El Segundo, CA… While Mogami cables have long been a staple of the recording side of professional audio, they have now become a popular choice for touring professionals as well. Whereas touring pros have long viewed cable as a disposable commodity, the recent surge in wireless technology has actually fueled the need for high quality cable on stage, and Mogami‘s superior transmission and shielding qualities are proving immensely popular.
The widespread adoption of wireless systems–for both microphones and instruments such as guitar–are placing a new set of demands on the technicians responsible for building touring equipment racks as well as those charged with running the gear during concerts. As more guitarists, for example, go wireless in order to facilitate freedom of movement on stage; this is necessitating longer cable runs for ancillary equipment such as stomp boxes and other devices that feed into the equipment racks at the back of the stage.
Eli Ward, crew chief and keyboard tech for the Alicia Keys ‘As I Am‘ World Tour, which kicked off in February in the U.K. and is touring Europe before heading stateside this spring, finds his arsenal of Mogami cable absolutely essential. “We‘ve deployed Mogami cable extensively,” says Ward. “There are so many electrical, radio, Wi-Fi, and other signals in the performing environment these days and, because of this, it‘s very easy to induce noise into the audio path. This is a large tour with a number of arenas and we‘re using iso-boxes for the guitar and bass rigs that are 40 – 50 feet from the player‘s positions. These are quarter-inch runs that are really quite long. There just aren‘t many cables that can handle this sort of thing without significant signal loss.”
Duane Burda, head technician for the North Hollywood, CA office of Tour Supply, a firm that caters to the touring market commented on a similar situation that routinely occurs, “Even if a guitarist is wired and is using a fairly simple rig, high onstage SPLs can cause issues. Cheap cables have been known to induce microphonic noises into the guitar rig and this can be extremely bothersome. Every pedal and connection in the chain increases the possibility of this occurring. Between this and the increasing amount of RF noise in the environment, many performers look to higher quality cable to minimize the potential for problems. For this very reason, we wire our racks with Mogami.”
Henry Austin, president of Escondido, CA-based Professional Production Associates, deployed Mogami cable last fall during Love In–A Musical Celebration, a lively theatrical performance in recognition of the music of 1967 that served as the performance foundation for an ambitious DVD video project. “Mogami‘s shielding is exceptional,” notes Austin. “Love–In was an RF and EM rich environment. We were running in excess of a hundred channels, and this included a lot of lights and some power distribution in close proximity to the cables, as space was at a premium. Having the level of shielding from interference that Mogami cable provides was extremely beneficial. I also used a lot of their high impedance cables, and these have very low capacitance, as do the connectors. This keeps the signal up front and present. The build quality and the jacket of the cables are very rugged, which translates to reliability. I also like the way the cable coils and the way it lays on the stage. Organization onstage is critically important so that you don‘t end up with a rat‘s nest.”
Eli Ward summed matters up with the following, “Using high quality cable is particularly significant because it results in less signal loss. You end up with much better signal-to-noise ratio, so the signal going to FOH and, ultimately, the audience, ends up sounding clearer, has higher gain structure, and as a result, makes everything sound better. The bottom line is this: Mogami cable helps our artist have the best possible sound… period.”
About Mogami
A member of the Cable & Connectors division of Marshall Electronics, Mogami is recognized the world over as the foremost name in high quality cable for professional audio applications. Just about every commercial recording available has passed through Mogami cable somewhere in the signal chain. That‘s why, for over 35 years, Mogami is known as the Cable of the Pros™. Additional information about Mogami can be found online at www.mogamicable.com.
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