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Re: Microphone cabling

Subject: Re: Microphone cabling
From: "Max Catterwell" oatcruncher
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2008 7:08 am ((PDT))
Hi Mike,
I've emailed Mogami re UK suppliers, and I'll let you know if they get
back to me.
Max


Michael Oates wrote:
> Greg,
>
> I am in the UK, do you or anyone know where I can get Mogami 2930 two-cha=
nnel multicore
> cable. Internet searches reveal nothing.
>
> Mike
>
>
>> --- In  "Max Catterwell"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all!
>>> I have decided to start making my own mic cables.
>>>
>> Here's a personal perspective on cables, for what it's worth...
>>
>> I use Mogami 2930 two-channel multicore cable for all of my location
>> work - it contains two separated shielded pairs of cable (served
>> shields, IIRC), each insulated from each other, just like having two
>> balanced mic cables in one. I am always recording in stereo, so I
>> figure why run two cables when one will do? This halves my set-up and
>> pack-up time, reduces the physical volume and weight required in my
>> pack, and means I only have one cable to run up the microphone stand.
>> It is also only marginally thicker and heavier than star quad, but is
>> considerably more pliable (it's one of the most flexible and limp
>> cables on the market) and has very little 'memory' so it stays where
>> I put it and always lays flat on the ground - no vertical loops or
>> cable bridges to catch your foot in when stumbling around the forest
>> at night. It is an absolute pleasure to work with, is reasonably
>> priced (relative to what it offers), and performs as well or better
>> than anything else on the market.
>>
>> I have recorded in all sorts of situations with that cable, including
>> metres away from a solar-powered mobile phone repeater station on the
>> Tibetan plateau, and directly beneath a high voltage power line tower
>> after a thunderstorm (I was recording the buzzing and crackling of
>> the insulators due to the moisture, juxtaposed with low-flying
>> aircraft coming in to land, a very cool composition IMO). *Never* had
>> an RF problem, but YMMV...
>>
>> For my MS rig there is a single 5-pin male XLR mounted in the handle
>> of the Rycote, outputting the M and S signals. I have the matching
>> female 5-pin XLR mounted on the end of the 2930 (the diameter of the
>> 2930 cable is just small enough to coaxe into the end of a Neutrik
>> XLR). This means I only have to make a single connection, rather than
>> two, so I can never mix up the M and S signals - regardless of
>> whether I'm in a hurry, stumbling around in the dark of night, or
>> both of the previous situations while in a drunken stupor (the
>> consumption of local homebrew 'moonshine' is sometimes a customary
>> pre-requisite before the villagers will perform for a recording at
>> night).
>>
>> Likewise when I'm using other stereo rigs. For spaced pairs, I have a
>> short length of 2930 break-out cable that has two female 3-pin XLRs
>> at one end to fit into the back of each microphone, and a single 5-
>> pin male at the other end to plug into my longer cable. I mount this
>> short cable on the stereo bar (or whatever) using cable ties prior to
>> the gig, so that it is not possible for me (or whoever is running the
>> cables) to make the wrong connection.
>>
>> A similar break-out cable is used to plug the signal into my Nagra V.
>> This is about 50cm long, has a 5-pin female XLR on one end, and two
>> 90 degree 3-pin male XLRs on the other end (to go into the Nagra).
>> The 90 degree XLRs are rotated in such a way that it is not possible
>> to plug them into the wrong inputs, if one is in the wrong socket it
>> physically blocks the other socket.
>>
>> I have three lengths of 2930: 5m, 10m and 20m. They all terminate in
>> a single 5-pin XLR at each end, so I can make any length from 5m to
>> 35m and never have more than 5m of excess cable to worry about. And,
>> thanks to the 5-pin connectors, it is impossible to confuse L and R
>> (or M and S)and get incorrectly deriw.
>>
>> I have found this overall approach (using stereo cables and 5-pin
>> XLRs) to be very worthwhile and a real time-saver. For long cable
>> runs, it also saves considerable weight in my pack - not just in
>> cable, but because each stereo connection requires a pair of XLRs
>> rather than two pairs. XLRs get heavy, you know...
>>
>> I used to carry a pair of 12m long Canare Star Quad cables fitted
>> with long-bodied Switchcraft XLRs with me (my ultra-RF-rejection
>> cables!) in case I encountered RF issues. But these days I don't
>> bother because I've never needed them and they just add a pile of
>> unnecessary weight. If I ever *do* come across a situation where RF
>> is a problem, I'll just get philosophical about it and pass it off as
>> a bummer; I've made enough recordings that I'm happy with, and missed
>> and/or ruined enough fantastic recordings, to not let that kind of
>> thing bother me any more. If it's a paid gig, however, I'll take
>> those Star Quads along just in case.
>>
>> Hopefully this information might give you something to consider when
>> assembling/choosing your cables, Max.
>>
>> - Greg Simmons
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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