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Re: Microphone cabling

Subject: Re: Microphone cabling
From: "Michael Oates" msohooates
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2008 7:17 am ((PDT))
Max,

Thank you, I never thought of that!

Mike

>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-ch=
annel 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
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>



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