical cable.
While not common with budget gear, they are often used on higher-end
interfaces and other hardware.
Something to take note of:-
The term “AES/EBU” is actually an
Audio signal (NOT cable),that can work
with several different connectors including:
• Optical
• BNC
• RCA
• XLR

17. Thank you!
I hope you have found my presentation helpful
in one way or another. Thank you for taking the
time to review!