Audio cables are the unsung heroes of your home recording studio. They’re not glamorous, and you don’t typically get excited about buying them like you would other pieces of gear, but they are used with nearly every piece of equipment you own, connecting one to another. Because of this, your cables can easily become the biggest foe of your studio. Too many studio hours are spent testing every cable to find the one with a problem that has shut down your entire recording process.
But this all leads to an important studio question: ‘Is it worth it to buy good quality audio cables?’ The overall answer is ‘Yes,’ though there are a few things that should be cleared up.
Buy Audio Cables the Way You Buy Wine
Buying studio cables is a lot like buying wine. If you buy the cheapest bottle in the store, even an occasional wine drinker will notice that the taste is sub-par. Moving to mid-range prices will result in a wine that is acceptable to just about everyone except the most snobbish wine connoisseur. While buying an extremely expensive bottle will be impressive (and is recommended should you have the budget for it), almost everyone will be more than happy with the aforementioned mid-range wine.
Cables should be treated the same: almost everyone (i.e. the musicians, engineers, listeners and your budget) will be more than happy with the quality of mid-range audio cables. The least expensive will result in a subpar recording, while the most expensive cables are nice, though your budget can likely be better spent in other areas of the studio.
Why is a More Expensive Studio Cable Better?
Without getting into actual technical speak, more expensive cables provide advantages in three primary areas:
- Noise Reduction
Noise and interference is the biggest enemy to your recordings, and can come from a variety of different sources, including your cables. As a general rule, the more you spend on the cords, the less noise your audio signal will pick up as it travels through the cable.
- Better Replication
Just like your studio monitors , the quality of your cables are determined in part by their frequency response. As you’d expect, the more you pay for cables, the more the frequency of the original source will be maintained, particularly the highs and lows. And the better the frequency replication, the better replication you’ll get on your final recording.
- Longer Lifetime
Cheap cables wear out quickly, and will eventually cost you more throughout the lifetime of your studio than investing in better quality cables in the beginning, all at the sacrifice of your recording quality in the interim. Additionally, most decent cables come with a lifetime warranty, so if they do stop working you can have them repaired or replaced at no cost -- just be sure to hang on to the receipt or whatever documentation that is required for a fix or replacement.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
