Are you using the right audio cables?
In this video, I break down the differences between balanced and unbalanced cables.
Get a clear understanding of how balanced cables (like XLR and TRS) work to help eliminate interference, and learn how to convert unbalanced audio signals to balanced.
My Favorite Tools
► Easy Funnels - A Website and Funnel Builder for Recording Studios
► Distrokid - Music Distribution For Musicians
► Backblaze - Unlimited Data Backup for only $7/month
Some of these links above are affiliate links where I earn a very small commission at no additional cost to you. You have no obligation to purchase through these links, but it does help to support From Zero To Studio so I can continue providing you with valuable content.
Video Links
Automatic Video Transcript
What's the difference between balanced and unbalanced cables? Now, I'm sure you've heard both of those terms, and you've probably even used both of these types of cables, but there still might be some confusion on the differences between the two and when you should choose one over the other. So today we're gonna break down balanced versus unbalanced audio cables in an easy to understand way.
Hey everybody. Justin here with From Zero To Studio, and today we're talking about balanced versus unbalanced audio cables. Now a balanced cable such as an XLR microphone, cable, or a TRS cable, which looks like a guitar cable, but is actually different, they consist of three wires. A positive signal wire, a negative signal wire, and a ground wire. These types of cables help to eliminate interference.
The positive and negative wire both carry the same exact audio signal, but the negative wire has the polarity of that signal flipped. Then once the audio signal reaches the other end of the wire, the negative signal is flipped again, so it matches perfectly with the positive signal.
I said, this would be easy to understand, and that was still pretty confusing, right?
Here's an example. If you import and duplicate an audio track inside of your recording software, you would have two identical pieces of audio. It would just be louder. If you then invert the phase or polarity on one of them, you would see that the waveforms are now moving in the opposite direction. When you do this, they cancel each other out, leaving you with no sound during playback.
So a balanced cable basically uses the same technique to cancel out interference, and it leaves you with a clean audio signal on the other end of the cable. So unbalanced cables consist of two wires: a signal wire, and a ground wire. And a good example of an unbalanced cable is just gonna be your standard guitar cable. These types of cables are still used very often, even though they're more susceptible to interference.
Then why wouldn't we just use balanced cables on everything?
The short answer is that unbalanced outputs still exist, and it's always in best practice to use the correct cable for the source.
Typically, an unbalanced signal being sent by instruments like keyboards is much louder than a microphone signal, so the risk of having any audible interference is greatly reduced. And sure you could plug a balanced cable into your guitar and it still might work, but there's really no benefit to using one.
Since your guitar output is only providing an unbalanced signal, there's gonna be no additional protection from interference. Also, from a manufacturing standpoint, providing a balanced connection might cost more than an unbalanced connection, and manufacturers may look at this as a way to cut production costs.
So how do you make an unbalanced signal balanced?
You can convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal simply by using a direct box. You'll often see these on stages at live events being used by acoustic guitars, bass guitars, keyboards. These instruments are connected to the DI box, and then a balanced XLR cable carries that signal to a stage snake or a mixer that's further away. And direct boxes get used in the recording studio for the same purpose.
The idea is to create a clean and balanced signal that connects to your audio interface. And if you have any external microphone preamps, they often include a DI option built right into the preamp, which eliminates the need for a direct box. And most audio interfaces today include that option as well.
So to wrap things up, balanced cables act as the champions of audio quality while unbalanced cables handle louder instrument signals with a bit of risk of interference.
Thankfully for DI boxes and direct instrument inputs on your interface or your preamps, you can easily create a clean and balanced signal for recording.
Now as you're working on improving your recording and mixing skills, if you want a guide that'll walk you through every step of the process from songwriting and recording up through mixing and mastering, you can download The Roadmap To A Radio-Ready Song.
This guide covers the five steps required to take your song from sounding like a demo to sounding pro, and you can download it absolutely free as my gift to you by going to FromZeroToStudio.com/roadmap or by clicking the link below in the description, and you can start improving how you're capturing and creating your music.
That's all I've got for you today. Thank you so much for watching and subscribing. I'll see you on another video soon.