Cable Soldering :
Cable Soldering Schematics. That’s what this blog is about.
Because once in a while this pops up at the studio: soldering cables.
You can find the dutch version here:
Most of the cables I use in the studio to connect all of my gear are soldered using theses soldering schematics.
You can always buy these cables in the correct configuration, but I prefer to make them myself to be absolutely sure they have the correct length and are connect the way I want them to be.
Besides that.
If an error happens, you can fix it easily because you know how everything is connected.|
General cable Pin layout:
So basically if you remember the few simple things about the pins of connectors most will be easy.
With XLR pin 1 is the ground or shield, pin 2 is the positive or hot signal and pin 3 is the negative or cold signal.
If you accidentally swap pin 2 and 3 the phase will flip. So always check the phase in recording and such an error can easily be fixed by using the phase reverse button.
You should always check the phase anyway in mixing and recording.
If you make an error with the ground connector, which is pin 1, usually you will hear that when connecting gear and microphones. It wil sound a lot thinner.
Cable Soldering Schematics:
The most used cables and connections I use are:
Balanced Jack to XLR (stereo balanced):
Many soundcards have balanced jack ( which is a stereo jack connector) input connectors to save space.
So do have a few of my soundcards – so I need stereo / balanced jack to male and female xlr plugs cables.
XLR male to XLR female:
This is your standard XLR microphone cable soldering schematic and is very much needed:
Mono Jack to XLR ( unbalanced):
So now and then I need an unbalanced mono to XLR cable.
Of course, the balanced jack to XLR will do fine, but I’ll just add this schematic here because it’s good to know how to do a mono jack to XLR scheme.
Double unbalanced mono Jack to XLR:
This one can be used as converter form dual mono jack out to xlr and to dual mono jack.
I use this one as headphone extension cable, from the jack outs from the soundcard to a few little mixers which are used as headphone amplifiers. It’s a really flexible setup!
Stereo jack to 2x rca or mono jack:
This cable soldering schematic is for stereo jack to dual RCA or dual mono Jack. The schematic is the same, only the format of the plugs are different. But pin 2 is always center pin en pin 1 is always ground / sleeve with both of these plugs. Very useful if you go from mini stereo jack, like with phones etc. to the line ins on your soundcard, or for instance with a stereo headphone out of a synth to your soundcard inputs.
There you have it, some cable soldering schemes which are definitely helpful in any studio.
If there are some useful ones missing, pop me a message with the contact form and I’ll include them.
Cheers!
Marlon
updated 07 march 2020
bonus: here is some soldering I did on a SM57 to do the ”SM57 transformerless mod”. Check it out here below or on our youtube channel.
