Help me terminate my mic

September 13, 2007 11:29 AM

Help an audio noob find the right piece for an unterminated microphone.

So, I bought this lav mic and missed the part about the unterminated cable.

What do I need to affix this to a male XLR connector and how difficult is it to do?

posted by starman to technology (6 comments total)

So by saying that there's a 10' unterminated cable on the lav, you mean that there's just bare wires at the end? That's mildly strange.

To connect it to the male end of an XLR, you'd just need a female mini-XLR.

If you've got soldering skills, you could then make it yourself, or you could find someone slightly nerdy, and get them to make it for you. Just make sure you get the pinout right, or you'll inadvertantly reverse the phase.
posted by god hates math at 11:57 AM on September 13, 2007

Generally, you need a male XLR connector (made for adding onto a cable rather than a pirated one), a soldering iron, a bit of patience, and the wiring diagram for the microphone. If you have any cable-making experience, this should be pretty easy.
posted by JMOZ at 11:58 AM on September 13, 2007

Or, I'm an idiot. That's if you want to plug this into a wireless pack. If you just want to keep it wired, you simply need a plain 'ol female XLR connector. They're easy to find, and much easier to solder.
posted by god hates math at 11:59 AM on September 13, 2007

Well, you'll need some solder, a soldering iron, and of course the male XLR connector.

If you're not comfortable soldering, you can find tons of guides on google. Most are focused more on electronics, though you will find some specifically dealing with audio connections. Practice on some old mic cables or something first.

Finally, double check that the lav can handle whatever voltage of phantom power that your mixer will be feeding it, I've run into the occasional mic that can only handle around 9 or 10 volts.
posted by jjb at 12:10 PM on September 13, 2007

According to AT's web page, the mic can handle 9-52 volts, so phantom shouldn't be an issue. It's an electret anyway.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 1:25 PM on September 13, 2007

Thanks. I'll see what I can do (and possibly get my brother-in-law with more experience to help).
posted by starman at 1:33 PM on September 13, 2007