Many of us work in venues with a fiscal year that ends in June.

The familiar mantra of the annual budget cycle is that you must “use it or lose it.” Some are getting seasonal venues ready.

Others, preparing to tour this summer, have a budget that includes various “consumables” such as tape and batteries.

Whatever the case, consider a new set of star quad microphone cables as the most affordable way to improve sound. Current deliberations about wireless mics remind us of alternatives.

Nothing that costs so little can make such a big difference in the quality of a sound system as its mic cables.

Years ago at a Burbank rehearsal studio, an assistant from the sound company shop was helping “loom up” our drum cables by taping them together with electrical tape.

I commented on his addition of several spare mic cables, and his response was that if one was good, then several were better.

These were made of Belden 8412, an industry standard that employs an inner jute strength member and a braided shield, but these cables were as old as the sound company, perhaps older, as they had famously bought another company in the first of what would become a tradition of mergers and acquisitions in live sound.

Most channels in our input list required phantom power, which places a higher demand on mic cables than simple passive devices.

A couple of troubled line checks into that tour, I told our production manager that I would order a new set of mic cables, and if the tour didn’t want to buy the receipt from me, I would simply take them home at tour’s end. Peter Janis recommended Radial Engineering’s house brand of quad mic cable.

Quad mic cable contains four 24-gauge wires instead of the usual single 22-gauge pair. The four wires spiral together tightly so they alternate plus and minus, creating better “looping” that improves resistance to electromagnetic interference, raising common mode rejection (CMRR) by a factor of 10, or about 20 dB. With today’s growing RF transmissions, quad cables provide increased immunity to radio interference.

Star quad cables can also improve sound quality. Most report clearer highs, less mud in the mid-lows, and a lift of the “haze” associated with previous mixes. Individual channels combine better, take EQ better, and compress better.

Star quad construction reduces the inductive reactance of mic cable.

Replacing a 22-gauge twisted pair with two pairs of 24-gauge conductors connected in parallel produces the same DC resistance, but about half the series inductance.

This provides better clarity without the need for EQ to boost the highs. There’s also an improvement in phase shift at high frequencies, especially in complex waveforms.

Though Canare coined the term star quad, Belden previously came out with the concept in the 1930s for long telephone lines.

There are several “name brands,” but most wire manufacturers and cable fabricators have house brands, which provide similar CMRR improvements, but with varying quality of construction or connectors.

There’s a star quad cable for every budget. Most quad cables employ 24-gauge, 40-strand conductors, are about a quarter-inch in diameter, and cost 50 cents per foot in bulk.

Pre-made cables cost about the same as a roll of gaffe tape or a box of batteries. Dark colors other than black can make identifying your cables a breeze during load-out.

As noted earlier, Radial Engineering sells its own brand of quad mic cable, as does Mogami Neglex, which is more of a studio cable. Mogami has a spiral wrap, or “served” shield, which improves suppleness, but deteriorates with live use.

Pro Co makes Ameriquad with a custom double outer jacket with Kevlar core for added strength, as well as Lifelines quad cable.

Whirlwind offers Canare L-4E6S star quad, while Belden 1192A serves as their “house” quad cable. Belden also makes two smaller sizes of quad cable better suited for patch bays and lavalier mics.

RapcoHorizon sells Mic4, formerly called Quadraplus, and their high-end Dominator SilverFlex quad uses silver-coated copper conductors. Clark Wire & Cable has MINK4 bulk wire with a drain wire that eliminates the extra step of using the shield as a ground wire when terminating.

Gepco has bulk quad star both with and without a drain wire, and Hosa provides their CMI quad-type cables in 10- and 25-foot lengths. Known for their mics, Blue Microphones also offers quad cables.

Mark Frink is Editorial Director of Live Sound International.