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DIY Breakaway or Snake


thebrengun

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Hi all, for those of you who missed my intro in Who I Am Today, I'm a senior at NYU in film.  So I am at the student level, just starting out mixing sound.  But it's about time I began assembling my own rig.  It will be a slow, expensive process, but necessary lol.  I've decided that since I'll have another year's access to decent mics and mixers and because I seem to find myself on an increasing number of HVX shoots, the logical first acquisition is a breakaway cable.

Alas these things things are $250 and while they are a great convenience (and essential to monitoring from the recorder) it's hard to justify so much when I could easily use 3 cables, messy as that is, to accomplish this job.  So I've decided to boldly take the leap and create my own.  In the past I have only done some basic soldering to repair broken cables and have never attempted anything like this.

I was wondering what sort of cable, connecters, advice, etc. you would all recommend.  I realize that the actual breakaway connection would be the trickiest so I'm willing to compromise and just settle for a snake.  I was planning to have 4 channels (left, right, talkback, and operator phones).  Also I was going to keep the mixer side of the cable with XLR and 1/4 phone jacks rather than the Sound Devices plug because the mixer I have easiest access to is the Shure FP33.

Does making my own sound like a feasible idea or would it be worth the extra dough to buy one done right?

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Alas these things things are $250 and while they are a great convenience (and essential to monitoring from the recorder) it's hard to justify so much when I could easily use 3 cables, messy as that is, to accomplish this job.  So I've decided to boldly take the leap and create my own.  In the past I have only done some basic soldering to repair broken cables and have never attempted anything like this.

There is intrinsic value in both scenarios: if you build the snake yourself it will give you added experience with choice of materials, soldering, proper wiring, etc., and you will save money (providing you don't factor in your time). If you purchase the snake (and there is a reason you may pay $250.) you will insure that you have a professionally produced, functional and reliable cable, something which you may not be so sure of with your own home grown effort.

I have done it both ways over the years (and that's MANY years as you all know) and now I prefer to purchase ready made cables if they are available. I still have some rather exotic interconnects for which there were no store bought cables available so I made my own. There have been times when I have used a sort of hybrid approach like with snakes that need 25-pin sub D connectors --- I have purchased cables with the sub D side wired and then chopped off connectors on the other end, putting my own connectors (often a mixture of XLR and 1/4" TRS).

As for raw materials (I know, your original question) Mogami makes good multi-pair cable with a single outer jacket and I have used Mogami cable for lots of snakes. I am sure there is an equivalent cable from Belden, Canare, but I have not had much experience with those in a multi-pair cable.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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Since I also have the ability to make my own.. After looking at the cost of all the materials.. I came to the conclusion that it's just not worth it to make your own.  Once you ad in the special plugs, special order cable, and the cost of your time.. it simply didn't save any money.  Turns out it's the plugs.. no matter where you get them from, they are expensive!

On a side note.. And I didn't think of this when I was building my rig.. keep the wireless option in the back of your mind.  Wireless boom, IFB, and camera hops.  Wireless everything also eliminates the need for that cable!

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