I have all of those, and then some, and the most common ones both as 'all in one' adapters and short cables 🙂 The ones shown really can save the day. Btw, when using one of those 1/8" in/out adapters for a phone, there also are 2 way stereo converters between balanced and unbalanced, so you can run both input and output over long cables. Those have other uses as well, I use one of those to send audio between my home studio and the sound system in my living room. Its like a stereo 2 way di box.
@@AudioUniversity Looking forward to the interviews. Not sure if this is on your radar, but would be awesome to see a video about phantom power, proper usage of it, and how it works over snakes and patch-bays (does it split in half normal for example). Thanks for the awesome content.
Thomann send me an adapter 6.3 aux female to 6.3 aux female by accident and it happened to be the exact one I needed in the end to connect the ox box to my speaker 😂🎉
Great information. Of course I have all those and more. I've found that running the 1/8" stereo to a DI box by putting one 1/4" into the input and the other to the "thru" jack gives you a summed stereo to mono signal just as good as something like the summing box shown. Another one I occasionally have to use is 1/8" to dual RCA - it's rare but very handy when you need it. I've also ordered the four line xlr to xlr 10 foot snakes off of amazon and used those for feeds to camera operators like news outlets. Makes life easier for them and myself. They usually carry an adapter for xlr to 1/8" if they don't have xlr input. With the abundance of USB audio devices I also carry fairly long USB B to USB A cables as well as USB A to USB C. As well, a small USB audio interface that doesn't require driver downloads in your kit can solve a bunch of problems when adding random laptops to the mix.
Something you might also want, especially as a back-up, just-in-case option, is a z cable. As the name suggests, it shapes a z and many people have 2 XLR plugs on one side of the z and two sockets on the other side, but I think Neutrik's unisex XLR plugs might be a good idea for maximum versatility, although I don't know what gain in versatility that would actually bring. Z cables can be used as splitters, combiners, gender changers and patch cables.
Thanks so much, I am a fan since last year. What about mixing with pedals where the INs and OUTs of the stereo pedal are TRS. Since the return would need to be stereo in the interface, is there such thing as a TRS to two TRSs as a type of a Y cable?
If you want to maintain stereo, you'll need to use two inputs and outputs on your interface. If you don't need stereo, you can just use the left input and output on your pedal. However, make sure to consider hi-impedance and low-impedance as well as signal levels. This video should help: ruclips.net/video/SjzmD7rDk-M/видео.html
I have a couple 1/4 TS to XLR male adaptors that came with my XVIVEs. Does that mean the XVIVEs’ pin 3 is useless? And are there any other situations where I can make use of those adaptors?
Does XLR to 1/4" adapters cause electrical interference? I remember you mentioning 1/4" are prone to electrical interference over long distances, but does the same apply when you take an XLR cable, and use an adapter to convert into 1/4"?
I recently bought a new Mic for podcasting that came with an XLR cable but my sound card has TRS. Is it better to use an adapter on the cable I've got or buy an XLR male to TRS cable in terms of quality?
How can we add studio quality sound to our social media live stream sessions, if we have a good interface, microphone, Mobile and laptop is it possible to have sound from DAW and video from phone at the same time?
Can I connect my electric accoustic guitar with it's 1/4" jack mono output to the left and right inputs of a stereo channel on my live sound mixer. If I use a single cable (balanced or unbalanced) to either left or right input I get hardly any volume output level. I need to get level set output. Is there a cable that would work for that, please?
I recently discovered that one of my XLR cables was malfunctioning. Now, I am concerned that my XLR turnarounds may also be fragile, or otherwise unreliable. Do you recommend any specific brands for XLR turnarounds?
What’s the concern with using a dual female to single male XLR y cable with different microphones? I was hoping to use one of those to combine two Tom microphones into one channel on my board cause of the lack of inputs. Thanks
The concern is that the 2nd MIC receives the signal generated from the first MIC across it's voice coil, causing it to act in reverse (as a tiny speaker) and physically try and move its diaphram an equal (but opposite) direction. This means that the *common* elements to both MICs (e.g. KD, rumble from below) are twice as strong in the signal (since it is being driven twice, with the same delay) but the *difference* element (the closest Tom you just hit) is halved as the sound has not yet reached the other MIC. You massively loose signal-to-noise, compared to having them summed after pre-amps in the mixer. Better to put one mic further away for both, or use a small mixer to combine.
No, pretty sure most of them fix it on the inside, but it might be a good idea to check before you use it. Instead of going straight across, which would be connecting pin 1 on one side to pin 2 on the other; pin 1 is always connected to pin 1. And pin 2 to pin 2. This essentially forms an “x” on the inside and fixes polarity. And of course pin 3 is in the same position so it goes straight across.
Let's say I want to connect three mics to my Focusrite 4i4 which has only two mic inputs. Would it be possible to connect the third mic with the XLR->TRS converter? My guess is no because of the different signal levels, but still, I would like to know what are my options :)
I was wondering, how could you find out if a TRS cable is balanced? And with the TRS to XLR adapter, how could you ensure that you’re not plugging in an instrument/line level signal to an XLR mic input? I was taught that we should never use XLR to TRS (and vice versa) because of those concerns
A TRS cable will typically be capable of a balanced signal. It should at the very least have two signal conductors, and will often have a shield. In practice, there are times where you might need to send a line level output to a mic level input. You might just need a pad or need to reduce the output level as to not clip the mic level input. If you're connecting an instrument to a mic level input, use a DI box instead of an adapter. That will have a transformer inside that will give you the correct impedance and level.
Because you always mute the channel at the desk when an instrument is being swapped, and you would not un-mute it until you've checked PFL on the indicator lights to apply the right gain/pad
I want your assistance from you ..... I've learned sound locally in my country and I need to advance my carrier in the field the problem is..... I preferred to acquire Graduation papers either a Diploma or certificate in Audio Engineering for me to be in a position to prove myself to the world and secure at least a Job with Any Organization or Church..... Please HELP
Three lifesavers: Type-C to 3.5mm DAC audio converter, Type-C to HDMI video converter, laser pointer with slides remote control. Some tricky cables against technical protocols might also be useful from time to time.Gender benders are the most common example for this topic. Another example is home-brewed "XLR splitters", which allows you to use two cores of an XLR cable to transfer a pair of unbalanced stereo signals instead - 1 for common ground, 2 for left, 3 for right. It might not be as resistant to noise as proper balanced wiring, but if there aren't enough cables provided on site, this might save a cable and possibly save the day. Also if someone wants an extension cable for headphones, this might also help a lot. Talking about headphones, line outputs of mixers are not officially rated and recommended for driving them, but in most case they can. Hook a 3.5mm socket to an XLR female plug, connect both tip and ring to pin 2 and sleeve to pin 3, and then you get a nice tool for (1) emergency makeshift mono IEM source for picky band members, (2) stage manager monitoring output at small venues without proper clear-coms, and (3) handy stethoscope-like debugging tool for audio systems - Wondering if this machine is not sending out signals? Plug it in and hear it from phones. Of course the sound quality won't be as fine as decent phones outputs or headphone amps, but at least - they works! East or west, Ethernet cable is the best. RJ45-XLR converters ROCK! Use them with shielded Cat6a cables for best sound quality performance and crosstalk suppression for analog audio. And since the twisted pairs are designed for high frequency differential data streams, digital signals like DMX512 and AES3 would feel comfortable travelling through them. Also prepare some cables that could convert the input port of wireless bodypack transmitters(Normally threaded 3.5mm TS or 4-pin MiniXLR) to 1/4" plugs. Then you'll get an abundance of "wireless DI boxes" ready to use!
Unpopular opinion, but I think you are cutting it short when you need most of these adapters on a regular bases. Most of the time if you need to convert between jack and xlr you need a DI, don't use an adapter. Same for those XLR splitter cables, use a dedicated splitter/mixer, instead of the splitter cable. It only creates unnecessary and unexpected points for failure. Than the (analog) snake, if you need the male-male and female-female xlr converters, you should reverse wire the plugs for permanent use so a noob can't wire it incorrectly. Or if it's for one time, just roll out an extra cable. These plugs also don't work on digital snakes obviously. The only "adapters" I use regularly is the 1/8 trs jack to double 1/4 ts jack for phone/laptop and the 1/8 jack to 1/4 jack for headphones.
I am learning audio engineering in a college and believe me your videos helps a lot in revision and also learning new things❤
That's awesome! I'm glad the videos are helpful for you!
I have all of those, and then some, and the most common ones both as 'all in one' adapters and short cables 🙂 The ones shown really can save the day. Btw, when using one of those 1/8" in/out adapters for a phone, there also are 2 way stereo converters between balanced and unbalanced, so you can run both input and output over long cables. Those have other uses as well, I use one of those to send audio between my home studio and the sound system in my living room. Its like a stereo 2 way di box.
I like the new background!
It's just temporary while I'm here in Germany, interviewing engineers at Neumann and Sennheiser!
@@AudioUniversity Looking forward to the interviews. Not sure if this is on your radar, but would be awesome to see a video about phantom power, proper usage of it, and how it works over snakes and patch-bays (does it split in half normal for example). Thanks for the awesome content.
Thomann send me an adapter 6.3 aux female to 6.3 aux female by accident and it happened to be the exact one I needed in the end to connect the ox box to my speaker 😂🎉
Very helpful and informative as always.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
Great clarity of thought and expression. So useful, many thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very Helpful Info about Adapters THANKS
Glad to help, Issac! Thanks for watching.
Great information. Of course I have all those and more. I've found that running the 1/8" stereo to a DI box by putting one 1/4" into the input and the other to the "thru" jack gives you a summed stereo to mono signal just as good as something like the summing box shown. Another one I occasionally have to use is 1/8" to dual RCA - it's rare but very handy when you need it. I've also ordered the four line xlr to xlr 10 foot snakes off of amazon and used those for feeds to camera operators like news outlets. Makes life easier for them and myself. They usually carry an adapter for xlr to 1/8" if they don't have xlr input. With the abundance of USB audio devices I also carry fairly long USB B to USB A cables as well as USB A to USB C. As well, a small USB audio interface that doesn't require driver downloads in your kit can solve a bunch of problems when adding random laptops to the mix.
Nice video and cool tip using small adapter cables. This makes absolute sense in my case for the mixer connection! 🤘
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Hello ! Great, clear and useful video, thank you
Love your sweatshirt too !
Thank you! 😃 Glad you found it useful, Marcel! You can get a sweatshirt like this one for yourself below the video, if you want one!
Something you might also want, especially as a back-up, just-in-case option, is a z cable. As the name suggests, it shapes a z and many people have 2 XLR plugs on one side of the z and two sockets on the other side, but I think Neutrik's unisex XLR plugs might be a good idea for maximum versatility, although I don't know what gain in versatility that would actually bring. Z cables can be used as splitters, combiners, gender changers and patch cables.
Thanks man, this was super interesting
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Very helpful. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Some vocals are recorded inverted from left to right. How do those last few options not cancel out the vocals?
Thanks so much, I am a fan since last year. What about mixing with pedals where the INs and OUTs of the stereo pedal are TRS. Since the return would need to be stereo in the interface, is there such thing as a TRS to two TRSs as a type of a Y cable?
If you want to maintain stereo, you'll need to use two inputs and outputs on your interface. If you don't need stereo, you can just use the left input and output on your pedal. However, make sure to consider hi-impedance and low-impedance as well as signal levels. This video should help: ruclips.net/video/SjzmD7rDk-M/видео.html
I have a couple 1/4 TS to XLR male adaptors that came with my XVIVEs. Does that mean the XVIVEs’ pin 3 is useless? And are there any other situations where I can make use of those adaptors?
Does XLR to 1/4" adapters cause electrical interference? I remember you mentioning 1/4" are prone to electrical interference over long distances, but does the same apply when you take an XLR cable, and use an adapter to convert into 1/4"?
I recently bought a new Mic for podcasting that came with an XLR cable but my sound card has TRS. Is it better to use an adapter on the cable I've got or buy an XLR male to TRS cable in terms of quality?
How can we add studio quality sound to our social media live stream sessions, if we have a good interface, microphone, Mobile and laptop is it possible to have sound from DAW and video from phone at the same time?
It varies depending on the software and interface you're using. Here is a video that might help: ruclips.net/video/bZNNUv7WhjI/видео.html
Can I connect my electric accoustic guitar with it's 1/4" jack mono output to the left and right inputs of a stereo channel on my live sound mixer. If I use a single cable (balanced or unbalanced) to either left or right input I get hardly any volume output level. I need to get level set output. Is there a cable that would work for that, please?
I recently discovered that one of my XLR cables was malfunctioning. Now, I am concerned that my XLR turnarounds may also be fragile, or otherwise unreliable. Do you recommend any specific brands for XLR turnarounds?
There is a link in the description to each adapter. I think Hosa offers a good balance between price and quality.
What’s the best way to connect condenser mic with XLR-F output to a speaker which has only 1/4” and 1/8” jacks ?
Hey! I want to connect my lav mic with a 3.5mm connecter to an adapter piece so I can plug it into my zoom h6. Which type of adapter do I need?
2:39 this just blew my mind lol
What’s the concern with using a dual female to single male XLR y cable with different microphones? I was hoping to use one of those to combine two Tom microphones into one channel on my board cause of the lack of inputs. Thanks
The concern is that the 2nd MIC receives the signal generated from the first MIC across it's voice coil, causing it to act in reverse (as a tiny speaker) and physically try and move its diaphram an equal (but opposite) direction. This means that the *common* elements to both MICs (e.g. KD, rumble from below) are twice as strong in the signal (since it is being driven twice, with the same delay) but the *difference* element (the closest Tom you just hit) is halved as the sound has not yet reached the other MIC. You massively loose signal-to-noise, compared to having them summed after pre-amps in the mixer. Better to put one mic further away for both, or use a small mixer to combine.
Does the xlr turnaround flip the polarity?
No, pretty sure most of them fix it on the inside, but it might be a good idea to check before you use it.
Instead of going straight across, which would be connecting pin 1 on one side to pin 2 on the other; pin 1 is always connected to pin 1. And pin 2 to pin 2. This essentially forms an “x” on the inside and fixes polarity. And of course pin 3 is in the same position so it goes straight across.
Let's say I want to connect three mics to my Focusrite 4i4 which has only two mic inputs. Would it be possible to connect the third mic with the XLR->TRS converter? My guess is no because of the different signal levels, but still, I would like to know what are my options :)
No. That’s not possible. You would need an outboard mic preamp between the microphone and line input on the 4i4.
7:10 the rapco horizon is just for high impedance stereo source?
Find me a usb-c firewire adapter and you’re a god 😂🤣
I was wondering, how could you find out if a TRS cable is balanced? And with the TRS to XLR adapter, how could you ensure that you’re not plugging in an instrument/line level signal to an XLR mic input? I was taught that we should never use XLR to TRS (and vice versa) because of those concerns
A TRS cable will typically be capable of a balanced signal. It should at the very least have two signal conductors, and will often have a shield. In practice, there are times where you might need to send a line level output to a mic level input. You might just need a pad or need to reduce the output level as to not clip the mic level input. If you're connecting an instrument to a mic level input, use a DI box instead of an adapter. That will have a transformer inside that will give you the correct impedance and level.
Because you always mute the channel at the desk when an instrument is being swapped, and you would not un-mute it until you've checked PFL on the indicator lights to apply the right gain/pad
You could always open the connector to check if it's soldered correctly.
Or, make your own cables.
3:29 Abby suggestions for probwr box
had someone bought the rapco horizon LTI blox?
I want your assistance from you ..... I've learned sound locally in my country and I need to advance my carrier in the field the problem is..... I preferred to acquire Graduation papers either a Diploma or certificate in Audio Engineering for me to be in a position to prove myself to the world and secure at least a Job with Any Organization or Church..... Please HELP
When one is working and needs an adapter and the thing is not among your gear, even the motivation suffers.
It's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared!
Three lifesavers: Type-C to 3.5mm DAC audio converter, Type-C to HDMI video converter, laser pointer with slides remote control.
Some tricky cables against technical protocols might also be useful from time to time.Gender benders are the most common example for this topic. Another example is home-brewed "XLR splitters", which allows you to use two cores of an XLR cable to transfer a pair of unbalanced stereo signals instead - 1 for common ground, 2 for left, 3 for right. It might not be as resistant to noise as proper balanced wiring, but if there aren't enough cables provided on site, this might save a cable and possibly save the day. Also if someone wants an extension cable for headphones, this might also help a lot.
Talking about headphones, line outputs of mixers are not officially rated and recommended for driving them, but in most case they can. Hook a 3.5mm socket to an XLR female plug, connect both tip and ring to pin 2 and sleeve to pin 3, and then you get a nice tool for (1) emergency makeshift mono IEM source for picky band members, (2) stage manager monitoring output at small venues without proper clear-coms, and (3) handy stethoscope-like debugging tool for audio systems - Wondering if this machine is not sending out signals? Plug it in and hear it from phones. Of course the sound quality won't be as fine as decent phones outputs or headphone amps, but at least - they works!
East or west, Ethernet cable is the best. RJ45-XLR converters ROCK! Use them with shielded Cat6a cables for best sound quality performance and crosstalk suppression for analog audio. And since the twisted pairs are designed for high frequency differential data streams, digital signals like DMX512 and AES3 would feel comfortable travelling through them.
Also prepare some cables that could convert the input port of wireless bodypack transmitters(Normally threaded 3.5mm TS or 4-pin MiniXLR) to 1/4" plugs. Then you'll get an abundance of "wireless DI boxes" ready to use!
Does these creates a signal problem “interference”???
If there is a loose connection, it may malfunction. But generally they work without problems.
Did you just assume the gender of my adaptor? 😂
hi! someone from Perú? 🔴⚪🔴
You missed TRS FEMALE TO XLR MALE
Unpopular opinion, but I think you are cutting it short when you need most of these adapters on a regular bases. Most of the time if you need to convert between jack and xlr you need a DI, don't use an adapter. Same for those XLR splitter cables, use a dedicated splitter/mixer, instead of the splitter cable. It only creates unnecessary and unexpected points for failure.
Than the (analog) snake, if you need the male-male and female-female xlr converters, you should reverse wire the plugs for permanent use so a noob can't wire it incorrectly. Or if it's for one time, just roll out an extra cable. These plugs also don't work on digital snakes obviously.
The only "adapters" I use regularly is the 1/8 trs jack to double 1/4 ts jack for phone/laptop and the 1/8 jack to 1/4 jack for headphones.
Cheers.
Thanks for watching!