Thank you all for the great comments. Hopefully, some of you are still alive after the heart attack of NOT seeing the over-under technique being used. We deliberately chose this technique so beginners can make one step in the right direction.
No offense but teaching someone the wrong way to do something is not really helping. It just cuts into your reputation. I have been a fan of Lewitt but when someone who is an engineer comes on in a video and shows "the right way to roll a cable" and it's wrong, makes me question the whole brand. I would strongly encourage you to make a new video apologizing and showing the correct way. Obviously that's up to you. Credibility is paramount in the modern market. Just saying.
@@pvalenti This was clearly an honest oversight, and while it's terribly annoying to cable-coiling geeks like us it's hardly the kind of mistake that would cost Lewitt any credibility as a mic manufacturer. They'll throw a card up and post a new video. No big deal. I'm still a fan and so are you.
I've been rolling up my XLR cables like you did in the vid for years. Why do you believe the over-under technique is better? Don't they both have the same outcome?
4:50 No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o! It was going really well up until that second wrap! Cables are coiled _OVER-UNDER!_ 💢 Okay, I'm not actually furious. There's a good and sound reason for over-under coiling and it's rooted in topology. Wrapping one coil after another in the same direction introduces twists into the cable. When a cable coiled in this manner is thrown across a stage or studio floor the twists remain intact, preventing it from straightening out or laying perfectly flat, and the twists can cause kinks in the cable when it is pulled taut. You've seen this happen countless times with your garden hose, and you can also demonstrate this another way by trying to straighten a small spring by pulling its two ends apart. You'll notice that it can't be done without leaving twists and even sharp kinks in the spring wire. The over-under cable coiling method introduces an _anti-twist_ for every twist, leaving the cable *topologically* flat; that is to say untwisted. When a cable coiled in this manner is thrown across a stage or studio floor it unravels perfectly and lays flat with no twisting. Imagine you're holding a short length of cable taut between your arms, each end in one hand. Now imagine you have to neatly coil this cable but you're not allowed to let go of either end. How would you do it? With a little experimentation you'd find that the only way is over-under.
Thanks for the schooling on the origination of "XLR". Makes total sense that it comes from the Cannon X line with a Latch. I'm an old-school electronic tech and we would substitute "X" for "trans". We used to write stuff like xformer and xster. So I just made the leap that XLR would be to "transform" Left and Right, 'cause I knew about the phase cancelation use for noise rejection. Now that I just wrote "transform left and right", it makes no sense since it's a mono signal!
Great video, thank you LEWITT! PS: Get ready for a lot of folks disagreeing with your cable wrapping technique! (over/under is what they're going to say)
i have no idea how i stumbled on the XLR cables part of the youtube, but I must say this video was very high quality and the presenter very well prepared and charming, kudos!
Thank you for these informative videos. It's a lot of what I would not think to ask in the first place, and sets me up with the necessary baseline knowledge needed to move forward and grow.
@@torosuave I toured with the 80's Invasion Tour (Danger, Danger; Bang Tango, and E'Nuff Z'Nuff), and was the A1 at a destination bar and grill with 5 stages. Also owned a live sound company (until Covid). Pro is whatever you make of it. But if a stagehand had wrapped cables the way it's done in this video, I would have sent them home and told the vender not to send them back again. If you say you did this and your cables are messed up you didn't do it correctly!
That's always how I roll my cables. I'm also happy to say that I knew everything here (for once) except for what XLR actually stands for. So... HURRAY!!!! I learned something new. Again. I seem to do that with your videos. Love you, Lewitt. Thanks, Aviva. And I'm totally using the term, "Denoobify", in my everyday life from now on.
Very informative. 2 points I'd like to make... 1. I have done an A/B comparison between Monster Guitar cables and other brands and DID hear a difference. The Monster brand provided more clarity in my opinion. Again this was a Guitar cable not an XLR 2. Glad to know I roll my cables the way you recommend :). However, here in Nashville, many studios do an alternating method whereby they can "throw" a long cable out very quickly without it getting tangled...many of the studios prefer this. However, being the "Rebel" I am I still do it the way you suggest ;) Thanks for the video, cheers,
Also: i did blind cable tests, and they do sound different... & I don’t think it was just their connectors that made audio quality sonically different... Mogami cables are considered the best for a reason. That’s opinion shared among many and based on tests.
Agreed. Different metal conductors absolutely give different tones. Thus a gold connector will absolutely sound more colorful than a nickel or other metal connection. I ONLY use MOGAMI in my studios. Period.
@@keithjames6638 I've made many MANY cables over the last 25 years for use in my own studio and others. My experience tells me that the audible differences between high-end cables are basically nil. I count Mogami (2549, 2791, 2534, 293x), Canare (L-4E6S, MR202) and Gotham (GAC-3), all of which I have used extensively. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest difference in the cables is their ease of prep and termination, EMF/RFI rejection, mechanical properties, hand feel, and 'memory'. Canare is my old favorite. It's the hardest to terminate but has incredible hand feel and coils wonderfully with zero memory. Best noise rejection. Great construction. Incredibly durable for stage or studio. Gotham is my new favorite. It also has fantastic hand feel and easy coiling. It's thinner than the Canare and Mogami and has three separate insulated conductors for pin termination and two spiral shields. Great cable for studio use. Mogami is my first love. They make many different models which vary in hand feel, ease of termination and noise rejection, but they all coil nicely and otherwise exude top-notch quality. You really can't go wrong with any of these, unless your application has specific requirements. There are also many other brands with excellent cable products. Belden comes to mind, as well as several European brands whose names escape me at the moment. In my 20's I used to spend hours conducting fidelity comparisons but the results were always inconclusive. There are simply too many factors and not enough differences. Even between store-brand cables and the high-end stuff. The only thing I would say is to avoid _cheap_ cables because those are a *pain in the ass*. Poor construction. Birdcaging. Coil memory. Lousy hand feel. Poor shielding. Excessive handling noise. If your cable exhibits any of these characteristics it can ruin a session. Otherwise don't sweat it too much because the audible differences are _tiny_ if they even exist. Also: Watch Dave Ratt's videos on sending mic signals down CAT6a. Really fascinating.
I'm a recent over-under convert. It seriously took me a few hours of practice to get it right, but now I can over-under at a Kindergarten level! I'm studying to pass the test of coiling my 100-foot extension cord in my garage. I'm not there yet.
So as not to confuse your audience, while it is true that TS cables deliver unbalanced signals, you should also note that TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) cables are indeed balanced and benefit from the same noise/electrical interference cancellation use case presented in this video for balanced XLR cabling. Also, the reason XLR balanced cables are required for phantom powered sources is directly attributed to its form factor and not due to the fact that the wiring typically is balanced. Unlike a balanced TRS cable the pins of a balanced XLR cable make concurrent contact with the phantom power generator to which they are connected. If one were to attempt to connect a balanced TRS cable to a phantom power source, hypothetically assuming the phantom power source allowed a TRS connection, the phantom power source would be shorted out and/or damaged because the various parts of the TRS connection would not connect concurrently. Yes, in terms of latching XLR is a clear winner. With respect, your cable wrapping technique will introduce twists in your cabling and destroy it over time. The proper method for cable wrapping is the "over-under" method. Please refer to this video for a clear demonstration: How to Wrap a Cable the Right Way "Over Under" (see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B2SUoAvGxVs.html).
"If one were to attempt to connect a balanced TRS cable to a phantom power source, hypothetically assuming the phantom power source allowed a TRS connection, the phantom power source would be shorted out" I've borne witness to these problems in a studio with a vintage console with always-on phantom power and a MT (very similar to standard 1/4" connectors) patch bay for mic signals. The patch bay should have been made with XLRs.
Agreed, and of course, we had this discussion before making this video. We just thought this might be the best first step to denoobify your cable rolling technique when you're a beginner, to finally destroy the common enemy - the elbow rolling technique.
@@LEWITT-audio Understood. But whether you choose the this first step or the over-under, if you do either wrong, you defeat the purpose. On the other hand, your cables will last for a long time if you do either one correctly.
I just can’t understand why people can spend decades perfecting an instrument or craft, but absolutely refuse to spend 20 minutes learning to over-under wrap a cable which could save them thousands of dollars over a career.
A colleague had me convinced XLR was short for "exchange line receptacle" from the analog telephone electronics days. And over / under is the right way to do it IF you start this from when they cable is new. This method was close.
I learned a technique for gathering cables from the late great Aspen Pittman. Basically extend the cable out and bring the ends together then continue folding the cable in half until you have a nice neat bundle. Velcro ties finish the job for storing. This avoids all stress and twisting on the inner wires and keeps the two ends together. This is helpful especially when the connectors are unusual or different.
@@TheGamesurfer98 actually it doesn't. First you don't bend tightly. Second there is no way to bend in the same direction every time because every time you pick up the cable it's in a different orientation. If you marked the cable with a line, set the cable with the line up every time then folded it tightly then you'd have the problem you cite.
@@TheGamesurfer98 Never exactly and never in the same direction. Cables are meant to be flexible. Try it, in practice it's isn't as you say. On paper it is, not in practice (unless you try.) But that's OK, you don't have to use this tip. Twisted and tangled cables are worse, in some peoples opinion. I'm just offering an alternative.
@@L.Scott_Music I have worked with a company that stored cables like this, that’s why I’m pointing out the problems with your method. But hey, if it works for you...
"External line return" never made any sense to me. X series connector with added Latch in Rubber does make sense. Although few connectors sold as "XLR" style use rubber inserts in my experience. I had a few, but only a few.
Very informative video. I will disagree a little bit about more "expensive" cables being a scam. First, yes, there are scams in everything BUT there are very good reasons why some cables cost more money. For example, some metals conduct an electrical signal better than others. Gold comes to mind. For example, a high-quality HDMI cable will give you a much better television experience than one that is made of substandard materials. In the same way, a well constructed instrument cable will have connectors that are made of gold. That same cable will also have high-quality electrostatic shielding to prevent RF interference from things like overhead florescent lights or broadcasting/receiving equipment. And that same cable will have a thicker outer sleeve (called the jacket). So you do get what you pay for.
Good points here, in that better quality cables may be more durable, reliable, and less prone to interference which can diminish the sound quality. Your mileage may vary depending on the manufacturer though, and in most cases a decent bread and butter cable will work the same as an expensive one.
If you want to get the respect of an audio engineer then you don't want to roll your cables that way! It's a problem waiting to happen. Any engineer worth his (or her) salt knows that you use the over-under method so that you can throw a cable and it'll straighten out without tangling. Keep rolling the way you did and all your cables will have kinks and problems!
Please note that a connector is just a connector. While TS connectors are not balanced 99.99% of the time, TRS balancing is determined by the circuit. TRS could be Tip hot and both sleeve and ring grounded - or a stereo headphone jack - or it is plugged into an unbalanced in - etc. This is true with XLR as well. The old White Instruments EQ had XLR in, but if you didn't buy the transformer balanced in, it was unbalanced and pin 3 hot. Watch out with TRS and phantom power. Bad juju! Some old Neve consoles like the 8232 have phantom on all the time. Plug in an AEA ribbon or something delicate like that and budget for the repair. XLRs are also better for microphones because ground/shield/pin 1 makes connection before the other pins.
Longer cables typically have more of a chance of picking up noise and signal loss... however balanced cables like XLR cables are designed to avoid these issues even with long lengths of cable. 16.5 feet is not long for an XLR cable so you're totally fine
I too, judge people by the way they wrap their cable. Very few things will trigger my C.D.O. (yes I meant to write it this way so that the letters are in proper order) than see8ng people using the "around the elbow", "fold and knot", or the dreaded "tight wrap around the hand" methods!
FIRED!? From a Church!? Doesn't sound very Christian to me. Church is not an exclusive club. I have played in church for years although it's been quite a few years now. But I always wind up running the bands and the sound crew. I teach them the right way, and if they don't do it right, I teach again. You can't fire people from a Church. Very sorry to hear that happened to you. Hopefully you've moved on to a less "clueless" and more gracious church. God is good, all of the time. But sometimes, unfortunately people suck!
The graphic section starting at 1min27 showing how two signals of opposite polarity will cancel each other should actually show two separate sources, instead of a single source: the graphic is confusing, as changing to a single source with two copies of the same signal (one of opposite polarity) looks just the same. The differential amplifier in the equipment should really show that the resultant output signal has a larger amplitude than the individual parts; this is an inherent function of the differential amplifier circuitry. Also, by making the combined signal white (same colour as one of the input signals) it just looks like a copy of that input. Otherwise an entertaining video!
Yes, it will definitely work great for rap vocals! LCT 440 PURE is the absolute bestselling microphone when it comes to recording vocals of all kinds 😉
The proper method for cable wrapping is the "over-under" method. Please refer to this video for a clear demonstration: How to Wrap a Cable the Right Way "Over Under" (see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B2SUoAvGxVs.html). You will be wrapping cables like a champ in no time. Why do it this way? First, it preserves the cable quality by avoiding kinks in the line. If you want to ensure the best possible audio recordings, buy the absolute best cables that you can afford and wrap them using the 'over-under' method. This goes a long way toward recording quality audio for external sources. Second, your cables will last longer, reducing your cable expenses over time.
@@peternidetzky5222 You are right, plus the "extra" time spent on using this method will be made up (and then some) by the time you save on the next set up by not having to untangle the cable.
@@peternidetzky5222 why do you say that? I’ve been to college for this and was taught this repeatedly. As well as functionally it’s fact. So I’m confused by your comment???
So as not to confuse your audience, while it is true that TS cables deliver unbalanced signals, you should also note that TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) cables are indeed balanced and benefit from the same noise/electrical interference cancellation use case presented in this video for balanced XLR cabling. Also, the reason XLR balanced cables are required for phantom powered sources is directly attributed to its form factor and not due to the fact that the wiring typically is balanced. Unlike a balanced TRS cable the pins of a balanced XLR cable make concurrent contact with the phantom power generator to which they are connected. If one were to attempt to connect a balanced TRS cable to a phantom power source, hypothetically assuming the phantom power source allowed a TRS connection, the phantom power source would be shorted out and/or damaged because the various parts of the TRS connection would not connect concurrently. Yes, in terms of latching XLR is a clear winner. With respect, your cable wrapping technique will introduce twists in your cabling and destroy it over time. The proper method for cable wrapping is the "over-under" method. Please refer to this video for a clear demonstration: How to Wrap a Cable the Right Way "Over Under" (see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B2SUoAvGxVs.html).
